If the Browns amount to anything in this latest incarnation, it will be in no small measure due to Berry’s eye for talent. Although he won’t have final say on the 53-man roster, Berry will be combing the pro and college ranks for players who fit new coach Hue Jackson’s needs.
Most immediately, Berry will be heading the group that decides which quarterback — Jared Goff of California or Carson Wentz of North Dakota State — to draft No. 2 overall.
That makes Berry, aside from Jackson, the most important person the Browns have hired to date. And the two-time All-American defensive back from Harvard forms a Crimson triumvirate in the front office with Sashi Brown (executive VP-football operations) and baseball refugee Paul DePodesta (chief strategy officer).
If nothing else, the Browns’ decision makers probably boast the NFL’s highest cumulative SAT score. Berry graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s in computer science — in four years.
A veritable Revis Island of the Ivy League, Berry once went four consecutive games without a quarterback throwing in his direction.
Of course, the bar is set low for Berry. Since Phil Savage was fired for no particular reason following the 2008 season, the Browns have been without a widely respected talent sleuth, which probably explains why they have won no more than seven games in any of the last eight seasons.
Savage, the general manager when the Browns last almost made the playoffs in 2007, now runs the Senior Bowl in his hometown of Mobile, Ala., in case you haven't been charting his career path.
Is that Steve McElvene or Bill Russell?
When center Bill Russell was winning 11 championships with the Boston Celtics decades ago, one of his trademarks as an elite shot blocker was his ability to keep the ball in play rather than swat it into the third row.
It’s a lost art among big men, but 6-foot-11 Dayton redshirt freshman Steve McElvene — who likely has no knowledge of Russell — is showing that same knack.
At least it was on display Wednesday in UD's 73-37 annihilation of Saint Louis when McElvene tied a school record with six blocks.
“It’s something I learned in high school and also as I was transitioning to college basketball,” McElvene told Dayton Daily News reporter David Jablonski. “If I tip it up, I want to tip it to somebody or to where I can get it.”
Secret of Wright State’s success revealed
In what is shaping up as a local college basketball season to remember, don’t forget to marvel at Wright State. The Raiders have won 10 of their last 11 after a 3-7 start.
Digging out of that hole was tough, and you’ll never guess where the Raiders reached for their resolve.
OK, so maybe it wasn’t such a sound plan to drop your most important player, Joe Thomasson, off a high diving board considering he never learned to swim.
But even that worked out. He’s very much alive and well, much like his resurgent team.
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