McDonald was in a dog fight with the Browns drafting three defensive backs in the 2010 draft, but McDonald was expected to at least make the roster as a 4th corner back.

“The new journey begins…. Thanks to all.. Peace and many many many blessings to all..ITS TRU”

Those are the words posted on his Twitter account, bmcdonald22, Friday morning.  He later adds confirmation to some followers what he was talking about.  Someone asked if “new journey” means a new team or new season, all Brandon could muster was “TEAM”.

Few asked if he was cut and he just quietly said, “YEP”

He finished off the somber tweets with a final thought, “Thanks to everyone fa da best wishes tweets.. I enjoyed my time here but all mus one day come to and end.. ITS TRU”.

Brandon McDonald was selected by the Browns in the fifth round (140th overall) at the 2007 NFL Draft.

All NFL teams have until midnight on September 4th (tonight) to get under the 53 man roster.

The running back situation will be one to definitely watch as rookie sensation Montario Hardesty is FINALLY returning from injury, and incumbent starter, Jerome Harrison, hasn’t exactly been running the ball well. An unexpected participant in the running back battle is Peyton Hillis, who has been the star of the preseason on the ground, and is definitely in the running for the starting job with a good game tonight.

Another big question mark is the Browns starting receiving order. Joshua Cribbs has looked like the best receiver on the roster, but Mohammed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie (both 2^nd round picks in the 09 draft) have both played well. With the expected top three receivers all playing well, it will be interesting who are the top two receivers when the season begins, and with a great game tonight, one of the three could pull ahead in the race.

Linebacker is another spot where the Browns have a lot of question marks, because they seem to have a lot of pretty good players, but nobody, other then Chris Gocong, has stood out and looked like a real difference maker. Tonight’s game will be huge for guys on the bubble like David Veikune, Kaluka Maivia, Jason Trusnik, Eric Barton, David Bowens, and Titus Brown. If none of those players are going to step up and make plays, all of them are going to be on their toes during final cuts.

A place where the Browns coaches are definitely going to be looking at is Quarterback, mainly because other teams cut guys too, and neither Colt McCoy or Brett Ratliff have played good at all in the preseason. If neither player plays well tonight then Matt Leinart, Sage Rosenfelds, and other potential cuts could be coming to town.

McCoy has improved throughout the preseason, but still has a lot to learn about the pro game.

“It is still football, it is still a lot of fun,” he said. “You are constantly learning, you are constantly getting a feel, you are throwing with different guys, you are playing with different people than you have played with. You just have to keep your head up, keep working and keep moving on and really study.

Coach Mangini also praised McCoy for his improved play in the 3^rd preseason game, but also eluded to the fact that he has much to learn.

“Colt has shown growth, I think he was 10 for 14 last game,” said coach Mangini. “I think there were a couple decisions, again, that he needs to improve on, but he improved on the decision-making from the earlier games. We are not where we need to be, but it has been better than what it was. That’s going to keep coming with time and experience.”

The Browns game tonight will be the last audition for a few guys, and for others could be the last time they play in an NFL uniform. Either way that’s definitely an incentive, and will make for a great showing from them tonight.

Hardesty is now on an uphill battle for early playing time after Harrison had a nice training camp, and the emergence of running back Peyton Hillis last week against the Rams. Hillis had 51 yards on 12 carries and added 2 catches, but he showed more then stats when he continuously ran over multiple Rams defenders per play. Harrison was benched early so Browns fans got to see Hillis early and often, and most liked what they saw in the big back from Arkansas.

Coach Mangini has expressed a lot of confidence in the rookie though and thinks that he will be able to still play early in the season. Mangini gave Hardesty a vote of confidence in a recent press conference.

“…The thing with Montario that I’m really comfortable with is he knew the system pretty well in OTAs. He’s been studying it just as hard, even though he hasn’t been on the field, he’s been just as diligent here during training camp. Look, he’s a rookie, but the early impression is that he is not going to need a ton of reps in order to be effective in completing his assignments just based on my exposure to him and how he’s worked. I hadn’t looked at the position that way where you just throw a guy in and let the instincts take over, but there’s obviously a huge component to that at the running back spot,” said Mangini.

