BEREA: Browns wide receiver Corey Coleman signed his four-year, $11.654 million rookie contract Friday morning, spoke to the media in the afternoon about wearing No. 19 like legendary quarterback Bernie Kosar did decades ago and later participated in his first practice with his new team.
But the first day of rookie minicamp wasn’t all roses for Coleman because coach Hue Jackson challenged him to get into better shape. Jackson started his post-practice news conference by saying several rookies needed to improve their conditioning and later used the team’s first-round pick as an example.
“He’s explosive, and he can catch the ball. He’s got to get in shape,” Jackson said of Coleman, the 15th overall pick in last month’s draft. “He’s one of the guys that has to get in shape, but the talent — he’s extremely talented and gifted. He saw himself, ‘Whoa, this is different.’ And it is. But we’ll get him to where he needs to be.”
Jackson explained the subpar conditioning of some rookies doesn’t bother him because they hadn’t really worked with the Browns’ staff yet. The rookies reported to minicamp on Thursday.
Still, Jackson has high expectations for his players and the new regime’s top selection is no exception. That’s why the coach gave Coleman some good-natured ribbing about his conditioning.
“He understands where he needs to be, and I’m excited about him,” Jackson said. “He gets it. It’d be different if I didn’t think a young man gets it. He does, and he knows there’s work to do. That’s what this is all about. That’s why they call us coaches. We got to take these guys and mold them into our culture and to our idea of being football players for the Cleveland Browns, and we’ll get them there.”
Jackson is convinced Coleman and the three other receivers the Browns drafted this year will be whipped into shape by veteran coach Al Saunders.
“They all understand, ‘Boy, we’ve got some catching up to do to even have a chance to compete with the varsity guys [veteran players],’ because those guys can run all day right now, and these guys have to get to that point,” Jackson said. “ ... [Saunders] knows how to take guys from step A all the way to step Z, and he’s the best I’ve ever been around. So I’m not worried about where these young guys are right now.
“Trust me when I tell you, when we get where we need to be, these guys will be exactly how we want them to be when it’s time.”
Jackson said it’s not uncommon for rookies to encounter this obstacle.
“When I say [these things] about [Coleman] getting in shape, I’m not putting him down by any stretch of the imagination,” Jackson said. “Trust me. This whole group needs to get in better shape. I just pointed this out because I think the guy’s very talented, and I think if anything I think his eyes really opened about where he needs to get to very fast, and I think he’s very excited to do it because he knows what it’s going to take to play up here. So this is not a negative.
“Receivers have to be able to run all day long. It’s different from the college game. The guy made it through practice, and he made some plays and catches and all that stuff. But at the same time, there’s a level of what it should it look like for me. So maybe this is a little pleasing of me that he needs to get better from a conditioning standpoint to be able to do it for as long as I know that a receiver has to do it and the way our receivers do it now.
“In order for him to walk in that room to compete with those [older] guys, he’s got to get into great shape. It’s not talent at all. It has nothing to do with that. It’s getting in shape, and that’s OK ’cause we’ll get him there very quickly.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.