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Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne (left) gets a fist bump from secondary coach Jerome Henderson following a morning workout earlier this month in Irving.
Photo: Tony Gutierrez, Associated Press / SA
ARLINGTON — Dallas Cowboys secondary coach Jerome Henderson came off the field dripping with sweat after a recent intense post-practice tutorial with rookie cornerback Morris Claiborne.
With his left wrist still on the mend from ligament surgery in March, Claiborne was limited to conditioning work during minicamp. But that didn't stop Henderson from pushing Claiborne hard on the field and in the classroom.
In either spot, Henderson said Claiborne impressed with his football knowledge.
“He's an intelligent young man, a really smart player,” Henderson said.
Four months after he registered an embarrassingly low Wonderlic test score at the NFL Scouting Combine, Claiborne is well on his way to mastering Rob Ryan's defensive playbook.
“I don't know what happened there at the combine, but I know from talking to him he understands football and picks up concepts very well,” Henderson said. “He speaks very intelligently and knows how to handle himself. I've been very impressed with him from a mental standpoint, from a professionalism standpoint and from an athletic standpoint.”
Claiborne scored a 4 on the Wonderlic, an aptitude test consisting of 50 questions that must be answered within 12 minutes. The average score for NFL prospects is around 20, but Claiborne said he “blew the test off” and only answered around 15 questions after seeing it didn't pertain to football.
“I'm past that,” Claiborne said Thursday, the final day of the three-day minicamp. “When it happened, it didn't bother me, so it's still not bothering me now.”
The low test score didn't stop Dallas from trading up to select Claiborne sixth overall.
“He is clearly a guy who has a good understanding of football,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “We use the expression ‘football IQ.' Everything we heard from people at LSU who were around him for three years said he was very natural that way. We've given him a lot of stuff. It's particularly difficult for him because he is hearing the stuff, but he's not getting to do it. But he's handling it well.
“We'll see when he gets out there practicing, when the bullets are really flying, how well he handles it. But he hangs in there mentally, and that has a lot to do with his understanding of the game.”
Garrett also spoke glowingly of the way Claiborne has handled his rehab. Claiborne insisted Thursday he would be fully ready for training camp when it starts in late July.
“We've talked about injured players staying engaged,” Garrett said. “And he's a great example, really getting locked into meetings. You see him at practice and the walkthroughs, shadowing the corner, trying to simulate that work as much as he can.”
Claiborne, 22, stayed close to Henderson, 42, throughout minicamp, trying to absorb as much as he could from the former NFL defensive back.
“I got all the mental reps I can get and just stayed focused,” Claiborne said. “I basically just followed behind Coach all day and just got the calls and the checks from him and just tried to stay mentally sharp.”
Henderson is working overtime to get Claiborne ready because he knows how difficult life can be for rookie corners.
“Ooh, wow, rookie corners, they got an ‘X' on them, I don't care who you are,” Henderson said. “A rookie corner in this league, everybody is going to try him. And they are going to keep trying him over and over and over.”
Henderson has plenty of experience working with young, gifted corners. He was an assistant with the New York Jets in 2007 when Darrelle Revis made his first Pro Bowl appearance after being drafted 14th overall. In 2010, he was with the Cleveland Browns when they selected Joe Haden seventh overall.
“You see early on that, ‘OK. This guy is going to be all right. It's not going to be too big for him,'” Henderson said. “Then there are some guys it takes a little time, and you say, ‘Well, OK, he's going to have to grow into this.' Obviously, we hope (Claiborne) will be ready for those big moments early on. But with any rookie, until you get them out there, you don't know.”
But this much seems certain: If Claiborne stumbles as a rookie, it won't be because of a low football IQ.
torsborn@express-news.net
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