Speaking of Meriweather...
http://49ers.com/pressbox/news_detai...tion=PR%20News
Chrissy Mauck
Over the next few weeks 49ers.com will be rolling out some features on some of the draft eligible players available for the 2007 NFL Draft. In this On the Clock features, we take a look at Miami safety Brandon Meriweather.
Miami’s Brandon Meriweather boasts an impressive collegiate stat sheet – 83 tackles, 55 assists, seven picks and 19 passes defensed. Heading into the fall of ’06 he was projected as one of the top collegiate safeties and a possible first round pick, but at 5-11, 192 pounds, Meriweather doesn’t meet prototypical standards for a safety. His size limitations, as well as some questions about his character will likely drop him into the second round.
Wherever Meriweather lands in the upcoming draft, he’ll take with him his versatility.
Over his four-year career, Meriweather racked up 30 starts for the Hurricanes. Although he mainly hunkered down at strong safety, the Apopka, Florida native worked as a nickel back during his true freshman year in 2003, started at free safety his sophomore year and even spent time in a pinch at corner throughout this past season.
“I feel like I can make plays wherever they play me,” said Meriweather. “Making plays comes naturally for me. When you do everything inside the scheme and do everything the coaches ask you to do, plays just seem to come your way.”
One of his stints at cornerback even put him up against Georgia Tech’s wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Meriweather held Johnson to five catches for 68 yards in that match-up, not bad for a true safety covering the nation’s top receiver and an expected top five pick.
A former high school quarterback, Meriweather said he relies on two things when it comes to defending the backfield – instincts and confidence.
“I’ve played in the backfield long enough, and maybe it’s from playing quarterback before too, but I feel like I have good instincts out there,” said Meriweather. “I also think you’ve got to have confidence because everyone is going to be athletic. You’ve got to know and believe you can hang and cover anybody.”
Meriweather impressed the 49ers personnel and coaching staff during his week of work under their direction at the Senior Bowl, making several picks and knocking away passes in almost every practice.
“Meriweather has been there go-to-guy at Miami,” said Vice President of Personnel Scot McCloughan. “He’s an old school Miami type player. He’s tough and is a football player through and through, much like Ed Reed. He’ll play somewhere in the league next year, and play well.”
Working with the 49ers staff during the Super Bowl was opportunistic for Meriweather who picked up on cornerstone of playing in the secondary at the league level – backpedaling.
“At Miami we played all man coverage so we really never had to back pedal,” said Meriweather. “I worked on that a lot at the Senior Bowl. I learned how to stay deep even though sometimes I want to jump. The coaches drove home how important it is that I stay in position and trust my teammates to do their job. I learned a lot from the 49ers coaches.”
The Senior Bowl was also beneficial for Meriweather who took his chance to clear up any doubts related to a few questionable character incidents. He first made headlines off the field when he pulled a gun and shot three times at an assailant who moments before had shot his roommate and Hurricane teammate Willie Cooper in the buttocks. Law enforcement found that he had acted legally, but his behavior again came under intense scrutiny when he kicked players in the face during the infamous Miami-Florida International brawl.
“He’s a good kid,” said McCloughan. “We looked into everything and we don’t feel like he’ll have any character issues. We felt like we got a pretty good feel for him after spending time with him 24-7 during the Senior Bowl week.”
Still, Meriweather knew that in preparation for the Draft, he had to brace himself for that type of intrusive line of questioning.
“My personality is actually really outgoing,” said Meriweather. “I am a real people person. I acted to protect my teammate with the shooting incident, and in the game I just let my emotions take over me. I know what I did wasn’t right, and I know I’ll have to answer for it until the actual day of the draft.”
Aside from answering tough questions, Meriweather knew it would also be critical to perform well at the Scouting Combine and his Pro Day. After running a 4.47 40-yard dash in Indianapolis, he stuck to mostly positional drills during his March 3 Miami Pro Day.
“I trained at Perfect Competition in Ft. Lauderdale and followed their plan for a nutritious diet and just basically trained for the 40 and all of the drills I knew I’d face during this pre-Draft period. They had me well prepared.”
With three NFL teams based in Florida, Meriweather has a shot of playing his future football in his home state, but chances are his NFL rookie days could find him in a non-Florida uniform for the first time in his career.
“I’ll just have to adapt,” said Meriweather when asked about having to leave home.
Tune in for the NFL Draft on April 28-29 to see which way the draft winds blow this Floridian.