Hardesty agreed with coach Mangini when asked how he feels about his own progression from the injury, and his return.

“I feel like it is. I am very comfortable with the offense right now. I’ve been making sure I’ve been doing my studying on that end. When I am healthy and ready to go, when I hit the field, I want to hit the field running and just go out there and try to compete and help the team out,” said Hardesty.

Hardesty should be on the field against the Bears in teams last pre-season game, where he will have to get used to the speed of the game quickly to make an early impact this season, but with his ability, shouldn’t have much trouble making his mark on the game. With the Browns lacking a feature back type with any of their other options, Hardesty should be able to take the leading roll in an offense that’s going to run the ball early and often.

One thing that is for sure, Montario Hardesty is ready to get back on the field, and show his coaches, teammates, and fans what he really can do. He left his interview with something simple “I want to get back on the field, work hard and help the team win.”

Zastudil was on the mend after tearing his petella tendon during the middle of last season.  Head coach Eric Mangini said he was hopeful to have Dave back on the field and that he was doing well in his recovery.  However, Zastudil’s recovery hit a snag.

“He’s worked hard at it and worked with his doctor and our doctor on many different things,” said Browns coach Eric Mangini. “It wasn’t making any progress. We thought he turned the corner.

“We had gone through all the steps,” he added. “Our staff and his doctor were all involved in the process. That was the next step, to have him start punting and it’s been a real collaborative effort. We were trying to be as positive as we could and give him enough work to get him back.”

Mangini said he would not be surprised to see Zastudil back on the field for next year’s training camp. 

Replacement punter Reggie Hodges will take over on a full time basis and also add holding duties to his resume.  Hodges spent eight games with the Browns last season and averaged 39.8 yards-per-punt over 45 kicks. He netted an average of 36.4 yards-per-punt and hit 15 inside the 20-yard line.  Hodges had five punts go for touchbacks and did not have a punt blocked for the first time in his NFL career.

“I really like the things Reggie did for us last year,” said Mangini. “I think he had a good camp and has done a great job for us.”

McCoy earned 45 victories in 53 career starts at the University of Texas (2006-09) to become the winningest quarterback in NCAA history. He completed 1,157 of 1,645 passes for 13,253 yards with 112 touchdowns and 45 interceptions, while adding 447 rushing attempts for 1,571 yards and 20 scores. McCoy finished his collegiate career owning 47 school records. Born September 5, 1986, the 6-1, 215 pound McCoy attended Jim Ned High School in Tuscola, Texas.

Lauvao appeared in 42 games at Arizona State University (2006-09) and finished his career with 33 consecutive starts. He saw action at both guard and tackle with 17 starts at left guard, 12 at left tackle and four at right tackle throughout his collegiate career.  He started all 12 games at left tackle as a senior and earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors. Born on October 26, 1987, the 6-3, 315 pound Lauvao is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, where he attended Farrington High School.

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 6-3-10

(Opening statement)- “Good morning everybody.  A couple of things here, in terms of the restricted guys, no movement there.  Jerome (Harrison) will be here working.  He’s been here working, but no change with any of the other guys.  With the injured guys, that group has stayed the same.  There are some guys that are going to miss today because of various reasons and I’ve talked to all of them.  I’ve had conversations with the group so if someone is not out there that normally would be, that’s the case.  Today where we’re at is we’ve gone through two cycles of install, which is the first and second down day, the third down day, the red area day and a review. That’s considered a cycle.  We’ve gone through two of those.  Today is a catch up or catch all day, so anything that we feel like we want to go back and hit, maybe something that we installed but didn’t get to run as much as we’d liked to. We are doing that type of work here this morning.  A couple of situational things, we will have a four minute situation, a start of a game situation where after we stretch, kickoff, a kickoff return.  Wherever the guy is tagged down, that’s where the drive will start.  Whatever happens on the drive happens and then we just go back into the normal flow of practice.  We will vary those up, sometimes the coaches call them, sometimes the players call them.  It’s just a good way to get into that routine of you go into the locker room, you stretch, you go into the locker room, you come out, you kickoff and you’re rolling.  Sometimes we will do that midway through practice and call it the start of the second half.  It’s a little bit different, it’s not always scripted and we let the players have some fun with that and it gives us a sense of things that they like.  It does help you get in that flow of you end the first half, you go in the locker room, you come back out and you’re rolling.  It’s just a different way to try to teach that.

