If this was a job audition, Tavares Gooden was over the top with first impressions. By the time the Ravens shut down a three-day minicamp Sunday, they didn't appear to have an opening on defense beside Ray Lewis.
Bigger tests will come later, but for three days in May, Gooden looked like a worthy successor to Bart Scott at inside linebacker.
"I think everybody knows the answer to that," Gooden said at the conclusion of the mandatory camp. "I was brought in here to do a job; that's what I'll do. I won't disappoint. ... I'll fit the role of a new and improved Bart."
A third-round draft choice a year ago, Gooden saw his rookie season end in Week 6 with a hip injury that required surgery. He also had surgery for a sports hernia, then spent the winter preparing for 2009.
When he showed up for camp last week, he was wired.
"I see a stallion," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said. "I see a guy who looks like he's been to the Kentucky Derby that's been tied up for a year and is bigger and stronger. He came out the first day [Friday] and was like a wild horse. But he's gotten better and better. ... It's the same attitude he had last year, which got you to love him."
While younger players were trying to get up to speed with the defense this weekend, Gooden was playing at game speed, so eager was he to show he can handle the promotion.
Lewis, who nurtured Gooden as a wide-eyed rookie, had to slow him down at one point this past weekend.
"Tavares is sometimes going too fast," Lewis said. "At a jogging pace, he wants to hit somebody, like right now. So I've got to calm him down."
Essentially, Gooden is competing against second-year linebacker Jameel McClain for Scott's position. But McClain, the only rookie free agent to make the team in 2008, is new to playing inside.
One of the moves Mattison made after replacing Rex Ryan was to move McClain from strong-side linebacker to the middle.
"I'm prepared to play wherever I have to play," McClain said. "To make myself better, I have to learn the defense better, be as wise as the veteran players, become a smarter player."
The transition for both started before minicamp. Both have been to Lewis' home to look at film and gain insight.
"The exciting part about those guys is what they learned off the field," Lewis said. "On the field, athleticism, they're gifted in that area. But ... Jameel and Tavares have already been over to the house to gain that knowledge. They're searching for it, and I'm giving it to them."
