Columnist Tim Graham: Draft expert says Denton’s out, other locals are in

Tim Graham

Wednesday, April 14, 1999 | 11:36 a.m.

Tim Graham's media notebook appears Wednesday. His page 1 column appears Thursday. Reach him at 259-4078 tim@lasvegassun.com

It takes quite a reputation for someone to have a comma listed after his last name. Just look at TV characters such as Magnum, P.I.; Walker, Texas Ranger; Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute.

But this week, the only surname suffix that matters belongs to Mel Kiper, Draft Guru.

Kiper, the encyclopedic ESPN analyst with the helmet hairdo, once again will be at center stage for this weekend's NFL Draft.

The seven-round stock party starts on ESPN Saturday at 9 a.m. and shifts over to ESPN2 at 4 p.m. The draft commences with the fourth round on ESPN Sunday at 8 a.m. and moves to ESPN2 at 10 a.m.

Kiper makes his living examining every little aspect of virtually every college football player and then projects them into the NFL. Ask him about the third-string weakside linebacker at Vanderbilt and Kiper will tell you how well the player defends a tight end in the flat -- and why.

So when it came to handicapping what could be the biggest NFL Draft weekend in local history -- several high-profile players with ties to the area could be mentioned at the podium -- who better to get the lowdown from than the Draft Guru?

* Jon Denton, Eastern Kentucky: Kiper claims the former Green Valley and UNLV gunslinger is not among the top 10 quarterbacks coming out this year and probably won't get drafted at all -- a long way to fall for a troubled youngster who once aspired to be a Heisman Trophy candidate.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder completed 55 percent of his passes for 1,844 yards and 18 touchdowns against six interceptions last year for Eastern Kentucky. He transferred there after multiple off-field transgressions at UNLV. He was suspended for the season finale at EKU for violating a team rule.

"I think when you look at Jon Denton and the kind of year he had, it wasn't what people expected," Kiper said. "But you can't doubt his arm strength. I remember one play against Murray State he was on the run, throwing across his body from about 30 yards out, and threw a strike into the back of the end zone between two defenders. He has tremendous arm strength and tremendous size.

"But just another year at Eastern Kentucky would have given him an extra spring practice, which he didn't have last year because he came in late. That would have improved his timing. I was a little surprised he didn't come back for his senior season.

"Where's he going to go this year? Probably a very late round or an undrafted free agent."

* Talance Sawyer, UNLV: Kiper doesn't rank the 6-2, 275-pound defensive end among his top 10 at the position. But Kiper thinks Sawyer, who finished his Rebel career second on the all-time tackles for loss list with 50, will get drafted Sunday.

The question is whether Sawyer will remain on the end or be converted to outside linebacker.

"That's the story: Where do you play him?" Kiper said. "He is a dominating player on the end. You just have to find a way to utilize him in the framework of your defensive scheme. Do you put him up? Do you put him down? Do you make him a situational player?

"But one thing Sawyer can do is get after the quarterback. He's a relentless, aggressive player. I think there's a spot for him in the NFL, but moreso as a late-round draft choice."

* Grey Ruegamer, Arizona State: Kiper rates the eccentric Bishop Gorman grad as the third-best center this year behind Boston College's Damien Woody and Duke's Lennie Friedman. Kiper at one time listed the 6-4, 315-pound preseason All-American as a first-rounder, but now sees him going a couple rounds later.

"He's an outstanding center and can play left tackle," Kiper said. "He's probably a third- or a fourth-round pick. Friedman was considered a guard and had played guard at the beginning of the year. So in reality, (Ruegamer) is the second-best center.

"Centers do tend to drop just a bit. You can look back in history; you don't have to be a first- or second-round center to have a good career in the National Football League."

A trio of high-profile locals Kiper cites as draft long shots are UNLV All-American punter Joe Kristosik (Bishop Gorman), Utah linebacker Phil Glover (Clark) and Missouri cornerback Wade Perkins (Green Valley).

Kristosik averaged a national-best 46 yards a punt. But he has been knocked for not being able to angle his kicks and failed to crack Kiper's top five for a position that isn't highly drafted in the first place.

Glover, a former All-Western Athletic Conference selection, missed most of the 1998 season due to a broken ankle.

Perkins led the Tigers with six interceptions and had seven tackles for losses. But he was kicked off the team prior to the Insight.com Bowl in December for breaking a team rule.

* FEELING THE DRAFT: ESPN does not take its NFL Draft coverage lightly.

The 17-hour bonanza on ESPN and ESPN2 features 25 on-air hosts, reporters or analysts at 10 sites. Viewers can check in on 20 teams via videoconferencing and four others -- Cleveland, Miami, Minnesota, New England -- through war-room cams.

And that's not the half of it.

"From a production standpoint," producer Jay Rothman said, "it's three months of hell. But it's a really exciting show to execute.

"There are 300-plus players, 31 NFL teams and then you have to keep up on the free-agent situations. Then there are all the highlight packages. It is tons of man hours a day, every waking moment.

"It's a tremendous relief Sunday night when we sign off, but it's tremendously rewarding."

Host Chris Berman claims ESPN's high standard turned "the draft into something people once thought was just one step above reading the Yellow Pages."

"We lose about 10 pounds, which we can afford to do, every draft," Berman added. "It's the most difficult thing I do. But it's a labor of love."

Special features on Saturday include a retrospective of ESPN's funnier moments over the 19 years it's carried the draft and a comparative analysis of the famed quarterback class of 1983 with this year's bumper crop.

* STATIC: The entire NFL Draft can be heard live on KSHP 1400-AM. ... Former "Monday Night Football" color man Dan Dierdorf was hired by CBS Sports and will pair with Verne Lundquist for the 1999 NFL season. ... Fox Sports West starts airing an NFL Europe live game of the week Saturday at 10 a.m. ... CBS Sports' final-round coverage for The Masters scored an overnight 10.7 rating and a 21 share. It was the second-highest rated final round overnight since 1986. The USA Network's coverage of the first two rounds averaged a 2.1 rating, down 40 percent from last year. ... ESPN airs its latest "Outside the Lines" Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The topic is sports agents. ... The next installment of HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" airs the same night at 10 p.m. with features on NASCAR's racial relations, Sacramento Kings rookie Jason Williams and counterfeit golf e quipment.