“In terms of progress, I think we made a lot of progress with retention, with understanding situations.  It shows up in different levels each day.  I think Chris Gocong has really made some excellent strides. He’s a really smart guy.  He’s heard things now two or three times and some of the littler things are starting to come.  I’d say the same thing for Scott Fujita.  Sort of the same type of player in terms of very, very bright and now he’s getting more and more comfortable seeing some of the smaller things show up in a real positive way.”

(On the importance of having versatile linebackers)- “I think it’s great to have guys that can do both because it gives you depth on the 45.  When you play the game, you may not have to carry an extra inside linebacker or outside linebacker, you can just shift one of those guys to those spots and they can give you a level of play that maybe that extra guy that you would have carried would give you.  Now it gives you some versatility if you want to carry an extra receiver or a core special teams player.  The other nice thing is the 3-4 is pretty flexible, but when you have guys that can play both spots, now you can become more flexible with where you can put them, how you move those pieces around and that’s something I’m always looking for.”

(On if he has been rotating Gocong and Fujita at different positions)- “These early parts, our approach has been to keep them in one spot in base right now.  They work a couple different spots in sub, but in base it has been one spot.  Then what we’ll do is, we might do it a little more in mandatory min-camp where they have heard things a few times and have worked it, switch them or at some point early in training camp switch them.  They’ve both played inside and outside those two guys, just like (David) Bowens has, (Jason) Trusnik has, (David) Veikune has.  Now it’s just figuring out the best way to get them some reps there.”

(On Brandon McDonald)- “The one thing I’ll say about Brandon is first of all, he was one of our offseason award winners last week.  The way that we choose those during the OTA days is offense, defense, special teams, we choose a wild card player which could be any position and we choose a rehab player.  He was one of the winners last week.  I think he’s had a really good camp, similar to the type of camp that Brian Robiskie has had and that’s a positive thing.  He’s played a lot of football. He’s been in a lot of games and that’s good.  The more depth we can have at the cornerback spot is great.  One of his best traits is he’s intensely competitive and he’s going to go out and put his best foot forward.  Now, has it always worked out exactly the way he wanted or we wanted?  Not necessarily, but he comes back and works the next time and I like that a lot about him.”

(On what award McDonald won)- “He was either the defensive or the wild card.  I can’t remember which one, but he was one of those two spots.”

(On Jerome Harrison)- “He’s looked good.  It’s really hard to evaluate where guys are.  You’re looking at it more in terms of assignments, technique, things like that.  He’s made very few mistakes, which is excellent.  He looks similar to the way he looked.  It’s just hard to project too far down the road without pads on.”

(On the running back situation)- “I think it’s a good situation.  I think Montario (Hardesty) has had a really outstanding camp.  For a young guy, he makes very few mistakes.  His level of maturity is one of the highest that I’ve been around and that’s great.  That’s going to give him the best chance to not only play, but to play a lot if he continues along this path.  That’s exciting to see.  Again, it’s with a big asterisk because we don’t have pads on and they’re not games and we haven’t done a full evaluation, but I really like what he has done to this point.”

(On Joe Haden’s progress)- “Good.  I think he benefits a lot from having someone like Sheldon (Brown) around who is going through the same thing.  It’s different in the sense that Sheldon can relate it to things he did in Philadelphia, but it is all new for Sheldon.  That’s actually a plus for a guy like Joe because as Sheldon is learning, he can help Joe along.  They’re both new, they both play the same position and it can be a mentor/mentee type relationship.”

