The coming weeks and months shall demonstrate which Tremain Mack the Bengals obtained.
Will it be the troublemaker who was arrested six times in less than four years for various offenses, or the dutiful son whose love for his mother spurred him to excel in football?
Will it be the hothead who struck a police officer, or the tender soul who, moved by a housemate's woe, sought refuge by writing a poem?
Most of all, the Bengals hope the Tremain Mack they drafted from the University of Miami in Sunday's fourth round is the dynamo who was a big-play artist at strong safety and quite possibly the nation's best special-teams performer.
Mack realized that his past likely prevented him from being a first-round choice and thus cost him a small fortune.
''Who wants to pay a guy millions of bucks (when) something could happen any day?'' he said. ''But I never had money anyway,
so I'm not worried about that. I just want to play football Š Those (offenses), they don't happen any more Š Anybody who's gone through as much as I've gone through, you have to be mentally strong to make it. I think I'm very mentally strong, because if I wasn't, I would have given up a long time ago.''
As was the case with second-round choice Corey Dillon, the University of Washington running back who was a juvenile miscreant, Bengals officials were compelled to explain the wisdom of drafting another veteran of the police blotter.
Coach Bruce Coslet said the Bengals repeatedly interviewed Mack, 22, and people who knew him at Miami. Coslet was satisfied that Mack has channeled his energies properly.
''There is some risk to this. We know that,'' Coslet said. ''I'm not concerned too much at this point about history. I'm looking (at) the future. If problems arise, I'll deal with them Š I'm not defending anybody's past. The kid admits he's made some mistakes. We'll
see what happens in the future, and that's what I would like to focus on.''
Defensive backs coach Ray Horton is prepared to shepherd Mack through his early NFL days: ''I will be with him as much as I can. I have a four-bedroom house and only three bedrooms are being used. If the young man needs a place to stay, he can stay with me.''
If that happens, Horton may find himself immortalized in verse. Mack reached the semifinals of a poetry competition with a piece dedicated to a 15-year-old member of the Cuban family he lives with in Miami. The poem, titled Down and Out With Hope, was prompted by the youth's on-again, off-again high school basketball career.
Horton telephoned Mack immediately after the Bengals selected him. Mack's first words were, ''Thank you. I'll make you proud of me.''
Mack has the potential to please the Bengals in various ways. Mindful of improving their special teams with offseason acquisitions (Eddie Sutter, Jocelyn Borgella), the Bengals may have taken a giant leap forward in that area with Mack, who entered the draft as a junior.
He blocked 10 kicks or punts during his final two Miami seasons.
''It's hard to teach the skill,'' Coslet said. ''It's timing; it's speed; it's hand-eye coordination.''
Mack also averaged a whopping 39.5 yards on 13 kickoff returns last year.
Cincinnati expects Mack to compete against Bracey Walker at strong safety, where he was an All-Big East selection.
Through it all, Mack will be inspired by his mother, Lillie Newsom of Tyler, Texas.
''I've been playing football for 16 years for my mom, and I wanted to do something for her,'' he said. ''Now Cincinnati's given me an opportunity to do it, and I'm going to take it and do it.''
WHAT'S NEXT
DAUGHERTY COLUMN
SULLIVAN COLUMN
ANALYSIS
BENGALS DRAFT PAGE
