Thursday, September 28, 2006
Randall not about to quit
Randy King
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Bryan Randall was watching the Carolina-Tampa Bay NFL game last Sunday in his Atlanta apartment when he saw Buccaneers starting quarterback Chris Simms show serious signs of being hurt.
"It's weird because when Chris Simms went down, I was laying in my bed watching the game and I had a feeling in my mind and I was like, 'I hope Tampa calls me [Monday],' " said the ex-Virginia Tech quarterback, speaking via cellphone from Atlanta last night.
"And I woke up the next morning and my agent had left a message on my phone saying Tampa wanted to work me out. Definitely, it was good to know I was still on the list. It's great when they try to contact you for a workout."
With Simms possibly done for the season after having surgery to have a ruptured spleen removed, the Bucs were suddenly hustling to find a third quarterback behind new starter Bruce Gradkowski and No. 2 Tim Rattay. Luke McCown, who would have been elevated to third-string QB, is currently on the team's physically unable to perform list with an injured knee. McCown won't be eligible to come off the "PUP" list until after the team's sixth game.
Randall, who was waived by the Atlanta Falcons on Aug. 27, caught a flight to Tampa later Monday for a Tuesday QBs workout for Bucs coach John Gruden. The group of candidates also included former Bucs signal-caller Shaun King, NFL veteran Tommy Maddox, Cody Pickett, Cliff Kingsbury and Lang Campbell.
"I went down there and had a good workout, so I'm giving myself a chance," Randall said. "When I get the opportunity, I try to take advantage of it. As of right now, they haven't made a decision yet, so they flew me back here to Atlanta and told me they'd probably bring me back in on Monday if they need me.
"The vibes were real positive. Basically, at the end of the workout, they said it was down to me and Shaun King."
As of 5 p.m. today, there was no news on the Bucs' official Web site about any QB transaction.
That's OK. Randall can wait. He's willing to remain patient for his break to get to the NFL in any form or fashion.
"If this doesn't work out, I feel real confident that I can play in this league, especially after playing in the preseason and getting a taste of the action," said Randall, who was the ACC player of the year in 2004 as he led the surprising Hokies to an ACC title in their inaugural season in the league.
"There's no doubt in my mind that I can be a quarterback in the NFL. As far as getting my foot in the door, that's the part where sometimes you've gotta be patient. Because it may not come as you quick as you want it to.
"But just like this opportunity right here with Tampa, I went down there with the other quarterbacks and I was real confident in what I was doing. And I evidently impressed them enough to even take the time right now to bring me back or bring in another guy. At the very least, I gave myself the opportunity, and I feel like I was prepared for that. I feel like I can contribute to a team that's going to give me an opportunity."
Randall thought his opportunity was secure in the Falcons' camp in late August. He thought he had done enough to win Atlanta's No. 3 QB job behind ex-Hokie Michael Vick and former Virginia standout Matt Schaub. Instead, Randall got cut loose when the Falcons went with former Georgia signal-caller D.J. Shockley.
"I was very disappointed at the decision," Randall said. "I felt like I didn't do anything to not be the third-string quarterback, especially after being there last year, and coming back this year and staying the summer and putting in the time to learn the system and be around the players. I felt like I put myself in the best position possible, and then with the little [playing] time that I got in preseason, I felt that I did fine.
"When it came down to the decision, I was just as shocked as the next person. Especially before the last preseason game, I definitely wasn't expecting that. That really caught me off-guard."
Randall said he got an inkling in the Falcons' third of four preseason games that the "hometown guy" Shockley might be Atlanta's guy.
"That's the game in which the starters play a lot and Mike played the first two quarters," Randall recalled. "After halftime, they said Schaub is only going to one or two series, and then D.J. was going in at the end of the third quarter.
"Well, I was like: 'Am I going to get to play?' That's what I'm thinking in my head and it ended up turning out that he played the rest of the game. So when that happened, I had a bad feeling. I told my girlfriend that I don't have a good feeling about this, something just ain't right.
"So I didn't really know what to take from it, and I talked to my parents and they kind of got my spirits back up a little bit, saying, 'well, you'll probably get to play a lot the last game ... you'll get another opportunity to show what you've got to do.'
"And the next morning, the guy I didn't want to hear from [Falcons general manager Rich McKay] was calling me."
Seconds later, Randall was unemployed.
"I don't know," said Randall, laughing, "I guess it's the way the business goes. It wasn't the best news, but at the same time I know it's a business and I understand it now a lot better than I did before."
Like many others, Randall couldn't help but wonder if Shockley was retained as the Falcons' third QB because of his regional name and ties. After all, he played his college football right up I-85 at Georgia.
"They're not going to sit there and say that to you, but at the same time you never really know," Randall said. "And I don't know. I didn't talk to the GM and ask him, 'did that play a factor? ... or because y'all drafted him in the 7th round?' It could be true or it may not be true, I don't know."
After not being selected in the 2005 NFL Draft coming out of Tech, Randall signed with the Falcons as a free agent Apr. 26, 2005. The Williamsburg native was waived by Atlanta on Aug. 30, 2005. A week later the club signed Randall to its practice-squad roster, where he lasted 16 days before being released again. The Falcons signed him again on Nov. 16 to the practice squad. Three weeks later, Randall was gassed again.
"I was only on the practice squad for five out of the 17 weeks," Randall said. "On the practice squad ... basically you're a body to do whatever they need you to do. If they need you to do special teams, run the scout team ... a lot of times last year I was on the scout team as a receiver and doing other things other than quarterback because the third-string quarterback, a lot of times, takes the scout-team reps.
While being on an NFL practice squad might not get on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the pay certainly beats the going rate of "real jobs."
"Oh, yeah, definitely," said Randall, whose infectious personality hasn't been dimmed by his up-and-down NFL career to this point. "If anybody wants me on their practice squad, I'm going ... I'm going quick, with no second-guessing it."
Randall said he may return to Blacksburg if he doesn't get the shot in Tampa Bay. Randall was in Blacksburg last week and was trying to clean the furniture out of his Atlanta apartment when his agent called with the Bucs' offer to work out.
"I ended up having to leave my truck down here -- I had already moved my bed out of my apartment," he said. "I've still got some stuff to move out of my apartment by the end of the month, so I needed to come back to do that.
"I don't have a posse like Michael to do this stuff for me," said Randall, laughing.
"If I don't end up going to Tampa, I like being back [in Blacksburg] because it's real convenient, plus I get to be around football and work with the team. I can work out, be around the team, so it's good for both of us."
And what about the Hokies' pivotal ACC clash with Georgia Tech on Saturday at Lane Stadium? Living in Atlanta, Randall knows the Rambling Wreck pretty well.
"I think it's going to be a tough one," said Randall, who led the Hokies to a 34-20 win at Georgia Tech in 2004. "The good thing is I feel like our team has got a couple of games under their belt to grow a little bit. But it's going to be tough because Georgia Tech is playing good right now.
"To me, Georgia Tech goes as far as [quarterback] Reggie Ball takes 'em. So if Reggie plays well, it's going to be a tough game. But if the Hokies can contain what he does, get after him early, then I think it's going to be a long day for Georgia Tech."
