ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard may have shown he’s better at blitzing than buzz cuts.
Woodyard is the player responsible for giving rookie quarterback Tim Tebow his infamous haircut, shaving the top and leaving a ring of hair that made him look like a monk.
As a prank, it was perfect.
As a practical haircut, not so wearable.
Tebow showed up at practice Tuesday with what remained of his hair buzzed. He still had his scraggily beard, though.
Woodyard was quite proud of his handiwork, not really knowing what he was going to do with the razor in his hand until he saw the top of Tebow’s head.
That’s when inspiration struck.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got the perfect idea for you,'” Woodyard recounted. “So, I told him just to sit in the chair and we were going to take it from there.”
Tebow and his crew of fellow rookies had their heads decorated with outlandish haircuts Saturday, part of a prank played on them by the veterans.
The cut of Tebow’s locks drew national attention, appearing on Web sites all over the Internet.
“He took it like a man,” Woodyard said. “He said, ‘Come on, Wood, give me something good.’ So I told him, ‘I got you, I got you.'”
Woodyard may have been taking out some of his school’s frustrations with the razor since he went to SEC rival Kentucky.
In his four years at Florida, Tebow helped the Gators outscore the Wildcats by a 175-56 margin.
“I had a joke with somebody. I said, ‘Hey, since we couldn’t beat him, I had to at least cut his hair,'” Woodyard said, laughing.
Woodyard has been a cut above on the field so far in training camp, earning a spot with the first team with injuries to Pro Bowler Elvis Dumervil (chest) and Jarvis Moss (hand).
Not that he’s reading too much into his promotion just yet.
“You’re never happy until you’re on the football field, so that’s a big thing,” Woodyard said. “We had a couple linebackers go down and we’ve just got to continue to fight and whoever is going to end up on the field—they’re going to be the best players out there.”
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ROYAL TREATMENT: With the scheme firmly implanted, Eddie Royal is now free to concentrate completely on route running.
He’s no longer thinking, just reacting.
That wasn’t the case last season, when he struggled to pick up the concepts of coach Josh McDaniels’ complicated system. Royal had a frustrating year where he missed the last two games with a neck injury and had just 37 catches.
That after catching 91 passes in his rookie season.
“Last year was just new to me—new to everybody,” Royal conceded. “So, each day was a day you had to come out and try not to make mistakes. You couldn’t really focus on technique. … Now I know exactly what I am doing. I can focus more on technique and getting open.”
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EXTRA POINTS: Tim Tebow completed a long pass to receiver Matthew Willis in practice Tuesday, drawing applause from the crowd. … CB Alphonso Smith made a good read on a play, picking off a Brady Quinn pass. … The first team offensive line Tuesday consisted of left tackle D’Anthony Batiste, rookie left guard Zane Beadles, rookie center J.D. Walton, right guard Seth Olsen—with Russ Hochstein rotating in—and right tackle Ryan Harris.
