By Jerry McDonald
INDIANAPOLIS - The shooter said he was sorry. That's the kind of ``street cred'' Marshawn Lynch has in his hometown. Not long after his car was fired upon during a drive-by shooting in front of Oakland Tech High in June, an unusual phone call was placed to the home of Delisa Lynch. ``The guy thought I was somebody I wasn't,'' Lynch said Saturday at the NFL combine. ``My mother received a phone call about 20 minutes after that and they apologized for what happened.'' Lynch, after leaving Cal following his junior season, is trying to build a similar level of respect from NFL teams looking for a running back in April's draft. So he's taking all questions and participating in every drill, hoping to clear up any issues with his background and character. While many of the players considered first-round material are avoiding drills here, making themselves available only for medical tests and team interviews, Lynch is eager to please. He'll participate in all the workouts and run the most important 40 yards of his life. Training at Athletes' Performance Institute in Arizona since early January, Lynch measured in at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, five pounds below his playing weight at Cal.
``That's a real important thing for me,'' Lynch said. ``I'll go out there and run as hard as I can, as fast as I can.'' Lynch claims a best time of 4.36 seconds, and anything approaching that today and in a workout at Cal next month could land him in the top 15. As it stands, Lynch is widely seen as the second-best running back available, behind Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson. Peterson is considered the better runner, whereas Lynch is perhaps more versatile. ``I can run inside and out. I can get to the edge, catch the ball out of the backfield, line up at receiver, line up in the slot,'' Lynch said. ``And I can throw that 70-yard pass downfield.'' Even the most picky scout will have a tough time denying Lynch has a skill set and statistics beyond reproach. He averaged 6.6 yards per carry in college, played in a pro-style offense under Coach Jeff Tedford, is a good receiver out of the backfield and has good tackle-breaking strength. ``He doesn't have anywhere near the amount of carries of Adrian Peterson in his collegiate career, but what he does do is catch the ball,'' ESPN personnel analyst Mike Mayock said. ``He's a big back with some running ability.'' Considering the trend in the NFL toward two-back systems, Lynch's history of the occasional injury isn't as much of a concern. He could step in as either the lead or the second back and immediately contribute.
It would seem the biggest obstacle between Lynch and the upper half of the first round is his ability to break free from stereotypes as easily as he sheds a cornerback while running for a first down. ``He'll be a top-15 pick if he works out well and teams are satisfied with his character off the field,'' Mayock said. The shooting was a random act in broad daylight while Lynch was visiting his sister on her last day of high school. More recently, Lynch was investigated following allegations of sexual assault, but charges were never filed because of a lack of evidence. In both instances, Lynch appeared to have done nothing wrong, yet taken together, in the often paranoid, image-conscious NFL, cautious teams could take a pass -- and each pass means less cash on the first contract. During the interview process, both with prospective employers as well as the media, Lynch's philosophy was simple. ``The truth,'' Lynch said. ``Tell 'em the truth. It's probably not fair, but it's something they want to know and I have nothing to hide.''
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