By Mike Cranston
Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM ó When Aaron Curry arrived at Wake Forest five years ago, the school filled the basketball offseason by fielding a football team that was mediocre in a good year.After helping make the Demon Deacons into a consistent bowl team, the versatile, speedy and hard-hitting linebacker is ready to tackle an even bigger project: turning around the woeful Detroit Lions as perhaps the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s NFL draft.
“To me that’s a beautiful situation,” Curry said Monday of the prospect of joining the Lions, who last season became the first team in NFL history to finish 0-16. “Coming to Wake, I think Wake was (5-7) and we all came in and never looked back. We said we were interested in changing the program. So the situation is similar.”
Curry attracted quite a crowd at Wake Forest’s pro day Monday morning. Dressed in bright lime cleats and matching gloves, his every move was watched by 41 scouts from all 32 NFL teams ó even though he declined to run the 40-yard dash or do agility drills.
“He doesn’t need to,” his agent, Andy Ross, said. “He showed what he could do at the combine.”
Curry ran the 40 in 4.52 seconds at the NFL’s showcase for potential draft picks and wowed team personnel enough to jump to near the top of most draft boards. After recording 105 tackles last season, including 16 for a loss, the Butkus Award winner is a likely top-five pick ó and could be the first name called April 25.
“It would be awesome to be the No. 1 pick,” Curry said. “But my goal is, whatever franchise I get to, to make an impact right away. Not to waste any time.”
Curry said the Lions haven’t begun contract talks with him as they decide on a player in a group that includes quarterback Matthew Stafford of Georgia and offensive tackles Jason Smith of Baylor and Eugene Monroe of Virginia.
If Curry doesn’t go No. 1, he isn’t expected to fall far. Ross said Curry will do private workouts for Kansas City (No. 3 pick), Seattle (No. 4) and Cleveland (No. 5).
Referred to as the “safest” pick in the draft for having an NFL-ready body and good instincts, the 6-foot-2, 254-pound Fayetteville native can play both outside and inside linebacker in a 4-3 or 3-4 defense. Hardly lacking confidence, Curry said he realized after doing position drills in Monday’s workout that he doesn’t care where he plays.
“I’m an inside or an outside in a 4-3 or a 3-4,” Curry said. “I have film of putting my hand in the dirt and rushing from the D-end spot. I don’t really have just one position where I feel like that’s where I need to be. I just need to be anywhere on the defense and just be an impact player.”
Curry did that at Wake Forest, helping the Demon Deacons to the ACC title in 2006 and a school-record three straight bowl games.
“We used to have to beg some of the scouts to come by for pro day,” Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. “You couldn’t find a pro scout with a search warrant around here. Things are a little different now.”
The crowd also came to see cornerback Alphonso Smith, a candidate to be a late first-round pick. He set the ACC career record with 21 interceptions.
“Teams always ask you, ‘You’re 5-9, can you match up against Larry Fitzgerald? What about Randy Moss? What about Braylon Edwards, Andre Johnson, Anquan (Boldin)?’ ” Smith said. “I tell the guys that if you want eye candy then I’m not your guy. If you want a guy who’s probably the most productive player in the entire draft, you’re looking at him.”
Wake Forest receiver D.J. Boldin also is hoping to catch on in the NFL. His brother, Anquan, watched the pro day with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
“I will get the opportunity just because of the genetic line,” D.J. Boldin said. “I carry a last name that’s pretty significant.”
Confidence was high everywhere you turned Monday, and why not? A school with only three first-round picks in its history has a chance to watch Curry go No. 1 ó even if he ends up with the downtrodden Lions.
“All of us had the dream that one pro day we were going to go out there and every team in the NFL is going to have a representative,” Curry said. “And we accomplished that goal, just like every other goal.”