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thedrifter
12-30-05, 08:22 AM
Former Marine McMeans hopes to get to NFL
TIM REYNOLDS
Associated Press

ATLANTA - The Marine Corps trained Tyler McMeans as an infantryman, someone specializing in close-quarters battle. He's found those lessons work well on the football field, too.

McMeans has a background unlike any of his Miami teammates. He spent four years as a Marine, jumped from helicopters, guarded nuclear weapons and trained in the mountains of Japan alongside some of that country's soldiers.

Football lured him away from re-enlisting in August 2002, when he embarked on a long, winding path that led him to Miami. He plays his final college game on Friday night, when No. 9 Miami (9-2) faces No. 10 LSU (10-2) in the Peach Bowl - and desperately hopes that some NFL scouts have taken notice of his senior season.

"That's my life story," said the 6-foot-5, 337-pound McMeans, a two-year offensive line starter for the Hurricanes and who was chosen by the team as Miami's most improved player this season. "If it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be my life."

His story starts in the small western Pennsylvania town of Shippenville, where he played one year of high school football and couldn't understand why major colleges sent him recruiting letters. He was unmotivated by school, and had the grades to prove it. College simply wasn't going to be an option for him.

So he turned to the Marine Corps, somehow getting his 330-pound body through the brutal basic training regimen at Parris Island, S.C. He never saw combat during his time as a soldier, yet was prepped for it - especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 11 months before he left the Marines.

Back in Pennsylvania, he landed at Lackawanna Junior College, which also produced Bryant McKinnie - who starred at Miami and became a first-round draft choice of the Minnesota Vikings. After two years at Lackawanna, both ending with McMeans as a junior-college All-American, the big schools came calling again.

"It came down to two things. Where are they winning at? And what program is going to make me be the best offensive lineman that I can be?" said McMeans, who plays left guard. "What place is going to maximize my potential the most? And I couldn't see any other place doing that better than Miami."

The Hurricanes couldn't be more pleased with that decision. McMeans finished the regular-season with 20 "pancake" blocks, meaning he flattened an opponent, and 37 "Metrorail" blocks, which get credited when a lineman drives an opponent out of a play by holding a block for 5 seconds.

He clearly got stronger as the year went along; 24 of his Metrorails came in the last four games.

"He's good now and there's no way he's anywhere near reaching his potential," said Art Kehoe, Miami's offensive line coach. "Somebody out there is going to take a chance on this guy."

McMeans isn't the best lineman in Miami's stable; he's certainly not going to be a first-round draft choice, like left tackle Eric Winston is projected to be. But he's been a consistent force, one of only six Miami offensive players to start every game this season.

And teammates find his story to be an inspiring one.

"He's gone through a lot and I think that helps him," Winston said. "There's not too much stuff he hasn't gone through, that's for sure. He's a real raw player. He hasn't had a lot of experience. I think he's gotten significantly better. He's got a lot of want-to about him. And he's a good guy to have around."

Quarterback Kyle Wright certainly agrees with that, considering McMeans hasn't allowed a sack in eight games. McMeans gave up three sacks to Florida State in the season-opener, and only 1 1/2 in the 10 games since.

"Besides the fact that he's 35 years old, he's been through things we haven't experienced," said Wright, overstating McMeans' age by a decade. "I've seen some incredible pictures from when he was in the Marines. He's confident out there. He's mean. He's got that military streak in him."

McMeans knows he may not be drafted. If his best chance of getting to the pros comes by proving himself in NFL Europe or playing his way up from a practice squad, then that's what he'll accept.

All he's looking for is an opportunity, and hopes his track record merits that chance.

"I know I'm meant for this, and that might mean that I have to take a little bit of a longer road," McMeans said. "I'm going to get a shot. And when I get that shot, when I'm in a position like that, I've come through every time so far, come through with every shot I've gotten in my life."

Ellie