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Do IT this week: Layering
Linebacker Alex Hall must fill shoes of injured Antwan Peek
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Friday, Sep 05, 2008
BEREA: Last year, Alex Hall was playing defensive end at Division II Saint Augustine's College and getting ready for the season opener against Mars Hill.
On Sunday, the Browns' rookie linebacker will be going after Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in sold-out Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Making his NFL debut in front of a national television audience could be daunting for Hall, especially when his North Carolina college was smaller than his Springdale, Md., high school.
When it was suggested that some people prefer to dive into the pool rather than think about it, Hall said: ''That's true. I did a cannonball, though.''
Hall's role this season became dramatically more important Wednesday afternoon. Five-year veteran linebacker Antwan Peek blew out his right knee in practice.
''It looks like the patella tendon,'' Browns coach Romeo Crennel said.
That's the same injury suffered in 2006 by center LeCharles Bentley and cornerback Gary Baxter, who tore the tendons in both knees. Neither has played since.
Crennel called Peek's a freak injury that happened when he was running down the field and planted his foot. Peek underwent surgery Thursday and was placed on injured reserve.
Shantee Orr, signed as a free agent in March and released Saturday in final cuts, was re-signed in time for practice Thursday. The four-year veteran had returned home to Houston, playing golf Tuesday in 100-degree heat, and received a call Wednesday from Trip MacCracken, the Browns' director of football administration.
Orr said he was surprised he didn't make the team originally.
''Of course, everybody was,'' Orr said. ''But I'm back, it's two or three days later, I don't have to go anywhere else and learn a new system and start all over again. I know everyone here.''
He said that on Sunday, he'll do ''everything I've been doing — special teams, nickel rusher and some base work as well.''
Peek was plagued by injuries last season, but played in 14 games, starting four. He recorded 24 tackles and finished second on the team in sacks (four) and quarterback pressures (nine). He had been buoyed by his return to practice Monday after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the same knee July 31.
''He trained so hard to get back on the field, to lose him in that way so early in the season, it just hurts,'' center and co-captain Hank Fraley said. ''Everybody pretty much stopped when they heard it was Peek and looked over. . . . It's tough to replace a guy like him. On and off the field, he's a great guy. He's always helping others, he's working with our offensive tackles on the pass rush.''
Browns linebacker and co-captain Andra Davis called it a ''huge blow'' to lose Peek.
''He's one of our brothers, but we know he's going to be here with us in spirit. We're going to be there for him through this tough situation. But as a team, we've got to move on,'' Davis said. ''We can't just sit back and cry about it. He wouldn't want that. I talked to him after he got hurt and he's upbeat and he's going to be positive and he wants us to go out and do well.''
The loss of Peek would seem to be a blow to a Browns' pass rush that tied for 26th in the league in sacks last season with 28. Only Oakland, Buffalo, Atlanta, Carolina and Cincinnati had fewer.
That's where Hall, a seventh-round pick, comes in.
General Manager Phil Savage said in final cuts that it came down to Hall or Orr. In this week's behind-the-scenes look at the Browns in Sports Illustrated, one Cleveland scout said that on film, it was hard to tell the difference between Hall (No. 96) and Kamerion Wimbley (No. 95), the 13th overall pick in 2006. In a vote by the media at the end of camp, he won the Maurice Bassett Award as top rookie performer.
Coming from a college of about 1,500 students in Raleigh, Hall admitted the past couple of months have been ''pretty whirlwindish.'' He said his biggest challenge Sunday against the Cowboys will be the change of atmosphere.
''We've been playing the preseason games, but this is opening day. There's going to be a whole different type vibe going on,'' he said. ''That will be the biggest thing, the environment.''
He's sure he'll have butterflies because he's nervous before every game, but Hall has no doubt he belongs.
''Obviously, they brought me in, so I knew they wanted me here,'' he said. ''There wasn't any uncertainty at all. They didn't bring me here to sit around here and look. They brought me in to help and play. I'm prepared.''
Wimbley set the Browns' rookie record with 11 sacks in 2006, then managed only five last season. And while Wimbley has played nearly every down since he arrived, Hall might be turned loose only in passing situations, with Willie McGinest expected to remain the starter.
Hall seemed excited by the notion that his first career sack could be of Romo.
''That would be cool,'' Hall said. ''That would be a couple trash-talking points.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
BEREA: Last year, Alex Hall was playing defensive end at Division II Saint Augustine's College and getting ready for the season opener against Mars Hill.
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