woodbuck27
05-08-2007, 04:43 PM
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=602062
Change of direction gets back on track
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 7, 2007
Green Bay - DeShawn Wynn knows what they say about him, and for the most part he doesn't dispute it.
Quotable
''He's allowing me to coach him the way I need to coach him to get him to where he needs to be.''
- Stan Drayton, Florida assistant coach about DeShawn Wynn before his senior season
The only thing he really denies is that cell phone incident, which has become University of Florida legend and a badge of dishonor he would prefer not to wear.
But the stuff about him being lazy, not always giving his all, being an underachiever, Wynn, the Green Bay Packers' seventh-round running back, can't really say it isn't true. He fully admits he wasn't the player he should have been at Florida and has been humbled by being taken 228th overall in the draft.
"I don't have a problem with working hard," Wynn said after suffering a calf injury that sidelined him for the final two days of the Packers' rookie orientation camp that ended Sunday.
"But early in my career I had some problems where I went out there lackadaisical.
"As this season came, I had no problems working because we were trying to win a championship. My whole mind-frame was this season will depend on me if I want to go to the next level. The knock on me was I wasn't a hard worker and that's from earlier in my career."
Actually, it comes from the better part of his career. But the last half of the 2006 season, he was a changed man, toughing out a right knee sprain and a left shoulder injury to finish with 267 yards and three touchdowns in 60 carries, including 19 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown in Florida's national championship victory over Ohio State.
Wynn's position coach at Florida was Stan Drayton, a quality control and special teams assistant with the Packers from 2001-'03. Drayton learned the art of frank speaking from Packers running backs coach Sylvester Croom, who brought Drayton to Mississippi State with him in 2004, and he gave both the Packers and Wynn a full assessment of the running back's talents.
"He called me after I got picked up and told me he talked to the Packers when they were asking about me," Wynn said.
"He told me exactly what he said. He didn't hold back. He told me (he said) it will be a steal to get me, definitely a first-round talent, but sometimes in my career he said I had some problems.
"He asked them what kind of running back group they had. As long as they have hard workers it would be good for me going there because I work to the talent of who I'm playing with."
There's no question Wynn would have been drafted much higher were it not for his lack of motivation.
At the scouting combine, the 5-10 Wynn weighed in a 232 pounds yet ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash, seven hundredths of a second slower than Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson, the top running back taken in the draft. Peterson weighs 217 pounds.
Wynn didn't become the full-time starter at Florida until his senior season, and he said that was what led to his poor attitude.
Under coach Ron Zook, Wynn averaged 4.7 yards a carry and scored seven touchdowns as a red-shirt freshman, but Zook chose to start Ran Carthon, who was a senior. When Wynn came back the following year, he split time, in part because he hadn't worked nearly as hard as he had going into the previous year.
"I came in working real hard," Wynn said.
"I did everything. I did a whole scrimmage by myself in the spring. The season came and I had like 500 something yards in the first six games and they never started me. They just started the senior because they told me he's a senior and paid his dues.
"So I'm like, 'OK, that's how it works.' So after that, I go out and practice and there's no purpose to give everything I've got if they still have this man starting. I started to get into that mode and it carried to my sophomore year. I got into that and that kind of messed me up and carried along with me."
When Urban Meyer replaced Zook two years ago, one of the first things he did was to challenge Wynn. In his first meeting with the team, the former Utah coach singled out Wynn as an underachiever and told him he expected more out of him.
"He's like, 'Why haven't you done anything here? You're one of the best high school running backs I've seen come out?' " Wynn said.
"He flat called me out in front of everybody. I kind of liked that. He'll tell you the truth. Coach Meyer isn't going to lie to you. He's not going to tell you what you (want) to hear."
Drayton was on Wynn from the time he arrived with Meyer in 2005 and tried to mold him into something more than an underachiever.
Meanwhile, Wynn got off on the wrong foot with Meyer by having an illegal parking sticker and was constantly in his doghouse.
Meyer once was so mad at the running backs that he told them he was going to go with five wide receivers the entire game.
In the spring game before Wynn's senior year, he started a fullback at halfback in place of Wynn because he was unhappy with him. All through the two years Wynn was with Meyer, the coach tried different ways to motivate him.
Finally, Wynn got the message, in part because Drayton impressed on him the importance of having a good senior season if he wanted to play in the NFL. Drayton was quoted in August of 2006 saying Wynn was a different man.
"He's playing at a tempo I've never seen him practice at," said Drayton, who was recruiting and unavailable for comment last week.
"He's doing everything that I asked without any back talk whatsoever. And he's allowing me to coach him the way I need to coach him to get him to where he needs to be. He's made drastic improvement."
The Packers know they're going to have to be as vigilant with Wynn as Meyer and Drayton were if they want to see him at his best. Wynn considers this a fresh start, but all it will take is one missed meeting or poor practice for him to get on Packers coach Mike McCarthy's bad side.
"There's obviously a lot of positives we saw about the young man, that's why he's here," McCarthy said.
"That's what we'll focus on. Time will tell, and I think everybody here knows the way we work and the way we're structured. Whether he fits here or not, or anybody we bring through these doors, it will be identified pretty quickly.
As for cell phones, Wynn won't have one on the sideline as he was reported to have with the Gators. Actually, Wynn said the cell phone he used was in the locker room and it was to help a teammate get some tickets. An assistant coach told him to put it away and Wynn said he did.
"It turned into me being on the telephone before the game," Wynn said.
In Green Bay, the slate is clean. Now all Wynn has to do is make sure it stays that way.
