BenJarvus Green-Ellis
Updated: 9:15 p.m.
Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis played four seasons in Massachusetts for the Patriots, so he has no doubt about the resiliency of the Boston sports fan. Asked to describe him and her Tuesday and BJGE smiled.
"For lack of a better term, they're used to championships," Green-Ellis said. "That's why it's called "Championship Town.' Football, basketball, hockey, every year, and baseball. You can't forget that. So year round they're used to going to the playoffs and winning championships. Somebody's hanging a banner. That's what they're used to doing."
Like everyone else, Green-Ellis could only shake his head at the murder and mayhem that unfolded with the bombing of Monday's Boston Marathon.
"At a time like this, all you can do is just keep all the families in your prayers," he said.
He never went to the marathon, but he knows what it means in those parts.
"They love all sports. Even field hockey is getting big up there," BJGE said. "They're into tradition and it's become one of the biggest marathons there is. I'd say the biggest days are that one and any championship parade."
LOCAL INTEREST: The Bengals hosted about 30 players with either high school or college ties to the Cincinnati metro area Tuesday inside Paul Brown Stadium, but the guy that figures to be drafted the highest, University of Cincinnati tight end Travis Kelce, couldn't make it because of a travel delay on his tour of NFL facilities.
The Bengals plan to check out Kelce on Wednesday, but they've got a pretty good bead on him and everybody else at this point. Greg Seamon, the Bengals East Coast scout who coached at UC as well as Miami University, ran the pro day stocked mostly with potential free agents. They were on the field for only about a half hour and were confined to position drills.
"They've been here since 7 a.m.; this is the tip of the iceberg," Seamon said. "They've gotten physicals, been drug-tested, been interviewed by people in the organization so we've got a lot of information that way. We had breakfast with them this morning. We've seen them all on tape. We've been to almost all of their pro days (at their colleges). We've already witnessed them run the 40, the jumps, do the bench press, all the cone drills and the individual drills at the pro day. So this is kind of a capstone to all of that."
As usual, Seamon had an intriguing mix of guys, ranging from Ohio wide receiver Bakari Bussey to former Cincinnati wide receiver Nick Truesdell.
The 6-1, 212-pound Bussey, son of former Bengals safety Barney Bussey who played his high school ball at Lakota West in the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester, Ohio, figures to get a call late in the proceedings. The 6-5 Truesdell surfaced after basically disappearing following his dominant high school career that featured a state title for Cincinnati's Anderson High School five years ago.
Truesdell signed with UC out of Anderson, almost immediately ran afoul of the law, and lost his scholarship. When he went to junior college at Grand Rapids, he tore his ACL and never played there.
But he worked hard enough to get back on the field here and at UC's pro day last month after enough people recommended him to Richard Katz, Cincinnati's busiest NFL agent.
"We got him in January after several people recommended him," Katz said during the workout. "Really good kid that's made a couple of mistakes. He's got great size and tremendous ability. I've talked to him. He understands what has to be done and how he's got to move on from things. I think he's got enough size and talent that somebody brings him in."
Truesdell is still shaking off the cobwebs, particularly with his hands, but he's got the kind of size that could make him a tight end if the NFL deems it.
Seamon had Cincinnati's two newest quarterbacks up and throwing in veterans Josh Johnson (five NFL starts) and John Skelton (17 NFL starts), and they weren't shy about showing off their big arms. You just don't see a total of 22 NFL starts gunning the ball to a bunch of prospects like this very often.
"It was a good opportunity for Kenny (Zampese) and Jay (Gruden) to do some work with them," Seamon said of quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese and offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. "It enhanced our ability to have the workout because, of course, they're better than most college quarterbacks. Sometimes the fastballs caught (the receivers) by surprise a few times. They were very cooperative."
PRESEASON SKED SET: The Paul Brown Stadium preseason opener, against Tennessee, is set for Saturday., Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. The Bengals play at Dallas the following Saturday and wind up the preseason with a Thursday, Aug. 29 home game (7 p.m.) against Indianapolis.
The preseason opener, as previously announced, airs Thursday, Aug. 8, at Atlanta with national television coverage on ESPN.
Though dates and kickoff times for the Bengals regular-season schedule are to be announced Thursday at 8 p.m., the list of home and road opponents has been set, and season tickets are available now through the Bengals Ticket Hotline at 866-621-8383 (TDTD). Single-game tickets for the two home preseason contests are also available.
