Professor

Dolphin surprise: Mormino toes the line - 08/09/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

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The grandest surprise of this Dolphins training camp dresses in an obscure corner of the locker room where rookies and seemingly nameless free agents spend their days hoping, praying they do something to catch a coach's eye to extend their stay on the roster at least another 24 hours.

Here in this netherworld that will be practically uninhabited by the time final roster cuts are made, Drew Mormino is looking, acting, talking like a keeper.

Maybe that's because this sixth-round pick -- Miami's second pick of the sixth round, no less -- is clinging tightly to a roster spot.

As a starting guard.

''Coach told me right before the camp that I'm going to be starting in the middle somewhere, either at right guard or left guard and I took that and ran with it,'' Mormino said Wednesday, only days before his professional debut against Jacksonville.

To listen to Mormino speak is to be encouraged with the direction the Dolphins' offensive line is taking now.

Days before getting a starting assignment against the likes of stellar Jacksonville defensive tackles John Henderson and Marcus Stroud, Mormino seems oblivious to the difficulty of his assignment and is unconcerned by the pair's five combined Pro Bowl appearances.

''I can't wait to play,'' Mormino said, brushing aside suggestions he'll be nervous like he casts aside defensive linemen in practice. ``It's going to be exciting. I can't wait to get after somebody that's not on our team and show them this is the new Dolphins and we're going to kick some butt.''

Ah, the new Dolphins. That is a refreshing phrase because the old Dolphins have, for too long, turned the offensive line into little more than an excuse on a coach's lips.

The offensive line struggled in preseason and regular-season games against the Jaguars the past two years and the answer to the trouble was always something akin to, ``Well, the Jaguars have a really good defensive front so everyone struggles against them.''

That isn't the perspective Mormino brings to Saturday's game at Dolphin Stadium.

''I don't want to be the cause of a bad play,'' Mormino said. ``So whatever I need to do, cut the guy, get in his face, punch him, scrap, fight, whatever. My deal is I like to get after people and try to punish them as much as I can.''

Mormino's demeanor translates on tape -- just ask General Manager Randy Mueller. Mueller discovered Mormino before the April draft when he was studying tape of offensive tackle Joe Staley, the guard's teammate at Central Michigan.

The Dolphins were considering Staley as a possible first-round pick when Mormino continually flashed toughness and grit into the picture.

''I don't care how he saw me,'' Mormino said, ``as long as he saw me. That's what counts.''

What counts most is that Mormino has been working as the starting right guard the first three weeks of training camp. He relegated veteran Rex Hadnot to a backup role, in part because Hadnot displeased coaches with his effort and in part because Mormino impressed them with that very asset.

Wednesday afternoon Mormino was shifted to the left guard position on the first team, allowing Hadnot to reclaim his right guard job but forcing veteran Chris Liwienski to the second team.

Think about that.

The Dolphins have three players vying for two starting guard jobs and no matter how they line up, no matter how coaches mix and match the men, the rookie of the group is always one of the starters.

And that is not all.

Even as first-round pick Ted Ginn gears himself for return duties before getting work at receiver, even as second pick John Beck's contribution might not come until 2008, even as third-round pick Lorenzo Booker fights for carries as a backup running back, the seventh player Miami drafted this year is on the first team.

That, of course, doesn't guarantee Mormino stardom. He still has much work to do with his pass blocking to bring it to the level of his run blocking. The team also wants him to bulk up in the weight room.

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