Darrius

COLLEGE PARK -- The question made Darrius Heyward-Bey chuckle. And roll his eyes. To the Maryland sophomore wide receiver, it sounded, when voiced out loud, almost absurd. Emerald Bowl Maryland vs. Oregon State, San Francisco, Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m., ESPN, 105.7 FM, 1300 AM

When the Oakland Raiders used the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft to select Darrius Heyward-Bey, the McDonogh graduate and Maryland product was the first wide receiver taken off the board. That honor raised the bar for Heyward-Bey, who is trying to assert himself as the Raiders' top wideout. NFL Network analyst and former kick returner Bucky Brooks thinks there is still room and time for Heyward-Bey to develop into that role. Here is what Brooks had to say about Heyward-Bey.

Maryland junior receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey has a deadline looming: Jan. 15. That's the early entry deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft. Heyward-Bey might not have had huge numbers this season - he finished only honorable mention All-Atlantic Coast Conference - but he's the real deal. He's speedy, he's tall enough (6 feet 2), and he has shown a Santana Moss-like ability to go up and pull deep balls away from defenders. And he has an outsized, NFL-style personality.

Darrius Heyward-Bey likes a challenge. Or perhaps more appropriately, he enjoys being challenged. From adolescence to McDonogh to Maryland, Heyward-Bey has encountered doubts and at each turn, he has overcome those obstacles. Now a starting wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders, who will visit M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday to meet the Ravens, Heyward-Bey can look back at those challenges and credit them for aiding his development. "It's just my personality. I've always been that way," he said Wednesday night after a Raiders practice.

COLLEGE PARK -- Look at the Maryland Terrapins player, not a limb touching the field but there he goes, racing ahead. The 15, the 10, the 5 ... Is this what it's like to fly? It's not entirely momentum. The post-game celebration beneath him happens to be carrying Darrius Heyward-Bey, pushing him forward like a crowd surfer at a rock concert. More ACC Wake Forest routs host Florida State, 30-0. Pg 8d

COLLEGE PARK -- Darrius Heyward-Bey's role models are predictable for a wide receiver yet illuminating about how he approaches the game. Heyward-Bey says his two favorite receivers are former San Francisco 49er great Jerry Rice "because he's the best of all time" and the Dallas Cowboys' Terrell Owens because "his work ethic off the field is better than anyone else's." Maryland@North Carolina State Tomorrow, noon, chs. 54, 20, 105.7 FM, 1300 AM Line: N.C. State by 2 1/2

Darrius Heyward-Bey's reputation preceded him this week in Indianapolis, where the NFL scouting combine will mint fresh millionaires and unmask impostors for its April draft. Scouts already know Maryland's mercurial wide receiver is lightning in a bottle, a touchdown waiting to happen, that he has tantalizing size, long arms and extraordinary athleticism. They also know he is not a polished receiver, that he can be inconsistent catching the ball, and that he occasionally would disappear from the Terps' offense last season as a junior.

The video begins with a sleepy-eyed Darrius Heyward-Bey staring into a hand-held recorder, reciting the day's itinerary. "Ooohhh, just woke up, early in the morning," he says. "It's about 7 o'clock, about to go to Northern Virginia, go to this signing expo. Should be pretty fun. See some fans, and [I] think some of the Steelers are going to be there. So, got to go brush my teeth." In the next instant, the video shows the fastest man in this year's NFL draft seated at a table in the Dulles Expo and Conference Center in Chantilly, Va. He is signing action photos from his just-concluded Maryland career, posing for pictures with kids big and small, and he is engaged and engaging.

ALAMEDA, Calif. - -Rookie wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey dropped catchable passes on three straight plays during a minicamp practice May 9. He still is waiting for a chance to make amends and silence any doubters as to his worthiness of being the No. 7 pick in the NFL draft. Heyward-Bey, a former Maryland standout, injured his right hamstring that same day and hasn't been allowed to practice. On Wednesday, Heyward-Bey watched as his teammates continued their preparation for the upcoming season.

