Benard under the radar, except when pursuing QBs

BEREA, Ohio — On YouTube, his name is sackmasterDE80.

His two-part highlight film comes from 2007, when he chased Southwestern Athletic Conference quarterbacks for nine sacks. Surprisingly, there’s no 2008 version, when he increased that number to 15, along with 84 tackles and 21.5 tackles for losses.

But when it came time for the draft, Jackson State’s Marcus Benard was so overlooked that the usually comprehensive Pro Football Weekly Draft Guide did not list him among 70 defensive ends and 58 outside linebackers it scouted.

Benard, 6-foot-2 and 256 pounds, signed with the Browns as a rookie free agent on May 1. An Ypsilanti, Mich., product, Benard was one of several young players trying to impress coach Eric Mangini on Saturday night as the Browns hosted the Detroit Lions at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Benard didn’t seem angry that no one took a chance on him in the draft.

“Jackson State is a smaller school, we don’t necessarily play quote-unquote big competition, we’re not necessarily on a big stage, we don’t play any bowl games,” Benard said last week. “So I understood I’d be under the radar. I knew that I’d get my shot and when I got my shot I was going to run with it and give it my best. I feel like I do have a lot to offer.”

Especially to a Browns team that totaled just 17 sacks in 2008, which tied for 30th in the league, and has been searching for a pass-rusher to put opposite 2006 first-round pick Kamerion Wimbley.

Mangini noticed Benard in his first preseason game against the Packers in Green Bay last weekend. Benard led the Browns with six tackles (five solos), one tackle for loss, one sack and a quarterback hurry.

“He hit the quarterback’s hand, that led to [David] Veikune’s pick and then had the sack,” Mangini said. “What’s going to be important for him is to carve out a role on special teams.”

Benard followed up that performance with an interception of a Brady Quinn pass in Monday’s practice.

“It definitely feels like it’s clicking. I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m getting more comfortable, comfortable at the position,” said Benard, a converted defensive end. “I’ve been coming from the bottom since high school, so it’s not new. I’ve just got to keep crawling and keep working hard.”

Pass-rushing is Benard’s passion, he said.

“I feel like I have a bad game if I don’t get a sack,” Benard said. “I can get 20 tackles in a game and feel like I had a bad game if I don’t at least get pressure on the quarterback because I know that’s a game changer.

“People want to score touchdowns, people like to get tackles for losses, people like to run that magnificent route. But me, I like to come around that edge. I’ve studied all the great pass rushers, all of them. I trained with one of them.”

That was Chuck Smith, an All-Pro defensive end with the Atlanta Falcons, now at WPI Sports and Fitness in Sewanee, Ga. The New York Giants’ Osi Umenyiora, the Washington Redskins’ Albert Haynesworth and the Seattle Seahawks’ Patrick Kerney are among the pass rushers Smith has tutored.

Benard said he’s also been inspired by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, an Akron native and Kent State product who entered the league as an undrafted free agent and became the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2008 with the Super Bowl champions.

“When things were down, he just kept fighting and look where he is now,” Benard said. “It’s almost like he needs to write a book . . . heckuva story.”

Benard followed a similar path, saying he wasn’t highly recruited out of high school or Grand Rapids Community College, mainly because of his grades. He was offended that bigger schools didn’t want him, even though he ended up at Jackson State, which has also produced NFL players such as Walter Payton, Jimmy Smith and Robert Brazile.

“I definitely felt like I could’ve had a better chance, but I think that made me into the person I am today,” Benard said. “That fire is always burning. I’d rather not have it given to me because sometimes people take that for granted.

“I’ve never been in that position, so I don’t know if I would take it for granted. But I know how I react when adversity’s against me, 90 percent of the time it’s been good. I kinda welcome the challenge for life.”