Cincinnati Bengals
Army TE gets a chance
By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted May 1, 2010 5:11 PM ET
Come January, Alejandro Villanueva hopes to be somewhere other than the NFL playoffs.
Villanueva, a 6-foot-9 tight end from Army, is in the Bengals' rookie minicamp as a try-out player, but among the 25 try-out players, he alone has no illusions of making it to training camp in Georgetown, Ky., in a couple of months. Instead, if all things go right for him, he'll be in Ranger school in Ft. Benning, Ga., and by the time the Super Bowl is being played at Cowboys Stadium, he'll be in Afghanistan leading an infantry platoon.
Others at minicamp, including his teammate at tight end, first-round pick Jermaine Gresham, are looking forward to training camp, Villanueva is looking toward finals and then graduation later this month. From there, he'll have some time off, but then is hoping to go to Ranger school and then have more training before ultimately ending up in Afghanistan by the start of the new year.
"Sometimes when I see this happening, I wonder what could have been," said Villanueva, in town for the three-day rookie minicamp. "Same thing when I'm playing football in West Point when you look at all the teams with these great facilities and all these huge meals and they don't have to do anything in the summer. You wonder what could have been. But at the same time, you always go back to the reasons you went to West Point. You think about what you're doing and why it's important to you. Usually, you get a smile out of it, and you say, 'This is what I chose. This is what I do in life, and it makes me proud and I'm pretty happy about it.''
Villanueva doesn't have any illusions of making the Bengals this year. As one of 25 players invited on a tryout basis to the team's rookie minicamp, his chances would be slim anyway, last year three tryout players were signed to contracts, and only one, tight end Darrius Hill, made it through training camp. Villanueva would like to make an impression while he's here, so that in two years when he could possibly have a chance to play professional football, the Bengals remember him and he has a chance. Former Lions draft pick Caleb Campbell was in Detroit for the team's rookie minicamp this week after serving two years in active duty. Campbell can trade the three years remaining in his obligation of active duty service to six years of reserve duty and play football full time.
Any thoughts of that are in the distant future for Villanueva. Instead, he's focused more on the project presentation he missed to be with the Bengals when they called Tuesday to offer him a tryout, as well as his impending finals.
After that, he wants to complete a goal he's had since Sept. 11, 2001. The son of a career Navy officer, Villanueva was 12 when the attacks on New York happened. Since then, he knew he wanted to go into the Army and do something to help. As he grew up around the world, he had a chance to play football or basketball at other schools, but the offer to go to West Point was too much to pass up when he graduated from SHAPE American School in Belgium.
"I just wanted to do something. You want to go get that guy. That was one of the things I had in the back of my head... I want to get that guy, I want to get that guy. We still haven't found him," Villanueva said. "And, you see, you hear the stories of all the soldiers coming back from Afghanistan and what they're doing out there, and the only thing you want to do is do your part. The last thing you worry about is what's going to happen to you. Everyone's got to do their job and go through it."
His job will be leading 34 soldiers into combat in Afghanistan. That's different than just about anything his new teammates can imagine going through.
"I thought he was just a kid who played at Army who came to play ball and was a good tight end and then he told me the whole story and that he's going to leave and he's going to be deployed," said Bengals first-round pick Jermaine Gresham, whose immediate future includes a multi-million dollar contract. "It surprised me, but now being around him and seeing the type of person he is, it doesn't surprise me because he has great character."
The character message is something head coach Marvin Lewis has spent considerable time drilling into his players. During the rookie minicamp, quarterback Carson Palmer and former defensive tackle John Thornton have talked to the team about how to handle themselves as professionals. Friday night was devoted to talking about character and how that carries over into football and every day life.
During the season last year, Lewis brought in different military people to talk to his team about leadership, discipline and character, things he felt were important and as real-world examples that his team could use on the field. In Villanueva, some of the newest Bengals can see that up close -- and so do the coaches.
"I would hope the other guys would think about it, because what he does and what he's going to do is such a critical part of what we all get to do here," said offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski. "We talk about it a lot during the season, we had a lot of military guys talk to us during the season, Navy SEALs that Marvin brought in, and after they'd talk, in our meetings we'd talk about it. That's real world, real commitment there. If we could show a third of that type of commitment and give ourselves to what we do as much as they do, it'd be important. I try to get the guys to think it that way, think outside of this NFL glass bubble we're in and think about what's really allowing us to do this."
But Villanueva is more than a symbol, he's taking his shot at professional football. He started playing football as a senior in high school, played two years on defense, started at offensive tackle as a junior and then as a senior, switched to wide receiver.
In his senior year, Villanueva was the Black Knights' leading receiver, catching 34 passes for 522 yards and five touchdowns. In Army's option offense, he was usually left in single coverage and had a decided size advantage against any defensive back or linebacker trying to cover him.
Villanueva was invited the East-West Shrine Game as a tight end prospect and that's where the Bengals have him. Perhaps, two years from now, he could be a backup tight end blocking specialist with the ability to catch passes in short-yardage situations. He's shown both the ability to block and the ability to catch the ball and has the athleticism to do both. He also has the ability to learn quickly and pick up schemes and concepts at a quick rate, something that's vital to his impending vocation.
"In the Army you're sort of the big picture, different branches are asked to do different things," Villanueva said. "Field artillery, they're doing infantry missions and clearing houses, tankers are doing the same thing. It is true they ask you to do a variety of things. I was a captain too so I could not say 'Coach I want to stay a tackle'. If they thought I would be more helpful to the team at receiver then this is what I'm going to do."
The Army was supportive of him coming to the minicamp and keeping tabs on his progress as a football player, if he wants to pursue that career-path down the road. And Villanueva wants to keep all his options open.
"It's a good opportunity for him to come into minicamp like this and see where he stacks up against the other guys," said Lewis.
And it's another chance to play the game he loves, Villanueva said.
"Hopefully if I'm healthy and I don't have bullet holes all over my body. I'll definitely give it a shot," he said. "I don't know what my path is going to be. Obviously after being deployed for 18 months and eating MREs and not sleeping a lot -- if the coaches think they're looking for someone else then I have to keep going with my career. It's not like I feel sorry for myself. That's what I signed up to do. Living day by day. There's always 7-on-7 flag tournaments which I heard were pretty fun, if they have full pads try to sign up for that. Again it's love of the game. I'm not here for the money or endorsements, I just want to play."
Categories: Cincinnati Bengals, Featured Stories
Tags: Alejandro Villanueva, Bob Bratkowski, Jermaine Gresham, Marvin Lewis
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