BEREA — Except for playing it, Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden had no use for college football. Never paid attention.

"I couldn't watch," he said.

The big schools had ignored him, and now he was playing at Division I-AA nonscholarship Duquesne rather than Pittsburgh, Penn State or Maryland, which would have been his first choice.

Bodden's Hyattsville, Md., high school had not been a power until his senior year. "No schools were coming," he said. "I had to go out and search."

After toiling in obscurity for four college years, Bodden was not among the 45 defensive backs drafted in 2003. The odds are long for undrafted players at any position, but he made the Browns on special teams as a rookie and has worked his way into a starting role.

"I'm not the guy that's going to say I get the last laugh," Bodden said, "but I thought I was one of the best to come out my year."

Talk about your long shots. That year, he wasn't even invited to the Indianapolis scouting combine, where the top prospects gather to be timed and tested.

"I was worried," he said. "But my mom always told me, 'If you're good enough, they'll find you.' "

Bodden became a starter last season when Gary Baxter tore a pectoral muscle in Week 6. Now, with Baxter hurt again and Daylon McCutcheon also sidelined at least until the Sept. 10 opener, the undrafted kid from Duquesne is the surest bet the Browns have at cornerback.

He won points with the new coaching staff last season by holding Chad Johnson to two catches for 22 yards in a 23-20 Week 13 loss in Cincinnati.

The original plan this summer was for Bodden and McCutcheon to compete for the spot opposite Baxter. But even if McCutcheon had remained healthy, many think the job would have gone to Bodden, who started 11 games in '05, gaining confidence each week.

"Leigh has had a really good camp," head coach Romeo Crennel said. "He always shows up and makes a play on the ball."

Unlike some at his position, Bodden lets his play speak. He refused, for example, to be drawn into any verbal jousting with Johnson.

"I've had confidence in myself for a long time," Bodden said. "I really don't show it, but everybody who knows me or has played with me knows it. I don't know where it comes from."

Maybe it comes from demolishing the odds.

Roster rumblings

• Crennel said it hasn't been decided whether to add a veteran backup quarterback. A.J. Feeley is on the market after being released by San Diego.

• OT Walter Stith, an undrafted free agent from North Carolina A&T, was cut as the Browns got down to the NFL's mandatory 75-man player limit. The final round of cuts is Saturday.

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