King George High School graduate Jermon Bushrod runs sprints while training at Courtland High school. Peter Cihelka/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Bushrod aiming to cash in chips

Bushrod ready for first NFL training camp

Date published: 7/27/2007

BY TAFT COGHILL JR.

When Jermon Bushrod wasn't invited to the NFL Combine in February, he turned the disappointment into a positive with stellar showings in individual workouts.

The former King George High School and Towson University offensive lineman said that determination came from a "chip on my shoulder" about the combine snub.

Bushrod was selected in the fourth round of the NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints and he signed a three-year, $1.5 million contract on June 20. As the Saints open training camp today at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., Bushrod has a new mission: making the team's active roster.

"I guess you could say I've got a different chip on my shoulder now," he said. "Ever since I got drafted, I could care less about the combine. Being on the active roster is my goal now."

Bushrod said he has no intentions of being on the Saints' practice squad when training camp is over.

He enters camp as the No. 3 left tackle on the Saints' roster behind veteran Jammal Brown and second-year player Zach Strief.

He participated in the team's rookie minicamp in May, and came away believing he'd impressed coaches.

Saints head coach Sean Payton told The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans that Bushrod appeared very "comfortable" in minicamp.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis expressed excitement about Bushrod's future with the team.

"Jermon is a talented young player. He is someone who will bring added depth to an area of our team that is already strong," Loomis told neworleanssaints.com. He will play a role in our success this season."

New Orleans had plenty of that in 2006. The Saints won the NFC South with an 10-6 record and reached the NFC championship game, where they lost to the Chicago Bears.

However, Bushrod isn't taken aback with the Saints' accomplishments last year. He said he's more impressed with the mock funeral the team held this summer to symbolically bury the 2006 season forever.

"That just proves to me the kind of people we have in this organization," Bushrod said. "They're not dwelling on last year."

The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Bushrod has spent much of the summer traveling back and forth from his parents' home in King George to New Orleans for the rookie and team minicamps. He also attended the mandatory NFL rookie symposium in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in June.

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Date published: 7/27/2007