Terence Newman returns to his roots to help high-schoolers improve

By ARNE GREEN

Salina Journal

Terence Newman looked out at a rainy Salina Stadium early Monday evening and wondered out loud if he was still home in Dallas.

"I thought the world was coming to an end, how much rain we've had," said Newman, the native Salinan who went on to fame and fortune at Kansas State and with the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys. "It's crazy.

"And now look what's happened here."

Newman, who starred in football and track at Salina Central, is back in town for a few days to see family and friends and also to conduct the two-day Terence Newman Football Camp at the same stadium where he competed in the 1990s.

The camp, which drew about 30 high school-aged boys, started Monday night in a light rainfall and will conclude tonight.

"In Dallas, I always try to do stuff with kids, like camps for little kids," Newman said. "I was actually going to put something together here for all ages, but it happened to work out that they're already doing camps for the little kids, so I figured I'd take eighth grade through 12th grade and teach them what I know about football."

For their $100 registration fee -- proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs and Salvation Army football program -- campers not only received instruction from Newman, a four-year starter for the Cowboys, but also from K-State players as well as coaches and players from Kansas Wesleyan and local high schools. And they took home camp T-shirts, water bottles and other gear brought in by Newman.

Former K-State All-America linebacker Jeff Kelly, another NFL veteran, was tutoring one group, along with incoming Wildcat freshman Jason Cuba. Quarterback Josh Freeman, running back James Johnson and defensive backs Bryan Baldwin and Chris Carney also were on hand.

But Newman was clearly the main attraction.

"I'm a Cowboys fan and I'd love to meet Terence Newman," said 14-year-old linebacker Bobby Simpson of Gypsum, who will be a freshman this fall at Southeast of Saline High School. "I watched him in high school, too, and I've learned just from watching him play."

Offensive lineman Jarred Bruggeman of Assaria, another Southeast freshman, agreed.

"I'm excited," he said. "I think this will be a great experience and I need help with my football.

"I think they'll teach me some new stuff to help my game."

Newman picked the Boys and Girls Clubs and Salvation Army football as beneficiaries for the camp because they played a role in his youth. He will present his own check to those organizations at the conclusion of the camps tonight.

"I played Salvation Army growing up," Newman said. "That was my first tackle football experience, aside from the playground."

While in town, Newman also found time Sunday for some seven-on-seven workouts with Kansas Wesleyan players.

"It was mostly just me helping out, but then I figured I might as well get some work in because I'm not going to do anything for a couple of days," Newman said. "They've got a lot of talent over there and I just wanted to give some of my knowledge."

Willie Johnson, a senior Coyote cornerback who was helping with the camp Monday, got to test his own skills against Newman the day before.

"It was fun and eye-opening," Johnson said. "He helped give us some keys to the game.

"I ran some receiver against him and he ran receiver against me. I was trying to match my game up against his, but those guys are (in the NFL) for a reason."

And how did that go?

"I think I did well," Johnson said with a smile. "He got two picks against me and I got two picks against him."

For Newman, the camp was a rare public appearance in Salina, though he said he visits family regularly. He still has two uncles and cousins in town.

"I try to stay kind of under the radar and do what I have to do an not make a big fuss," he said. "But I wanted to make sure I came back and was able to do stuff in my community."

Most of Newman's year is spent in Dallas, where even the offseason keeps him busy with workouts and camps.

He has been a starter for the Cowboys from the day he was drafted fifth overall in the 2003 NFL draft and is widely regarded as one of the league's top cornerbacks never selected for the Pro Bowl all-star game.

Always driven to succeed -- he was a first-team All-American and the Jim Thorpe Award winner his senior year at K-State -- Newman said there is much left for him to accomplish professionally.

"I'm never satisfied," he said. "I'm never going to be satisfied until my heart tells me I've put all my effort in.

"I definitely won't stop until I'm mentioned in that category and I have been mentioned in that category, but I want to be the topic of discussion."

The hot topic of discussion in Dallas this summer is the arrival of new head coach Wade Phillips, who replaced legendary Bill Parcells.

Phillips is known as a players' coach because of his more laid-back demeanor, which is a stark contrast to Parcells and Hall-of-Famer Bill Snyder, Newman's coach at K-State.

"You definitely like his attitude, like his passion for winning and having fun, which is what a quote-unquote players' coach is," Newman said of Phillips. "He's not going to curse you out and he's really relaxed.

"His style is just different from a lot of coaches, but he still gets his point across."

But style can be overrated, according to Newman.

"The main thing you've got to do is make sure the whole team stays together and focused," he said. "When you lose one guy out messing around late at night or getting in trouble drinking and driving or something like that, it brings you down and affects everybody.

"We're always happy as long as we're winning football games. That's the name of the game, and as long as we can be successful, it's a great hire."

Phillips, a veteran defensive coordinator, has installed a 3-4 defense that seems to fit the Cowboys personnel.

"This defense is allowing the talent that we have to be able to go out and play fast, play smart, have fun and win games," Newman said. "In the past it's been kind of controlled and a little more predictable."

Newman's career has progressed steadily, and while his tackle and interception numbers actually have decreased -- he had four picks each of his first two years, three in 2005 and just one last year -- he is developing a reputation as a shut-down corner.

And he's still hungry to improve.

"I've stopped some great receivers and I've also given up some catches by great receivers," he said. "Any sport can humble you, but playing corner is the most humbling position ever.

"That's why you play the game, though, because the challenge is the ultimate. Playing defensive back is the most unnatural thing you can do because you're going backward and another guy is coming forward and you've got to run with him."

Newman practices regularly against one of the all-time great receivers, Terrell Owens. But Owens also is a lightning rod, seemingly drawn to controversy by his outrageous comments.

"I'm not talking about Terrell," said Newman, who like many teammates have grown weary of discussing the off-field distractions that Owens brings. "He gets such a bad rap that I feel bad for him.

"So a lot of guys don't even talk about him. He's really a good guy, it's just that people don't know him so they want to jump to conclusions."

Newman, who remains media-friendly but on his own terms, said he learned a lot in that department from watching Parcells in action the past four years.

"Bill thought the media was pretty much a cake walk," Newman said. "He made exactly what he wanted to happen in the press conference happen.

"You've got to know how to end situations that are bad. He was never misquoted or anything like that, just because he knew how to handle everybody. He was a genius."

Showing that he had learned well, Newman ended his interview session, jogged out into the rain and onto the Salina Stadium turf and went back to what had brought him there in the first place.