(On Haden’s quickness)- “I think it’s gotten better.  I think all of those young guys in the secondary, the first rookie camp they had been on the lecture circuit and their legs looked heavy.  But now, they have been playing football, they have been doing football-specific movements and they look like they are playing a lot faster than they were.  They are starting to pick up the information.  It’s not where they’re going to be and hopefully they get there as quickly as possible, but it’s a lot better than it was because they are back in a routine and their bodies are responding the way that I’m sure they are used to it responding.  T.J. Ward too has had a couple of nice days.”

(On where Chris Jennings and James Davis fit in the running back rotation)- “Chris got a lot of experience because of the opportunities that were available and he’s making progress.  James, even though he missed the playing time, he was in the meetings, he was part of the whole process.  Similar what happened to Chansi Stuckey his first year.  He came in, he played for a little bit, he got hurt early, but he learned that whole first season and it showed up a lot that second season.  I’m excited about seeing both of those guys.  Now you have Jerome and Montario and Peyton (Hillis) is working in there, some good depth and some good competition.  Competition is healthy, it pushes everybody to be better.”

(On how Davis handled his injury last season)- “I think he’s handled it really well.  He’s been on top of his rehab throughout the whole process and I get the sense that he’s excited to be back in the football-specific things.  We are excited to see how he does this year because he did a lot of good things early last year.”

(On if he would be opposed to starting two rookie safeties)- “I’m definitely open to that.  In New York, we started two rookie offensive linemen that first year with the center and the left tackle.  Eugene Wilson and Asante Samuel played a lot their rookie season in New England.  It just depends on where they are and there are a lot of veteran guys that are going to work to not let that happen and that’s what you’d expect.  But if they’re the best guys, you may take some lumps early because they are rookies, but typically those guys continue to move up and excel as they play and gain experience.”

(On what veterans will compete for a safety position)- “(Mike) Adams he has worked quite a bit at corner, he can work at safety.  You have Bubba (Ray) Ventrone; he’s been working in there.  Nick Sorensen’s been working in there.  DeAngelo Smith has been working some at safety.  It’s like anything else, you want everybody to be here, but if they are not here what that does do is create extra reps for Larry (Asante), for T.J. (Ward), whoever it is and it’s great for them to get that experience now, and again, you want everybody to be here, but it does create some real learning opportunities for the young guys.”

(On what you can learn about the offensive linemen this time of year)- “We learn whether or not they understand the whole concept because you can understand your spot.  Shawn (Lauvao) actually has been working a little bit at center, and I think that’s a good thing for him because you have to know everything that’s going on if you’re playing that spot and ideally he can play any of those three interior spots, center, left guard, or right guard and you have to know it.  If you don’t know it you can’t function and you want him to get comfortable, but you also want him to understand the full concept of the protection.”

(On his level of confidence that David Veikune will pan out as a high draft pick)- “With all the draft picks when we take them we believe they’re going to work out and I believe that David’s really benefitted well from some opportunities that have been created at the inside linebacker spot without having D’Qwell (Jackson) here. He’s gotten quite a few reps and I think he’s done a nice job.  I think some of the value with linebackers really has to be determined once the pads come on.  You can see where they fit, you can see their drops, you can see their communication, but part of playing that inside linebacker spot is your ability to go up and thump and I think that is something that David showed in college.  He showed different levels last season, but this is good work for him in terms of processing everything.  Now ideally when it comes time to hit, it’s where the added value comes in.”

(On if Veikune is an unusual fit at inside linebacker)- “No, I don’t think it’s unusual for them to, for one, for the team to go through the process of figuring out where the right spot is, and then you know sometimes its better inside, sometimes its better outside.  Tedy Bruschi was a defensive end who worked primarily in sub his first year and then we moved him in, when we got to New England, moved him into an inside backer spot. He was good, wasn’t Tedy at that point.  You learn and you grow in the system and experience different things, but when you take a guy who has had his hand in the dirt and stand him up, it’s not easy.  Willie McGinest you know he had to stand up, Mike Vrabel he had to stand up, Rosevelt Colvin when we got him as a free agent from Chicago he had had his hand in the dirt and he had to stand up.  You go right on down the line of those guys. There’s a ton of them and you need them big.  Big, strong and usually those guys play down in college.”