COLLEGE PARK -- Professional football scouts are almost certain to gather one day, stopwatches in hand, to time Maryland receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey in a pre-draft workout. Unless he loses a step or two, it was discovered yesterday that the freshman runs the 96-yard dash in 22 seconds. That's how long it took Heyward-Bey to reach the end zone in the second quarter after quarterback Sam Hollenbach got the snap from his 4-yard line on first down. And that's how long it took for a seemingly nasty predicament, a team backed up near its goal line, to turn into jubilation.

ALAMEDA, Calif. - -Rookie wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey dropped catchable passes on three straight plays during a minicamp practice May 9. He still is waiting for a chance to make amends and silence any doubters as to his worthiness of being the No. 7 pick in the NFL draft. Heyward-Bey, a former Maryland standout, injured his right hamstring that same day and hasn't been allowed to practice. On Wednesday, Heyward-Bey watched as his teammates continued their preparation for the upcoming season.

Sometime early in the process, Darrius Heyward-Bey removed the mystique from the NFL draft and reduced his interminable offseason to a series of job interviews. Less than two weeks from a destination, the 6-foot-3 wide receiver from Maryland with 4.3 speed in the 40-yard dash has handled it all - the workouts and interviews, the poking and probing - with good humor and a keen sense of responsibility. It's almost as if Heyward-Bey, 22, has been preparing for this all his life. In a way, he has. When he was 14, he left his mother, Vivian Heyward-Bey, and his safety net in Silver Spring to attend McDonogh in pursuit of a better education and a future in basketball.

The video begins with a sleepy-eyed Darrius Heyward-Bey staring into a hand-held recorder, reciting the day's itinerary. "Ooohhh, just woke up, early in the morning," he says. "It's about 7 o'clock, about to go to Northern Virginia, go to this signing expo. Should be pretty fun. See some fans, and [I] think some of the Steelers are going to be there. So, got to go brush my teeth." In the next instant, the video shows the fastest man in this year's NFL draft seated at a table in the Dulles Expo and Conference Center in Chantilly, Va. He is signing action photos from his just-concluded Maryland career, posing for pictures with kids big and small, and he is engaged and engaging.

Darrius Heyward-Bey's reputation preceded him this week in Indianapolis, where the NFL scouting combine will mint fresh millionaires and unmask impostors for its April draft. Scouts already know Maryland's mercurial wide receiver is lightning in a bottle, a touchdown waiting to happen, that he has tantalizing size, long arms and extraordinary athleticism. They also know he is not a polished receiver, that he can be inconsistent catching the ball, and that he occasionally would disappear from the Terps' offense last season as a junior.

Maryland junior receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey has a deadline looming: Jan. 15. That's the early entry deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft. Heyward-Bey might not have had huge numbers this season - he finished only honorable mention All-Atlantic Coast Conference - but he's the real deal. He's speedy, he's tall enough (6 feet 2), and he has shown a Santana Moss-like ability to go up and pull deep balls away from defenders. And he has an outsized, NFL-style personality.

COLLEGE PARK - You want close? Replay Michael Phelps winning the Olympic 100-meter butterfly. Or watch the presidential election. Squeakers can be riveting, but the Terrapins and their fans desperately wanted an altogether predictable rout yesterday. They wanted a game to expel any remaining demons from their ghastly upset loss to Middle Tennessee State two weeks earlier. What Maryland got was a 51-24 victory over Eastern Michigan that soothed much - but not all - of what had been ailing the team.

COLLEGE PARK - You want close? Replay Michael Phelps winning the Olympic 100-meter butterfly. Or watch the presidential election. Squeakers can be riveting, but the Terrapins and their fans desperately wanted an altogether predictable rout yesterday. They wanted a game to expel any remaining demons from their ghastly upset loss to Middle Tennessee State two weeks earlier. What Maryland got was a 51-24 victory over Eastern Michigan that soothed much - but not all - of what had been ailing the team.

COLLEGE PARK -- The question made Darrius Heyward-Bey chuckle. And roll his eyes. To the Maryland sophomore wide receiver, it sounded, when voiced out loud, almost absurd. Emerald Bowl Maryland vs. Oregon State, San Francisco, Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m., ESPN, 105.7 FM, 1300 AM