TOWSON, Md. – There are four reasons why Tiger Football fans might find it in their hearts to root for the Cleveland Browns now – Terrance West, Jim O'Neil, Brian Fleury and Rusty McKinney.
There's an outside chance there may be additional cause if you count offensive tackle Randall Harris and tight end James Oboh, two Tigers who are attending the Browns' rookie mini-tryout camp this weekend as undrafted free agents after helping Towson to a runner-up finish in the 2014 FCS National Championship game. You never know…
Unless you've been on safari with no possible means of communication, you're aware of West's selection as the 94th pick in the third round of the 2014 NFL draft that landed the All-American running back in Cleveland. You're excused if you're not aware of O'Neil and Fleury, two other former Tiger football players who are now members of the Browns' newly formed coaching staff under first-year Head Coach Mike Pettine.
If you knew about McKinney ('01), give yourself an A-plus. The former All-Patriot League linebacker will join the Browns as a quality control intern assisting with the inside linebackers after six years at Bentley College. That's a transaction that probably won't move on the wires, but to the Tiger Football family, it's big news.
O'Neil arrived in Cleveland on January 29, 2014 to become the NFL's youngest defensive coordinator at age 35. Fleury got there two days earlier when he was named assistant linebackers coach. O'Neil actually hired Fleury, but the timing difference was caused by contract obligations. Both had previously worked under Pettine, who had served as the Buffalo Bills' defensive coordinator.
In their own way, each has risen to his current position rather quickly after turning pro.
O'Neil, a three-year regular on Towson's defensive line and captain his senior year, was part of the Tigers' Patriot League legacy from 1998 to 2000. In 2001 he took his first coaching job at SUNY Albany where he earned a master's in education. That was followed by a year at Penn before two years at Northwestern, where he picked up a second master's in liberal studies. In 2005 he returned to Towson as Gordy Combs' defensive coordinator, but after a year, O'Neil took off for Eastern Michigan. He remained there until he became the New York Jets' defensive coordinator. Pettine offered him the Bills' job in 2009.
When Pettine, who broke into professional football coaching with the Baltimore Ravens (2002-08), moved upstate to Buffalo, O'Neil went with him.
In just his sixth NFL year, O'Neil is a coordinator.
Fleury, a quarterback with Towson ('02), spent nine years in the college coaching ranks (Maryland, Sacred Heart and Towson) before he turned pro with the Bills in 2013, an opportunity made possible by O'Neil.
“The opportunity to work together is something Jimmy and I have been talking about for years,” says Fleury. “It's going to be exciting to have four of us here. All the credit goes to Jimmy for seeing the opportunity to give a former teammate a chance and doing it again with Rusty. Having that common background at Towson for all four of us and being able to share it makes it all the more special.”
Although events are happening quickly now for the two of them, Fleury admits it's been a hard row.
“We both started at small schools where you have to plan the bus trips, figure out when to serve the meals, mow the field and just do all the little jobs,” he says. “It really helps give you an appreciation for the big picture of absolutely everything that goes into winning football games. I wouldn't change anything about that. It certainly humbled me getting up to this point. The last two years have been exciting. Things have happened fast but there was a lot that went into it before I got to this point.”
Fleury's four years on Rob Ambrose's Tiger staff included Towson's two Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship seasons with West leading the offense.
Did Fleury have any influence on the Brown's drafting the record-breaking runningback?
“I don't want to take any credit away from Terrance because he's here on his own merit,” Fleury says. “I sat back and observed most of the process. On one occasion they asked me a few questions regarding a character reference and his workout ethic. They had heard the stories about his background and wondered how a player so talented could get overlooked coming out of high school. I simply verified everything they already knew about him.”
Four former Tigers with budding NFL careers. It should be fun to watch them grow.
News and Notes
BREAKING NEWS: News of O'Neil and Fleury leaving the Bills was broken by none other than Buffalo's new head coach, Doug Marrone, who at his own presser to announce his selection of a defensive coordinator, blurted that the two former Tigers were headed to Cleveland.
SMALL SCHOOL MONIKER: Mike McLain of the Tribune Chronicle wrote – “The Browns opened the third day of the NFL draft like they finished off the second – fishing for small-school talent.” The reference was to Cleveland's taking West and Pierre Desir, a cornerback from Lindenwood. Do Towson and Lindenwood compete on the same field? Lindenwood better fits the “small school” description as a member of the Division II Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association that includes Emporia State, Missouri Western, Nebraska Kearney, Southwest Baptist, et. al.
That's a different level than the CAA whose members include Villanova, Richmond, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine – the latter three being THE state's university. Gotta believe Towson is somewhere in between Notre Dame and Lindenwood – maybe a mid-major? But then the Tribune Chronicle in Warren, Ohio isn't exactly the Boston Globe, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun or Washington Post either.
SPEAKING OF THE IRISH: The Cleveland Browns have four former Towson players in their organization compared to just three from Notre Dame.
A STARTER SOON? There are football people who think Cleveland's selection of West was a great move. Former Washington Redskins executive Charley Casserly, now an analyst for the NFL Network, considered it one of the best moves of the draft, predicting that West will eventually start ahead of Ben Tate.
TOP CAA PICK: Terrance West was one of just two CAA players taken in the draft. The Vikings picked cornerback James Kendall of Maine in the sixth round. West also was the third FCS player drafted after Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to New England (62nd) and North Dakota State offensive tackle Billy Turner to Miami (67th).
WEATHER RELATED: I wonder if the 354 yards Terrance gained and five TDs he scored on a snow-covered field in the 49-39 FCS playoff win over host Eastern Illinois (whose QB Garoppolo is now a New England Patriot) had anything to do with the Browns' decision to draft him since those lake effect snows can create similar conditions in Cleveland late in the NFL season.
