By JOE SCALZO



By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
RSULINE SENIOR ALEX ALLEN WAS learning the art of route running on Thursday from Browns wideout Andre King.
And he was learning it the hard way.
The first time Allen ran the route -- a simple 5-yard out pattern -- he did it wrong.
"No, do it again!" King yelled.
The second time, he ran it wrong. And King made him run it again. And again, he ran it wrong. And he ran it again. And again.
Getting results
Eventually, Allen got it right. And afterward, he even managed to laugh about it.
"Man, I ain't no receiver," he said. "I'm a running back. But it's good to have the pros here teaching the young guys. I'm learning how to run routes from the King. He's the king of routes."
Maybe, but he wasn't the king of Thursday's quarterback and wide receiver camp at Canfield High School. That honor belonged to former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, who was a guest instructor.
"I love being out here," said Kosar, a Boardman High graduate. "I have four kids, but I've tried to avoid maturity. I've never had to grow up. That's one of the reasons I enjoy being around kids."
Kosar wasn't just a spectator. He was leading the drills.
"You know, when you play football for a while, you gain this competitive fire," Kosar said. "And you can mask it, but it never goes out. You always want to be around the game."
Kosar was invited to work at Thursday's camp by Canfield football coach Mike Pavlansky, who played Class B baseball with him in the early 1980s.
Kosar, a University of Miami graduate, was joined at the camp by Gino Torretta, a former Heisman-winning quarterback at Miami, and King, a former receiving standout from Miami.
"It's fun to teach kids," Torretta, whose wife, Bernadette, is from Boardman, said. "I try to give them some drills to do and show them things to work on.
"You forget how much of playing quarterback is repetition. It's not like being a receiver. It doesn't matter how good of an athlete you are, if you don't have the fundamentals, you're not going to succeed."
The good and bad
Torretta, who spent four years in the NFL with four different teams, said he doesn't miss everything about the game, but he misses some things.
"One of the things you miss most is the camaraderie," said Torretta, who won a national title in 1991 and the Heisman in 1992. "You're just kids playing a game and making a good living.
"I don't necessarily miss working out and two-a-days, but I miss seeing the results of working out all summer and getting to apply that during the season and turning that hard work into national championships."
King, who was drafted by the Browns in the seventh round of the 2001 draft, said he spends as much time as possible in the off-season working at camps, community activities and Christian outreach programs.
"I never had this sort of thing when I was growing up," King said. "We never had Heisman winners or pro football players coming to camps in ninth or 10th grade. So I try to do whatever I can to encourage young people and help them out."
On the horizon
King, who was decked out in Browns gear, said he's looking forward to this NFL season and hopes the addition of Jeff Garcia will make the Browns a better -- and more exciting -- team.
"Tim [Couch] was a great quarterback and Kelly Holcomb is a great quarterback, but I think Jeff's a great addition," King said. "We've got some guys like Ross Verba and James Jackson coming back from injury and we feel like we're a more healthy team.
"Hopefully we can win some more games."
Allen is hoping to do the same thing at Ursuline, where new coach Dan Reardon will look to lead a young Irish team back to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus.
"We're young, but we got some good young guys," Allen said. "It's one of the tightest groups I've ever been around. We like each other. We'll be good."
scalzo@vindy.com

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