GO PACKERS !
Change of direction gets back on track
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 7, 2007
Green Bay - DeShawn Wynn knows what they say about him, and for the most part he doesn't dispute it.
Quotable
''He's allowing me to coach him the way I need to coach him to get him to where he needs to be.''
- Stan Drayton, Florida assistant coach about DeShawn Wynn before his senior season
The only thing he really denies is that cell phone incident, which has become University of Florida legend and a badge of dishonor he would prefer not to wear.
But the stuff about him being lazy, not always giving his all, being an underachiever, Wynn, the Green Bay Packers' seventh-round running back, can't really say it isn't true. He fully admits he wasn't the player he should have been at Florida and has been humbled by being taken 228th overall in the draft.
"I don't have a problem with working hard," Wynn said after suffering a calf injury that sidelined him for the final two days of the Packers' rookie orientation camp that ended Sunday.
"But early in my career I had some problems where I went out there lackadaisical.
"As this season came, I had no problems working because we were trying to win a championship. My whole mind-frame was this season will depend on me if I want to go to the next level. The knock on me was I wasn't a hard worker and that's from earlier in my career."
Actually, it comes from the better part of his career. But the last half of the 2006 season, he was a changed man, toughing out a right knee sprain and a left shoulder injury to finish with 267 yards and three touchdowns in 60 carries, including 19 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown in Florida's national championship victory over Ohio State.
Wynn's position coach at Florida was Stan Drayton, a quality control and special teams assistant with the Packers from 2001-'03. Drayton learned the art of frank speaking from Packers running backs coach Sylvester Croom, who brought Drayton to Mississippi State with him in 2004, and he gave both the Packers and Wynn a full assessment of the running back's talents.
"He called me after I got picked up and told me he talked to the Packers when they were asking about me," Wynn said.
"He told me exactly what he said. He didn't hold back. He told me (he said) it will be a steal to get me, definitely a first-round talent, but sometimes in my career he said I had some problems.
"He asked them what kind of running back group they had. As long as they have hard workers it would be good for me going there because I work to the talent of who I'm playing with."
There's no question Wynn would have been drafted much higher were it not for his lack of motivation.
At the scouting combine, the 5-10 Wynn weighed in a 232 pounds yet ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash, seven hundredths of a second slower than Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson, the top running back taken in the draft. Peterson weighs 217 pounds.
Wynn didn't become the full-time starter at Florida until his senior season, and he said that was what led to his poor attitude.
Under coach Ron Zook, Wynn averaged 4.7 yards a carry and scored seven touchdowns as a red-shirt freshman, but Zook chose to start Ran Carthon, who was a senior. When Wynn came back the following year, he split time, in part because he hadn't worked nearly as hard as he had going into the previous year.
"I came in working real hard," Wynn said.
"I did everything. I did a whole scrimmage by myself in the spring. The season came and I had like 500 something yards in the first six games and they never started me. They just started the senior because they told me he's a senior and paid his dues.
"So I'm like, 'OK, that's how it works.' So after that, I go out and practice and there's no purpose to give everything I've got if they still have this man starting. I started to get into that mode and it carried to my sophomore year. I got into that and that kind of messed me up and carried along with me."
When Urban Meyer replaced Zook two years ago, one of the first things he did was to challenge Wynn. In his first meeting with the team, the former Utah coach singled out Wynn as an underachiever and told him he expected more out of him.
"He's like, 'Why haven't you done anything here? You're one of the best high school running backs I've seen come out?' " Wynn said.
"He flat called me out in front of everybody. I kind of liked that. He'll tell you the truth. Coach Meyer isn't going to lie to you. He's not going to tell you what you (want) to hear."
Drayton was on Wynn from the time he arrived with Meyer in 2005 and tried to mold him into something more than an underachiever.
Meanwhile, Wynn got off on the wrong foot with Meyer by having an illegal parking sticker and was constantly in his doghouse.
Meyer once was so mad at the running backs that he told them he was going to go with five wide receivers the entire game.
In the spring game before Wynn's senior year, he started a fullback at halfback in place of Wynn because he was unhappy with him. All through the two years Wynn was with Meyer, the coach tried different ways to motivate him.
Finally, Wynn got the message, in part because Drayton impressed on him the importance of having a good senior season if he wanted to play in the NFL. Drayton was quoted in August of 2006 saying Wynn was a different man.
"He's playing at a tempo I've never seen him practice at," said Drayton, who was recruiting and unavailable for comment last week.
"He's doing everything that I asked without any back talk whatsoever. And he's allowing me to coach him the way I need to coach him to get him to where he needs to be. He's made drastic improvement."
The Packers know they're going to have to be as vigilant with Wynn as Meyer and Drayton were if they want to see him at his best. Wynn considers this a fresh start, but all it will take is one missed meeting or poor practice for him to get on Packers coach Mike McCarthy's bad side.
"There's obviously a lot of positives we saw about the young man, that's why he's here," McCarthy said.
"That's what we'll focus on. Time will tell, and I think everybody here knows the way we work and the way we're structured. Whether he fits here or not, or anybody we bring through these doors, it will be identified pretty quickly.
As for cell phones, Wynn won't have one on the sideline as he was reported to have with the Gators. Actually, Wynn said the cell phone he used was in the locker room and it was to help a teammate get some tickets. An assistant coach told him to put it away and Wynn said he did.
"It turned into me being on the telephone before the game," Wynn said.
In Green Bay, the slate is clean. Now all Wynn has to do is make sure it stays that way.
GO PACKERS !