Cornish Seeks Spot in the Sun : Chargers: Ex-UCLA center wants an NFL career in a warm clime.
Frank Cornish, who probably will make the Chargers as a rookie center, is really just another guy who has been spoiled by the California sun.
After finishing his collegiate career at UCLA, Cornish, originally from Chicago, knew there was one thing he could do without. Snow.
“I wanted to play in warm weather conditions,” he said. “After five years of college, you get kind of used to that. I wasn’t in a rush to get back to shoveling snow.”
Which made it nice that the Chargers drafted him in the sixth round in April. Actually, he figured he would be selected earlier.
“Yeah, I expected to go a lot higher,” he said. “But, you know, things happen. It happened.”
It didn’t hinder him too much. From the looks of it, he should be Courtney Hall’s backup by the time the season starts. And, when he is ready, the Chargers have plans to teach him how to play guard, too.
“He’s got a very good chance of making the team if he stays healthy,” said Alex Gibbs, the Charger offensive line coach. “He’s got one of those bodies that I think is going to take the pounding and the punishment. That’s something you never know about guys who come out of college. Even though they may have a good record of not being injured there, it’s a different game because there are big bodies that are smashing around. It looks like he’s going to get through that.”
If you push Frank Cornish, he’ll push back. At 6-foot-4, 283 pounds, it’s not as if he doesn’t have the weight to throw. He ranks fourth in the UCLA record book with a 1,253-pound total in the three lift (bench, squat and clean).
Veteran players don’t intimidate him, and that hasn’t escaped Charger Coach Dan Henning.
“He’s feisty,” Henning said. “He’s not going to take any (guff) from anybody.”
There is a simple reason for that.
“You figure if you take it the first time they’re going to come back and give it to you the second time,” he said. “So it’s a matter of getting your point across the very first time it happens.”
Gibbs says Cornish is a quick study, and part of the reason might be that he comes from a football background. His father, Frank Cornish III, played for the Miami Dolphins and the Chicago Bears.
“Naturally, having a father that played professionally, I’ve always wanted to play professional football,” Frank Cornish IV said. “I guess I was blessed with some of his ability, and I’m just trying to make the best of it.”
Cornerback Gill Byrd (fluid on the knee), outside linebacker Billy Ray Smith (bruised thigh) and tight end Arthur Cox (strained back) are questionable for Saturday’s exhibition game against the Rams in Anaheim.
Guard Mike Simmonds, a Plan B free agent, is out with a dislocated kneecap he sustained Wednesday.
Charger Notes
Coach Dan Henning said Derrick Walker will get a good look at tight end on Saturday, and Joe Caravello, the current starter, will see a lot of playing time because of the injury to Cox. Henning said rookies Tommie Stowers (Missouri) and Dave Colonna (Duke) also will get some work. . . . Linebacker Richard Brown, a free agent from San Diego State, will see action as a deep snapper Saturday against the Rams. . . . Ed White, the Charger tight end coach, will coach from the field rather than the pressbox this week, Coach Dan Henning said. . . . Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard said there were no negotiations Thursday on the contracts of either first-round draft selection Junior Seau or veteran linebacker Leslie O’Neal. Beathard is scheduled to meet with Marvin Demoff, O’Neal’s agent, this morning.