By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIANAPOLIS - The Cleveland Browns plan on keeping both Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb.

But coach Butch Davis on Friday said he would name a starter at quarterback before the team goes to training camp.

"There's a lot of time between now and the start of training camp," he said. "We've got the offseason conditioning workouts, quarterback schools and minicamps. We'll go to training camp with a starting quarterback."

Couch, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 draft, was 8-6 in 14 starts and 7-5 in games he finished last season. He suffered an elbow injury in the preseason and a broken right fibula in the regular-season finale.

Holcomb made three starts, including his only victory, over the Bengals in Week 2, and he threw for 429 yards in the Browns' wild-card playoff loss to the Steelers.

Couch, a former University of Kentucky quarterback, said he didn't want to be a backup in Cleveland.

"I'm proud of the statement," Davis said. "I'd be disappointed if he said anything other than that."

CHARLES IN CHARGE: Michigan State wide receiver Charles Rogers has attracted a great deal of attention at the annual NFL scouting combine - and the Bengals are expressing as much interest as any team.

Detroit (No. 2 overall pick) and Houston (No. 3) covet Rogers - an early-entry junior who had 68 receptions and 13 touchdowns for the Spartans last season.

"I think it's a challenge, no matter where you go," Rogers said. "Whether it's Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, I feel like it's a challenge to help get those guys into the playoffs, and I'm up to the challenge."

CENTERED: The Bengals are interviewing several centers and offensive linemen.

"I think this particular group is special," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of the offensive line class. "They've been three-, four-year starters. A lot of them have switched from other positions. They've played on teams that made turnarounds."

Lewis has a type in mind on the offensive line.

"I think you always want to improve your team athletically," he said. "(Big immobile players) are not going to help you if, at the end of the day, they're on the ground."

The Bengals have talked to centers Al Johnson of Wisconsin and Brett Romberg of Miami, among other offensive linemen.

PURPLE PRIDE: Elder graduate Dan Stricker, working out at the combine, said he would like to play for the Bengals.

"I would love to play for my hometown team," said Stricker, a Green Township native who had 65 receptions and 1,079 yards as a junior at Vanderbilt in 2001. "I'd love to get all those crazy Elder fans down to Paul Brown Stadium."

Most gurus have Stricker pegged as a late-round pick, but he is hoping a fast 40-yard time - he wants to run a sub-4.5 - will increase his value.

HEALING GAME: Mississippi tight end Doug Zeigler, who played quarterback at Wilmington High School, is trying to come back from a broken left tibia and fibula suffered in his fourth game last season.

Zeigler said he is about 85 percent healthy. Though he can't run at the combine, he bench-pressed 225 pounds 20 times. The injury has hurt his draft chances.

"You always want to get drafted," he said. "But I just want the chance to get into camp and show I can play."

At 6 feet 3, 252 pounds, Zeigler's best season was 2001, when he had 21 receptions and four touchdowns. That season, too, was cut short by a broken right arm. He roomed for two years with Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning, brother of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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