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Saturday, April 15, 2000
Patriots take Klemm
The UH tackle is
By Pat Bigold
‘overwhelmed with joy’
Star-Bulletin
University of Hawaii left tackle Adrian Klemm was taken by the New England Patriots as the 15th pick of the second round of the National Football League draft. "I went out there (Foxborough) a few weeks ago, and they said that if for any reason, I slipped down, that they would select me," said Klemm from his home in Indianapolis.
He was the 46th pick overall.
"They called me and said turn on your TV. I was just overwhelmed with joy." Klemm will go to a three-day camp with the Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., from April 28-30. Klemm said he will come back to Hawaii briefly to visit his girlfriend.
Patiots head coach Bill Belichik said atis press conference that he considers Klemm to be "a very athletic player, having been a college tight end and tackle."
Belichik said the fact that Hawaii head coach June Jones ran the run-and-shoot made Klemm "relatively an acccomplished pass blocker." He said he thinks that Klemm, who also played tight end during his career at Hawaii, has some position flexibility.
"I think he could play a couple of different positions for us," said Belichik. "His main position was left tackle in college but I'm not sure that's where he'll play for us. We spent a lot of time with Adrian when we brought him in last week and he's a very personable young man. He had two workouts in Indianapolis we attended. He pulled his hamstring in the first one but we were there last week and this kid's a pretty good athlete."
Klemm, who was predicted just two days ago by CBS Sports Line to go in the first round, said that he believes there was some concern about the minor injury he sustained in Indianapolis.
"I just did a full workout for them last week and I did my vertical, my broad jump, all the O line drills, pulling drills, so I don't know what the deal was where everybody was concerned because it wasn't a serious injury," said Klemm.
Klemm called the injury a hip spasm that caused a muscle in his right quad to bloat. "There was no power going to it and it took about a day and a half to get better. I went to the combine re-check last week and was cleared 100 percent."
Klemm said he feels good that he's filling a position the Patriots badly needed to flil -- a position formerly filled by Bruce Armstrong. Armstrong was released.
Klemm is the first Indiana resident to go in the NFL draft this year and that's caused a commotion in his neighborhood.
"I'm the first one from here to go so they're all over the front lawn now with cameras and that," he said.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