(On what he sees in Tony Pashos)- “He’s very serious about what he does.  He’s all football all the time which is good. Where he’s going to fit, guard, tackle, starter, backup, I couldn’t tell you right now.  I think that there’s a good group over on that right side fighting it out and we’ve just got to see who comes out on top.”

(On if instant replay has made the game better)- “Yes, I think that anytime you can get the call right it’s a good thing and the call last night was against the Tribe, right?  I thought it was an out.  It was the Tribe.  I don’t know, an out is an out.  You want to get it right, at the end of the day you want to get it right and sometimes you benefit from it, sometimes you don’t, but you can live with the fact that it was right.”

(On if it is important to have the element of human error in sports)- “Yes, if it helps you it’s the best.  If it hurts you, no, you want to get it right.  Where you stand depends on where you sit.”

(On if he is a baseball fan)- “I’ve become a lot more of a baseball fan.  I’ve gone to a lot of games with Mark (Shapiro) and he’s coached me up on it.”

(On if there should be more instant replay in baseball)- “What does Mark (Shapiro) think?  Whatever he thinks, I’m with Mark.”

(On what the best part of the offseason has been up to now)- “Anytime you come into a place there’s so many different things you have to deal with on the business side, the team side, the organization side.  There’s also moving your family, you’re getting adjusted to a new community, you’re getting the kids in school, all those things where this year it’s been nice to have, for me personally, it’s nice to have everybody settled, to be able to go and spend some time at the boys’ school, to just free up some time to do some things that are just regular family fun things that you miss out on. My family was in New York for a long time last year until training camp and you have to get a house.  There’s so many things that you’re not dealing with now and that’s been a real pleasure and just being able to enjoy the boys this offseason has been great for me.”

(On any changes to how he is running OTA’s this year compared to last year)- “We change stuff each year.  What we do is these things, I know I’ve talked about this so I hope I’m not boring you, AAR’s which is the after action reports, so once we get done with this camp and this minicamp, each department will fill out their AAR. Things we did well, things we did poorly, suggestions for next year, any other ideas that you have, and what I’ll do with the coordinators and usually it’s with that group and myself, is go through and look at it and say, ‘Okay, what can we do differently before the next event.’ There have been a lot of little things, I wouldn’t say there has been any dramatic changes.  Difference this year too is these have all been OTA days as opposed to voluntary minicamps, so the time is more restricted so you just have to be that much tighter on your install.  We had a little more time last year with those camps we were able to run.”

(On Jake Delhomme)- “He’s had a really good week.  I’m getting to know him and Brian’s (Daboll) getting to know him.  He’s really bright.  Chad Pennington was really bright.  Jake just picks things up and some of it is him picking up and some of it is just him knowing, him understanding and you don’t have to go too in depth with why you’re doing it because he gets it.  He had, we call it tools offensively, where if you’re in a bad play you might not have another called, but you have the ability to signal to the receiver to run a slant or you can run a bubble screen.  Those are just built in every play and he’s used a lot of those tools over the last week or so and that’s good stuff.  He’s gotten the offense out of some plays that worked very good just by him understanding.  His use of cadence has gotten better and better and it’s nice too from a defensive perspective because he’s challenging those guys.  If your disguise isn’t right, he’s going to get you. You can teach both ways with it from where I am.”

Originally signed as a free agent by the Miami Dolphins on August 10, 2009, Robinson spent eight weeks on the Dolphins’ practice squad, three weeks on the Browns’ practice squad and the final four weeks of the season on the Redskins’ practice squad.  He has also spent time in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League.

Born on December 6, 1982, the 6-3, 200-pounder is a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who played his collegiate football at Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kansas.

Name                       Pos.       Ht.       Wt.      Birthdate      College                Hometown

Casey Bender           OL         6-5       295      12/22/86       South Dakota St.  Lindsay, Neb.

