By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Coach Marvin Lewis' makeover of the Bengals' defense could continue with the impending visit of one of his former Baltimore Ravens linebackers.

Brad Jackson is expected to arrive Sunday night for a Monday visit. Jackson, 28, who starred at the University of Cincinnati, played three seasons (1999-01) in Baltimore when Lewis was defensive coordinator there.

Jackson, 6 feet and 230 pounds, played in 11 games last season for the Carolina Panthers and had six tackles. Jackson followed his former Ravens position coach, Jack Del Rio, to Carolina, where Del Rio was defensive coordinator for one season. Del Rio is now Jacksonville's head coach.

Jackson's 47 regular-season NFL games include six starts, all for Lewis in 2001. Jackson also has six postseason games - two of them starts - to his credit.

A native of Akron, Jackson entered UC as a 170-pound wide receiver. He switched to linebacker and had three consecutive 100-tackle seasons for the Bearcats, finishing with 392 for the third-best total in school history at the time of his departure.

Jackson is a productive NFL special teams player, too. In 2000, he had four special teams tackles in consecutive games against the Bengals and Tennessee.

He is an unrestricted free agent.

MATCH GAME: Lewis and the Bengals made no announcement Friday about whether they will match Green Bay's three-year offer sheet for linebacker Armegis Spearman.

Spearman, however, said Friday that he preferred to go to Green Bay. If the Bengals do match, he said he would participate only in mandatory offseason minicamps in Cincinnati. Spearman said he would not attend voluntary workouts or the offseason strength and conditioning program, and instead would continue working on his college degree at Mississippi.

The Packers signed Spearman to an offer sheet Thursday. The deal includes a $550,000 signing bonus and has a total value of between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Former Bengals linebackers coach and defensive coordinator Mark Duffner, who scouted Spearman as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2000, is Green Bay's linebackers coach. He reportedly has told Spearman the starting middle linebacker job would be his to lose with the Packers. Spearman would be a backup with the Bengals.

LOCAL HERO: The Bengals have signed running back Ray Jackson of the University of Cincinnati to a two-year contract.

A first-year free agent, Jackson began his college career at Michigan in 1997. He is 6-1, 223 pounds and transferred to UC to play two seasons for the Bearcats.

In two years at UC - 2000 and '01 - he rushed for 1,486 yards on 369 carries and averaged 4.0 yards per carry. He also had 40 pass receptions for 642 yards (16.0 average).

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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