Lions surprise Duck QB.

Byline: BOB CLARK The Register-Guard

It was again Joey Harrington leading, and two more Ducks followed Saturday as Oregon matched its unprecedented success on the field last season with one of its best showings ever in the NFL draft.

Harrington became only the 10th Duck to be taken in the first round when he was chosen with the third pick overall by the Detroit Lions. Later, Maurice Morris went to Seattle in the second round and Rashad Bauman to Washington in the third round.

It's only the second time the Ducks have had three players taken in the first three rounds of the college draft, matching 1973 when center Chuck Bradley was taken in the second round and tackle Tim Stokes and quarterback Dan Fouts went in the third round.

This year probably topped that, with Harrington going to the Lions with the third choice overall.

`I was unbelievably surprised,'' Harrington said, because only minutes before, Harrington's agent had called to say the Lions were preparing to choose Quentin Jammer, the cornerback from Texas.

The telephone rang again: It was Detroit, and the pick was Harrington.

`I just think he's got special tools, both mentally and physically,' explained Detroit coach Marty Mornhinweg, who had pushed for taking Harrington over the defensive players under consideration. `He can make all the throws, everyone knows that, but what he has goes beyond throwing the football.

`Joey has great poise and leadership. Even on tape, you can see his team rallying around him.'

Matt Millen, the president of the Lions, acknowledged it was `very hard' to pass up Jammer, who was taken with the fifth pick by the San Diego Chargers.

`No question about it, the easier pick would have probably been to go with a corner, and that is open for debate,' Millen said. `We need to get better on defense, and there are a lot of ways to get better on defense.'

While Jammer would have been expected to start immediately, Harrington will be on the depth chart behind Mike McMahon, a second-year player out of Rutgers, with 11-year veteran Ty Detmer also on hand. The Lions have already announced they will release former starter Charlie Batch, but are waiting until later because of salary cap considerations.

`There is no way that Joey Harrington can be dropped in and be expected to play as well as the two (quarterbacks) who are here,' Millen said. `He'll play, and Mike will be the guy and it will be good competition and I think he is up for it.'

``It will be fun,'' Harrington said. ``That's part of football. That competition makes your team better.''

Millen said Harrington's selection is `for the future ... we need to have the ability at the quarterback position. We have to, and it hasn't been here since fill in the blank.'

The Lions haven't had a quarterback play in the Pro Bowl since Greg Landry did in 1971 and have not had long-term stability at the position since Bobby Layne started from 1951 until Detroit won the NFL title in 1957, the last of its three league titles.

Since then, the Lions have used more than 20 starting quarterbacks - and have won only one playoff game. In their history, the Lions have eight times drafted a quarterback in the first round, but the two most successful of those, future Hall of Famers Otto Graham and Y.A. Title, never played for Detroit.

Detroit was 2-14 last season and lost its first dozen games. The Lions will this season be moving into a new facility, 65,000-seat Ford Field, that is scheduled to open in August. They will be in the revamped NFC North Division, along with Green Bay, Minnesota and Chicago.

The desire to raise interest in a franchise that last won a division title in 1993 was considered to be a factor in the decision to select a quarterback in the first round, and with Fresno State's David Carr gone to the Houston Texans with the first choice overall, that left Harrington as the only option for the Lions.

`He is very solid in several different areas,' Millen said. `And on top of that, he has the intangibles. The kid has leadership skills, the kid has a presence. He's got all the things you look for in a quarterback.

`Are you going to find a guy with a stronger arm? Yes. Are you going to find a guy who is faster? Yes. Who can escape better? Yes. There are those people out there, but he has a good combination and he has the intangibles.'

Harrington agreed with Millen's evaluation.

``I think what I bring to the table isn't necessarily all physical skills,'' he said. ``I have the ability to play at this level, but I'm not a player who is going to go out and run a 4.3 or throw a bomb 75 yards down the field. That's just not my style.''

Until the Lions called Harrington to inform him of their imminent selection, there was definite doubt all around about how long Harrington would be waiting to hear his name announced.

``Honestly, I had been told five minutes earlier that they were going in another direction, so I was just about to sit down with my mom and dad and watch the Lions pick someone else,' Harrington said. `I was shocked, but I'm thrilled to be there.''

Regardless of where he was taken, Harrington told ESPN.com that `I feel like I am going to be pretty successful over a long period of time. I'm sure happy I didn't have to wait very long to get a chance to get started, but I know that if I went third or even 103rd, I'm a good player.'

Only one UO player was ever taken sooner in an NFL draft, when quarterback George Shaw went to the Baltimore Colts with the first overall pick in 1955. Another UO quarterback, Akili Smith, was also taken third overall, by Cincinnati in 1999.

Harrington predicted that coming to contract terms wouldn't be difficult because `signing is very important to me. I'm going to be in camp, there are no two ways about that.'

The Seahawks' drafting of Morris in the second round, with the 54th pick overall, marks the earliest a UO running back has been chosen by the NFL since Ahmad Rashad was a first-round pick in 1972, and he was soon moved to wide receiver. Morris was the fifth running back taken Saturday, and Seattle coach Mike Holmgren acknowledged there were others in the organization who advised him that he could probably get Morris later.

`I wasn't willing ... to run that risk,' Holmgren said. `I really wanted this young man.'

Seattle has Shaun Alexander as its main runner, but Holmgren said Morris `can catch the ball beautifully, he can be a great third-down back. I've always liked to have two backs who can really do it for you, and I think this young man has a chance to be our second back.'

Detroit's 2002

Schedule

Date Opponent

x-Aug. 9 ... at Baltimore

x-Aug. 17 ... at Cleveland

x-Aug. 24 ... Pittsburgh

x-Aug. 29 ... Buffalo

Sept. 8 ... at Miami

Sept. 15 ... at Carolina

Sept. 22 ... Green Bay

Sept. 29 ... New Orleans

Oct. 13 ... at Minnesota

Oct. 20 ... Chicago

Oct. 27 ... at Buffalo

Nov. 3 ... Dallas

Nov. 10 ... at Green Bay

Nov. 17 ... New York Jets 

Nov. 24 ... at Chicago

Nov. 28 ... New England

Dec. 8 ... at Arizona

Dec. 15 ... Tampa Bay

Dec. 22 ... at Atlanta

Dec. 29 ... Minnesota

x-exhibition game