Benjamin Burney      DB        5-11     205      3/29/87         Colorado              Lone Tree, Colo.

Chris Chancellor       DB        5-9       180      12/22/86       Clemson               Miami, Fla.

Auston English         LB         6-3       250      3/10/87         Oklahoma            Canadian, Texas

Johnathan Haggerty  WR        6-1       195      2/5/88           SW Oklahoma St. Dallas, Texas

Swanson Miller         DL         6-4       310      3/24/86         Oklahoma St.       Alachua, Fla.

Dion Morton             WR        5-8       160      2/25/86         Colorado St.         Riverside, Calif.

Joel Reinders            OL         6-7       320      10/2/87         Waterloo              Oakville, Ontario

Aaron Valentin         WR        6-1       205      6/18/87         Purdue                  Freeport, N.Y.

Troy Wagner             TE         6-6       265      2/25/87         Indiana                 O’Fallon, Ill.

Background on these players: 

CASEY BENDER – Played four years at South Dakota State (2006-09)… Appeared in 30 games with 23 starts… Opened all 12 games, at both right tackle and right guard, in 2009… Started all 11 contests at right tackle as a sophomore in 2007 as the offense amassed 1,824 rushing yards and a 5.1-yard average per attempt… Redshirted in 2005… Attended Lindsay (Neb.) Holy Family High School where he lettered in football, basketball and track… Was team captain in football and basketball and earned all-conference and all-state honors in both sports… Was a member of the National Honor Society.

BENJAMIN BURNEY – Appeared in 37 games with 27 starts during his four-year career at Colorado (2005-07, 2009)… Totaled 157 tackles, three interceptions, 12 pass breakups and a sack… Returned to start all 12 contests in 2009 after missing the previous season with a shoulder injury… Responded with 73 tackles, two interceptions for 78 yards with a touchdown and four pass breakups… Was an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection… Majored in film studies… Attended Mullen High School in Lone Tree, Colo., where he lettered in football, basketball and track… Was an Honor Roll student all four years and was a member of the National Honor Society… Born March 29, 1987 in Tulsa, Okla.

CHRIS CHANCELLOR – Appeared in 53 games, including 44 starts, in his four-year career at Clemson (2006-09)… Amassed 168 tackles, nine interceptions and 41 passes defensed… Opened the final 42 games of his career… Came up with a career-high four interceptions as both a sophomore and junior… Redshirted in 2005… Graduated with a degree in sport management in May 2009 and played the 2009 season as a graduate student… Attended Edison High School in Miami, Fla., where he was a first-team All-Miami-Dade County selection as a senior… Also excelled in track… Born December 22, 1986.

AUSTON ENGLISH – Four-year letterman at Oklahoma (2005, 2007-09) who played in 33 games, including 28 starts, in his career… Totaled 92 tackles, 28.5 stops for loss, 18 sacks, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble in his career… Posted career-high figures of 36 tackles, 13 stops for loss and 9.5 sacks as a sophomore in 2007 when he was a first-team All-Big 12 selection… Majored in planned programming… Attended Canadian (Texas) High School where he played both running back and defensive end.

OHNATHAN HAGGERTY – In four years at Southwestern Oklahoma State (2006-09), tallied 173 receptions for 2,726 yards and 23 touchdowns… Was a first-team All-Lone Star Conference North Division choice as a senior when he grabbed 54 passes for 748 yards and six touchdowns… Also was a first team all-conference selection as a sophomore in 2007 when he hauled in 46 passes for 782 yards and six scores… Posted a career-high seven touchdowns as a true freshman in 2006 when he accounted for 45 receptions for 804 yards… Majored in general business… Attended Lincoln High School in Dallas, Texas… Born February 5, 1988.

SWANSON MILLER – Was a two-year letterman at Oklahoma State (2008-09)… Played in 26 games and recorded 41 tackles, six stops for loss, three sacks, two fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups… Notched 24 tackles, four stops for loss, three sacks, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and two pass breakups as a senior when the Cowboys held their opponents to a 3.0-yard average per rush attempt… Prior to enrolling at OSU, played two years at Butler County (Kan.) Community College (2006-07)… Majored in business… Attended Santa Fe High School in Alachua, Fla… Born March 24, 1986 in Gainesville, Fla.

