NFL

Total makeover

The rehabilitation of Adrian McPherson has been as much a master PR coup as it has a measure of his ability.

By ROGER MILLS
Published April 21, 2005

	[AP: 2004]
	Adrian McPherson listens to instructions from coach Steve DeBerg in an Indiana Firebirds game. He was Arena league rookie of the year.
	[AP: 2003]
	Adrian McPherson and attorney Grady Irvin Jr. leave the courtroom during his gambling trail in Tallahassee.
	[Times photo: Carrie Pratt]
	Adrian McPherson during FSU's game against N.C. State in 2002. FSU lost 17-7 while McPherson was sacked four times.

TAMPA - This was no harebrained scheme that just happened to work. Nor was it some accidental toe-stubber that turned a has-been into a will-be.

In fact, the apparent escape of former FSU quarterback Adrian McPherson from the dungeon of wasted opportunity has as much to do with a well-orchestrated public relations campaign as it does his uncanny physical abilities.

Certainly, without God-given legs and arms, McPherson would be of no interest to anyone this weekend in the NFL draft. But the fact that he is now being considered a likely first-day pick is a success story created, in part, by super agent Leigh Steinberg.

In November 2002, while enjoying the promising beginnings of his college career with the Seminoles, McPherson was arrested on charges of felony theft. Gambling charges followed in March. In July 2003, after being dismissed by FSU, McPherson pleaded no contest to both sets of charges and was sentenced to community service, 90 days of county work and probation.

Over time, McPherson found in the Arena League a place to hone his never-in-doubt quarterback skills. But there remained the issue of his past.

Steinberg began the task of promoting McPherson the young man, not McPherson the quarterback laden with baggage.

"First of all, he had to deal with the long and lonely odyssey of a fall from grace," Steinberg said. "That, in itself, involved a real maturation process and character-building experience that few people his age have had to go through."

So they began showing up everywhere. They schmoozed with scores of NFL bigwigs. They let McPherson's 21-year-old innocence, outright honesty, clean-cut manner and overwhelming family support system do the talking.

It seems to have worked.

"The goal here was to make sure he got as much exposure to teams as possible and that meant scouts, coaches, general managers, personnel staff and even owners," Steinberg said. "We wanted to create a separation from the headlines of yesteryear to the reality of who he has become."

Some time this weekend - likely Saturday from the latest projections - a team will put behind the red flags, and make McPherson a rich young man possibly with an even richer future.

It is proof that second chances come not just to those who fall, but those willing to work to get back up again.

"I've matured," McPherson said. "I've understood that when you do the wrong things, it'll come back on you. I've continued to do the right thing."

He's told everyone about it.

While he lifted weights (now a bulky 213 pounds, as compared to the 185-pound whip in college) and worked on his throwing, McPherson went on a get-to-know-me blitz that began at this year's Super Bowl.

Knowing that just about every NFL decisionmaker would be in Jacksonville, McPherson was everywhere. On radio row, McPherson conducted "more interviews in two afternoons than he did the last three years combined," Steinberg said.

Then it was on to Steinberg's own private party, a Super Bowl weekend tradition with an invitation list rivaled by few. More schmoozing. Then came the Commissioner's Party, a formal NFL gala event that features some of the league's most influential personalities, owners and administrators.

"We wanted them to react with Adrian away from the football context," Steinberg said. "His interaction with them took on its own context, its own level."

McPherson attended the Senior Bowl, although he was not allowed to participate in any drills or meetings, and spent the time mingling with coaches and administrators. Then it was on to the scouting combine for more meetings and more questions.

"I feel like if I hid something from a team, anything, and they find out, I'm done," McPherson said. "I don't think I should share my business with everybody. The people that matter most are the people who are going to give me a second opportunity. Those are the people who I told exactly what happened. ... I told the general managers, head coaches and scouts, everything they needed to know because my career is in their hands."

The Buccaneers seem content with his maturation.

"I've seen a lot of those guys come out from those clouds," said Ruston Webster, Bucs director of college scouting. "You never know the whole story until you talk to the kid and get his side of it. A lot of times, until you meet him, you don't get his side of it. I've seen that happen before. I think he has put to rest anything that was (in question)."

The 14-game stint with the AFL's Indiana Firebirds in 2004 helped. He completed 209 of 352 attempts for 2,965 yards and 56 touchdowns. He also had 18 rushing TDs and was named the AFL Rookie of the Year.

Then, at a private workout in Bradenton last month, McPherson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5, measured in at 6 feet 4, 213 pounds, had a 40-inch vertical leap and put on a throwing display that captivated the scouts and may have catapulted him into the draft's second round.

"There's nothing I can't do," he said. "I can throw the ball and I'm very athletic. I can run and jump and make people miss. I think that helps and I think a lot of the teams realize that and hopefully that'll make somebody take me early in the draft."

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 01:06:12]