By Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer
Friday, June 3, 2011
BRADENTON — There were important things to accomplish, like sharing a new Vikings playbook and learning a new offense, but as former FSU quarterback Christian Ponder spent three days with his seven future teammates at the IMG Madden Football Academy this week, the best moments may have been far from the football fields they practiced on.
In a break from working out, the first-round draft pick grabbed a tennis ball — they're everywhere at IMG, which has branched out to much more than its tennis roots — and started posting up against fellow quarterback Joe Webb, no basket, no basketball, just athletes getting to know each other. The next day, as the Vikings and other locked-out football players got conditioning work in IMG's pool, Ponder was showing off his underwater separation moves in a pickup football game, then getting beaten on a corner route, with a leaping Webb catching another tennis ball lobbed into the shallow end.
His hope was to get a head start on the chemistry so crucial to a winning locker room, and as he begins the unenviable task of potentially succeeding a legend in Brett Favre as the Vikings' quarterback and leader, it was a promising first step.
"It speaks a lot about him as a young guy trying to help gather the guys," said Vikings receiver Greg Camarillo, who drove up from his home in Miami for the informal minicamp organized by Ponder. "He's not shy, and he can't be shy as a leader. This is a veteran team we have with a lot of veteran guys. For him to come in with the mentality that he's ready to play, that will earn him some respect."
Ponder has been busy over the last two weeks at IMG, working with former FSU and NFL quarterback Chris Weinke on learning the offense to be implemented by first-year Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave.
"I'm trying to mirror exactly what they would be getting in a minicamp, to get them comfortable to know and understand what's going to take place once they're (in camp)," Weinke said. "Any time you're at the quarterback position at that level, there's a lot of pressure. The one thing I can say about Christian, knowing him over the years, he's an even-keel guy. That's one of the key things I look for in successful quarterbacks. He's asking all the right questions. He wants to learn, and I think he's going to handle it fine."
And while Ponder had hoped for better attendance at IMG — five veterans once committed to attend never made it, citing varying excuses — he found the interaction to be of great benefit, even if it were in social things like watching the Heat and Mavericks in the NBA Finals. In practices, the focus was on learning intricate playbook nomenclature like "deuce right strong 52 comet mesa," but in simply learning each other's names, however informal. Ponder gave Camarillo grief about his Stanford education, praised Webb with his full name. Camarillo, in turn, deemed a throw across the middle "Ponderiffic."
The NFL lockout has teams operating in mandated radio silence, with coaches unable to talk with their players, but Ponder saw a chance to reach out to his new teammates, acting more like a young leader and less like a rookie.
"You see all these other teams doing workouts, and we were one of the few teams that wasn't doing anything. Somebody had to get the ball rolling," Ponder said. "I thought as a quarterback it was up to me to do it."
Ponder had already met Minnesota's second-round pick, Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph, but got to know two other draft picks, including USF defensive back Mistral Raymond. IMG brings in all kinds of NFL talent, and Ponder spent time with another rookie quarterback in the same learning curve — Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, now a Carolina Panther — and found that the jargon he was learning seemed easier than what Newton was trying to master.
As much as any terminology — cryptic audibles like "blue lady" — Ponder wanted to get a better sense of the people he'll have around him in Minnesota, and to that end, the three days at IMG, rough weather aside, were a major success.
"It's huge to start getting that bond going, and as a quarterback, you've got to be comfortable with all the guys around you," he said. "To lead and to influence, you have to get to know them personally. I'm excited about getting to know everybody. These are my teammates, and this is my family for as many years as I'm here."