DION MORTON – Played in 42 games in his four-year career at Colorado State (2006-09), starting 23 contests over his final two years… Totaled 96 receptions for 1,536 yards and 15 touchdowns… Also rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries… As a returner, fielded 54 kickoffs for a 25.0-yard average and eight punts for a 10.4-yard average… Was a first-team All-Mountain West Conference receiver as a junior in 2008 when he put together career high numbers of 51 receptions for 859 yards and 10 touchdowns… Redshirted in 2005… Majored in sociology… Attended John W. North High School in Riverside, Calif., where he played quarterback and defensive back… Twin brother, Damon, also played football at Colorado State… Born February 25, 1986 in Riverside, Calif.

JOEL REINDERS – Two-year letterman at Waterloo (2008-09) at right tackle… Majored in kinesiology… Played basketball his first two years of college… Prior to 2008, had never played football before… Played in the Canadian Collegiate East-West All-Star game… Attended King’s Christian Collegiate (Oakville, Ontario) High School.

AARON VALENTIN – Appeared in 24 games in two years at Purdue (2008-09)… Compiled 65 receptions for 845 yards and nine touchdowns… Was second on the club in 2009 with 54 catches for 621 yards and seven touchdowns… Over the course of his two seasons, also returned 14 punts for a 12.1-yard average and a touchdown, while fielding 36 kickoffs for a 21.9-yard average… Prior to enrolling at Purdue, played at Erie (N.Y.) Community College… Majored in communications… Attended Freeport (N.Y.) High School… Born June 18, 1987.

TROY WAGNER – Played in 32 games with 16 starts in his four-year career at Indiana (2006-09)… Tallied eight receptions for 81 yards and a touchdowns… Had six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown as a senior… Appeared in 11 contests as a junior and was a key blocker for a running attack that garnered 2,003 yards and a 4.5-yard average per attempt… Graduated in December 2009… Redshirted in 2005… Attended O’Fallon Township (Ill.) High School where he was an all-state tight end as a senior… Born February 25, 1987.

With their first pick in the second round, the Browns selected TJ Ward, a hard hitting free safety from Oregon.  It may have been a surprise to some, but Ward is a great athlete that has solid overall skills, and gives the Browns a legitimate playmaker in the middle of the field.  The move to address their porous secondary is a classic case of a team filling their biggest needs through the draft.

The team then gave up their first 3rd round pick and both of their early 5th round picks to move up to the 27th spot in round 2.  At that spot, they selected Tennessee running back Montario Hardesty. Hardesty is a big, physical runner with outstanding speed.  His underrated cutback skills make him a solid fit in the Browns’ scheme. With Jerome Harrison lacking the size to be the lone back, Hardesty should receive a high volume of carries as a key reserve.

At the end of the 3rd round, the Browns select Texas quarterback Colt McCoy who was slated to go much, much higher.  Colt is an athletic thrower with good accuracy, McCoy is a good fit in the Browns’ west-coast offense and could develop into a solid starter in time.

With their final selection in the third round the Browns snag a top tier versatile guard/tackle Shawn Lauvao, a Hawaiian native.  The Arizona State standout has solid overall skills, and is an instinctive player capable of playing multiple positions along the line. Given his savvy and versatility, he gives the Browns an intriguing young player to develop.

The Cleveland Browns are not done yet.  On Saturday they have picks in the fifth round at number #160 overall, then two picks in the sixth round at #177 and #186 overall.

A quarterback when he arrived on campus, Haden was briefly moved to slot receiver, where he found himself buried behind Percy Harvin.  Haden then successfully executed the switch to defense, becoming a three-year starter and leading the Gators with four interceptions a year ago.

In Cleveland, the 5-foot-11, 193-pound Haden will line up opposite Eric Wright to give the Browns’ one of the most promising young cornerback duos in the league.