Lions rookie linebacker not intimidated

Baldwin, a fifth-round choice from I-AA Alabama A&M, has to adjust to faster game.

By: Krysten Oliphant / The Detroit News

ALLEN PARK -- The alma mater of Lions rookie linebacker Johnny Baldwin, Alabama A&M University, has 6,182 students, eight football coaches and a $1.5 million budget. The Bulldogs play before 21,000 at their stadium.

The Lions, with 21 coaches and a $109 million salary cap, play for a city of more than 886,000 at Ford Field, a $500 million stadium built for 65,000. Welcome to the big time, Johnny.

But Baldwin, a Bessemer, Ala., native, said he's not intimidated by his new surroundings.
"I have confidence in myself as an athlete," said Baldwin, a fifth-round draft choice. "I don't see me coming from a small school as anything that's going to hinder me, because in the end I'm an athlete just like everybody else. I have talent just like everybody else. I'm just playing with a lot better competition, and I'm learning a new system."

He's learning that new system thanks to Phil Snow, Lions linebackers coach, who worked with Baldwin, a 6-foot-2-inch, 232-pounder, during organized team activities days and mini-camps to prepare him for camp July 27.

Baldwin used film and extra drills to feel more comfortable in the middle linebacker position and make fewer mistakes, and Snow said he has improved.

"It's not the level of football, it's just kind of the resources they have where they went to school," Snow said.

"This is much different. And the volume that you've got to learn. They were in an eight-man front, which is really simple. And then offensively, all the shifting we do, it's hard to learn. It's been a big change for him, and he's still going through the (changes). He'll go through that all year -- all rookies do."

As the middle linebacker, Baldwin controls the entire defense and must recognize the offense's moves.

Linebacker Donte Curry said Baldwin reminds him of himself coming from a small college (Morris Brown in Atlanta) and will have something to prove at the position.

"Coaches are always watching you, scouts are always watching you," Curry said. "All eyes are on you. You don't come from Florida State, you don't come from Miami. You don't come from these big schools so you got to work harder than the rest of these guys."

Curry said Baldwin expected the NFL to be more physical than college football at the I-AA level.
"I told him everybody in the league can hit and run," Curry said. "It's about the mental aspect. He's just now figuring that out. The game is pretty much 75 percent mental, 25 percent physical. Once you know your plays, the more you know it the faster you can play."

Baldwin is familiar with using his brain -- he majored in computer science at Alabama A&M.
His former linebacker coach, Jay Martin, said Baldwin has studied Detroit's playbook like he was preparing for a final exam.

"It's a lot to do because in our defense we have to make all the adjustments to the formations based on the coverage that we're in," said Baldwin, a former outside linebacker.

"I guess it's a little bit easier for the D-line because we tell them one thing to do, and that's what they do. So we don't have them thinking too much. The secondaries, they have to think, but we have to move and do a lot of other things. That's something you have to get used to."
Martin said Baldwin will benefit from the extra attention the Lions will give him.

"I have no doubt that he will be good in that system," Martin said. "He did look at some other teams, and a lot of teams looked at him. I think he thought his best fit would be Detroit. I'm so happy he stayed there and tried to get familiarized with the system."