Croom’s day

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 | 9:56 a.m.

Larry Croom has his weekend plans all mapped out.

"I'll be in Vegas watching the NFL draft," said Croom, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound senior running back."It's a tradition for me. I've been doing it since I've been 8 years old. I always watch the draft. I enjoy watching all the highlights of the players who get selected."

With any luck at all, Croom will get to enjoy a few highlights of himself this time around.

Croom is the most likely UNLV player to get drafted this year after scoring touchdowns in three different postseason all-star games, including two in the West's 28-7 victory against the East in the 79th annual East-West Shrine Game in Pac-Bell Park in San Francisco.

Croom also scored touchdowns in both the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic on Christmas Day and the Hula Bowl in Maui in mid-January.

"From what I've heard, that helped me," Croom, who rushed for 1,537 yards on 292 carries (5.3 avg.) and scored seven touchdowns in his 23 games as a Rebel, said. "I was on some teams' radar before the all-star games but playing in those games definitely helped. You practice in front of all those (NFL) scouts each day."

"We don't hear from (NFL scouts) now, so I don't know if his stock is rising now or not," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "But I think he'll probably be picked somewhere between the third and sixth rounds. But it's hard to really know."

Robinson, who along with new UNLV offensive coordinator Bruce Snyder coached Croom at the East-West Shrine Game, said he felt Croom's versatility would be a big plus for NFL teams.

"His strength is that he can come in and do a lot of things," Robinson said. "He can come in and be a third-down back. He's a good receiver. He's a good open-field runner. He's very smart. ... He really doesn't have any weaknesses and he's smart enough to do some things."

"There's not a lot of stuff that I can't do for a team," Croom agreed. "I can punt return, kick return, catch it and run with it. There's not a lot of stuff that I can't do if a team asks me to do it. I think that might be my strength."

Croom was bothered by a nagging thigh strain his senior year with the Rebels suffered while scoring a 60-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of the team's second game of the year at Kansas. He had 105 yards on just nine carries before the injury in just a little over 11 minutes of action.

"I'm getting pretty good feedback from teams," Croom said. "I'm on the board. I'm probably going to be a second day guy. Whatever falls, I'm just glad I got the opportunity to play in the all-star games and train. It's been a good experience."

Two other Rebels who could be late draft picks or free agent signees are defensive tackle Dietrich Canterberry and center Dominic Furio.

Canterberry, a 6-foot-3, 306-pounder, was invited to the National Football League's Scouting Combine but didn't participate in drills because of a blood clot in his right leg that briefly hospitalized him. But he joined Hawaii players Travis LaBoy, Isaac Sopoaga and Kevin Millhouse for a private workout at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., last month and ran well.

"One scout had me at 4.9 (in the 40), another at 5.0 and some others at 5.1," Canterberry said. "I starting getting some calls after that and a lot of teams are calling this week to ask me where I'll be this weekend. But I haven't been through this before so I don't know if that's a good sign or not."

"It's better than not getting any calls at all," Snyder said.

Canterberry, who was hampered by a knee sprain much of his senior year, also bench-pressed 225 pounds 28 times for the scouts. NFL head coaches Butch Davis, Marvin Lewis, Jack Del Rio and Dick Vermeil were among those in attendance.

"He's the physical type that they're looking for .. that wide-bodied type," Robinson said. "It's just a question of how he measures up with the other people in the draft."

The NFL.com website listed 38 defensive ends on its potential draft list on Monday but did not include Canterberry.

Robinson believes Furio, a three-year starter at center who more than held his own against the highly-ranked Sopoaga in a game last fall, will make it into a camp as a free agent.

"I think people are really interested in Dom as a free agent," Robinson said. "I think you're always looking for an extra center in camp. Dominic has proven to be a tough, aggressive guy."

The two-day NFL draft begins Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and will be televised by ESPN.

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