Sports

TERRELL GRINS AND BEARS IT

Most prognosticators had him being taken between the third and sixth picks of the NFL draft, but Michigan wide receiver David Terrell was still available when the Bears selected him at No. 8.

“It worked out for the better for me,” Terrell said yesterday at the draft at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. “Chicago is a great city. Going there it is going to be very, very good for me being that you have [wide receiver] Marcus Robinson on the other side, a great quarterback [Cade McNown] and great fans – they back you in ways that you can’t even imagine fan support should be.”

The first WR taken in the draft, Terrell is coming off a strong junior season in which he made 67 catches for a school-record 1,130 yards (16.9 average), becoming the first player in Michigan history to gain more than 1,000 yards in multiple seasons. He also caught 14 touchdowns passes.

Nonetheless, the Browns passed on the sure-handed 6-21/2, 208-pounder, despite a desperate need to give Tim Couch a big-play receiver. Instead, Cleveland, in a surprising move, took defensive tackle Gerard Warren of Florida.

Is this the next Mistake by the Lake?

“They had to do the best thing for their team, which I think they did if they wanted to go [for] defense,” said Terrell, a Richmond, Va., native who was first-team Big 10 two straight years. “Now I am a Chicago Bear. I have to put my head up and I am going to prepare myself for what is at stake for me.”

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All along, LaDainian Tomlinson had his sight set on San Diego, albeit more for the climate than for the coaching.

Likewise, the Chargers thought highly of Tomlinson, too, even considering using the No. 1 overall pick on the TCU halfback. But still, until Friday, the Chargers seemed inclined to take Michael Vick, the 20-year-old Virginia Tech quarterback.

However, with contract talks stalled between the Chargers and Vick, Tomlinson suddenly re-emerged in San Diego’s always sunny picture. And before the Chargers dealt their top pick to Atlanta for the No. 5 overall pick Friday, Vick told Tomlinson that he might be going to Sea World after all.

“Me and Vick had talked about this yesterday, about him going to Atlanta and me to San Diego,” Tomlinson said.

And Vick’s words came true yesterday, when the Chargers took Tomlinson with the fifth pick.