Published: September 06, 2008 11:19 pm            

BILLS: Leodis McKelvin rookie card

Imagine Leodis McKelvin not as a football player, but as a significant other. When things are going good, they’re great (kickoff return for a touchdown against Pittsburgh). But when they’re going bad, it can get ugly (beaten for a 94-yard touchdown by Devin Aromashodu — who? — against the Indianapolis Colts).

Nobody ever said relationships were easy, nor is the jump from mid-major collegiate program to the NFL. For all McKelvin’s electrifying speed and potential, the 11th player chosen in the first round of April’s draft is taking small steps in his development.

For starters, he won’t start today against the Seattle Seahawks. At least on defense.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t get a chance to make an impact. Both because of his explosiveness and where he was drafted, the player who tied the NCAA Division I-A career record by returning eight kicks (seven punts and one kickoff) for touchdowns will see the field, sharing time with Terrence McGee as a kick returner.

“I would love to keep doing it, but at the same time, just going through the preseason games and seeing what he has and what he can do, it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he did it,” McGee said in an interview with the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “He’s very capable of going out there and making plays, but at the same time I still want to do it. If we mix it in, that would be fine with me.”

After returning a punt for 45 yards and a kickoff for 37 in the Bills preseason-opener against Washington, McKelvin upped the ante by scoring on a 95-yard kickoff return to help seal a 24-21 win over Pittsburgh. Breaking up the middle, McKelvin got a key block from Darian Barnes and turned it up the right hashmarks, beating a diving defender and bursting past kicker Paul Ernster on his way to the end zone.

The Bills and McKelvin both know, however, that he was drafted to be more than a kick returner.

“He still has more improvement and a ways to go,” defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said during training camp, noting McKelvin needs to work on his press coverage and learn to anticipate what receivers can do at the NFL level. “But he is progressing very nicely for us.”

Fewell remains patient with McKelvin, in part knowing that he doesn’t have to rush the player into a starting position with McGee and Jabari Greer already established veterans.

“That takes the pressure off of (McKelvin), and it takes the pressure off of us,” Fewell said. “He can go out there and play the game without feeling, ‘I’ve got to be the guy.’”

Not yet, anyway.

Contact reporter Jay Skurski at 693-1000, ext. 117.



Leodis McKelvin

• POSITION: Cornerback

• AGE: 23

• DRAFT: First round, 11th overall

• COLLEGE: Troy

• HEIGHT: 5-foot-10

• WEIGHT: 184

• HOMETOWN: Waycross, Ga.

        

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