Archives for April 2009

‘”(Former KU tight end) Derek Fine is up there now, and he put in a good word for me,” said Mortensen, when reached by phone. “It runs Friday and I’ll be back Sunday, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.”‘

‘”I just want to go up there and get to know everybody and show them what type of player I am,” Harper said. “We’ll have two practices Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday, and I should know more of what my plans are after that.”‘

‘He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges and is due back in Cleveland Municipal Court May 19. The case was assigned to Judge Angela Stokes.’

‘The Pro Bowl tackles want to question the Bills about StarCaps and whether team officials advised players about the weight-loss product, which was contaminated with a prescription drug that can be used to mask steroids.’

‘Harper is one of two quarterbacks the Bills are expected to bring in for a rookie mini-camp this weekend.’

‘A preliminary hearing will be set on the charges. Whitner left the courtroom without commenting.’

‘”The first guy that I really got into deeply mentoring was Shawne Merriman,” said Arrington, who was an influence on the Chargers pass rusher as he was preparing himself for his NFL career at the University of Maryland. “I imparted a lot of what I had inside of me to him. He actually went to high school with my kid brother. So you see what that ended up being. That’s been such an important thing for me being involved with guys. It isn’t just Aaron.”‘

‘Buffalo Bills defensive back Donte Whitner is due in court to face charges stemming from an altercation at a Cleveland nightclub.’

‘"LaVar Arrington has been very influential," Maybin said. "He has helped me so much in bringing along my game. I consider him part of my family, like a brother."’

‘”We went into the draft having discussed that after the trade of Jason [Peters], saying, ‘Do we feel like we have to have a tackle?’ ” Bills coach Dick Jauron told reporters. “And I think we all agreed, and once again, you’ve heard it a lot … we’re not going to stray far from our grades just to take a tackle.”‘

‘”It took between 5-10 minutes to wrap things up because we knew Nick could be a pretty good player for us. The draft ended at 7 (p.m. Sunday), and obviously we got to him in no time.”‘

‘What stuck out about all four, besides their collegiate success, was that each of them is exceedingly bright.’

‘Elimimian is UH’s career leading tackler and was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2008.’

‘"I had several options but just felt that Buffalo gave me the best opportunity," Bell said in a phone interview Monday. "Buffalo lost their left tackle (Jason Peters) and I felt like there is some good room there to compete for playing time."’

‘When discussing Maybin’s strengths, Buffalo’s Chief Operating Officer Russ Brandon noted, “We talked about it at the end of the season (that) we have to make the quarterback uncomfortable. “Aaron gives us an opportunity to have another pass rusher off the edge. He’s an explosive athlete and a physical specimen and adding him to our mix makes us a lot better.”‘