There's a Safe Route in Draft

By SAM FARMER

April 18, 2002 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Any good receiver relishes the prospect of one-on-one coverage, operating on an island.

As for Ashley Lelie, he’s ready to get off an island.

Lelie (pronounced la-LEE), who set every receiving record of note in his three seasons at Hawaii, is one of the top receivers in a 2002 draft class full of them. There could be as many as six receivers selected in the first round of the two-day draft, which begins Saturday, matching last year’s first-round total.

“There’s a few great ones,” Detroit Lion General Manager Matt Millen said. “There are enough good ones that most every team can make themselves better.”

Lelie, a fourth-year junior who set a Warrior record last season with 83 catches for 1,713 yards and 19 touchdowns, is simply ready to make himself known.

“We didn’t get too much exposure in Hawaii,” he said. “When we did play on TV, half the country was asleep already. I know the coaches and scouts, they watch tapes. I wasn’t that worried.”

Most draft analysts consider Tennessee’s Donte Stallworth the top receiver in the class, although there is no indisputable pecking order. Among the other receivers who could go in the first round are Louisiana State’s Josh Reed, Florida’s Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell, Florida State’s Javon Walker, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Bryant, Virginia Tech’s Andre Davis and Michigan’s Marquise Walker.

On the rise is Bryant, a third-year junior who was a freshman All-American in 1999 and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver as a sophomore.

He had ankle problems last season but rallied and was named most valuable player of the Tangerine Bowl. Also, he doesn’t lack swagger.

“There were plenty of opportunities I had at Pittsburgh where I made games look like all-star games,” he told reporters at the NFL combine in February. He said he styles his rough-and-tumble style after former Dallas receiver Michael Irvin by “beating up on players, throwing the trash can at them.”

Stallworth might be best remembered at Tennessee for the way he changed his mind after announcing in January he would forgo his senior year. Shortly thereafter, he reconsidered, but the NCAA wouldn’t let him come back. Turns out he violated NCAA rules by accepting $1,300 in illegal benefits from an agent: a rental car, cell phone and a plane ticket for his brother.

Stallworth, who said he repaid the agent, passed on a chance to further appeal the decision.

“I was 30 hours from graduating and we were so close to the national championship,” he told a reporter at the combine. “After I decided to come out, I started to think I really wanted to come back and pull with my teammates to try to win the national championship. But when the NCAA denied the first appeal, I decided it was time to move on.”

Reed’s stock jumped dramatically after last season, when he won the Biletnikoff Award and turned heads of scouts who might otherwise have written him off as too small (5 feet 10, 210 pounds). He has the rare ability to maintain his speed through his cuts--most players decelerate--and blocks as well as any receiver on the board. He has been clocked at 4.47 seconds in the 40-yard dash, which is nearly two-tenths of a second faster than his best time a year ago. He credits that to working with a personal coach, Tom Shaw, who specializes in helping NFL players and prospects improve their speed.

“There’s no one that’s perfect, nobody that is 6-4, 215 pounds that runs the 40 in a 4.3,” Reed said. “They [scouts] are going to find something that you need to improve on, and that will show them your work ethic and what kind of character you have, if you got better, stayed the same or got worse.”

While Reed has been getting faster, Lelie has been bulking up. He has added 15 pounds to his 6-2, basketball-player body in the off-season and weighs 197. He’s ready to give up his laid-back lifestyle on the islands for a taste of NFL paradise.

“I’m ready to get out of here,” he said, pausing. “Until the Pro Bowl.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

When: Rounds 1-3 on Saturday, rounds 4-7 on Sunday.

Where: New York (The Theater at Madison Square Garden).

TV: ESPN, Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; ESPN2, Saturday, 4-7 p.m.; ESPN, Sunday, 8 a.m.-noon; ESPN2, noon-3 p.m.

DRAFT ORDER

1. Houston

2. Carolina

3. Detroit

4. Buffalo

5. San Diego

6. Dallas