ALABAMA PRODUCT STUFFS RUN, PUSHES POCKET

By Joe Platania
PressBox Staff

Friday, April 23, 2010 - 8:15 p.m.

OWINGS MILLS -- Ten years ago, the Ravens stuffed the run better than any team in league history with Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa at defensive tackle.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Haloti Ngata and... Terrence Cody.

Cody, a 6-foot-4, 354-pound behemoth from Alabama -- alma mater to general manager Ozzie Newsome, was the Ravens' second draft pick, taken with the 57th overall selection midway through the second round.

Even though Cody is seen as someone with great size and agility, the man known as "Mount Cody" used to be even larger.

He had to drop over 50 pounds between his junior-college days and his first game with the Crimson Tide.

"I got my weight under control," said Cody, who believes his ideal playing weight is around 340.

Cody, expected to play alongside Ngata in the middle of a defensive line that lost two players (Dwan Edwards, Justin Bannan) to free agency this spring, helped Alabama win a Southeastern Conference title and an eventual Bowl Championship Series title by blocking a possible game-winning field goal in a victory over Tennessee.

Butkus Award-winning linebacker Rolando McClain -- cousin to Ravens fullback Le'Ron McClain and the Oakland Raiders' first-round pick -- was able to roam the middle of the field thanks in part to Cody's penetration, a scenario that played out in Baltimore a decade ago when Ray Lewis firmly established himself as a ballhawk behind Adams and Siragusa.

Cody, a two-time first-team All-American pick, met Newsome at the Alabama spring game this year during the draft season run-up and was also scouted at the annual scouting combine and at the Senior Bowl.

Here is a thumbnail sketch on Cody.

TERRENCE CODY
(Second round, 57th overall selection)

Height/weight: 6'4", 354
School: Alabama
Position: Defensive tackle
Strengths: Collapses the pocket up the middle in the pass rush, has quick feet
Weaknesses: Carries too much weight, has to get more versatility in pass-rush moves against NFL veterans
Quotable: "I'm not just a run-stuffer. I can push the pocket... When I visited (the Ravens), I kind of figured this was where I was going to be." -- Cody, soon after his selection

***

LET US KNOW: What do you think of the daily Ravens Report, or, for that matter, the Ravens material in the PressBox monthly print edition?

Is there stuff in there you like, don't like or would like to see more of?

Let us know what you think by either leaving a comment in the space provided below or e-mailing us at joeyp@pressboxonline.com, and we'll occasionally list and answer the best and most compelling questions and comments right here.

***

ABOUT JOE PLATANIA

PressBox football beat writer Joe Platania, 46, is a Baltimore native and has been a multi-award-winning sports journalist for over 30 years, covering many different sports at all levels with insight, humor, a near-photographic memory and a keen, prescient eye.

A longtime member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and the Pro Football Writers Association of America, Platania (pluh-TAN-ee-uh) will in 2010 enter his 17th season covering professinal football, having manned the CFL Stallions beat for The Avenue Newspaper Group of Essex (1994-95) and the Ravens beat for PressBox and The Avenue, as well as several other publications and radio stations.

Platania is a much-sought-after veteran contributor to many talk-radio and television programs, and most recently was a contributor on WMAR-TV's "Good Morning Maryland" show last fall.

Previously, he frequently appeared on Comcast SportsNet's "Washington Post Live" and WJZ-TV's "Football Talk" post-game program with Marty Bass from 2002-04.

Also, Platania makes occasional appearances with PresssBox publisher/founder Stan “The Fan” Charles on Channel 2’s”Inside PressBox”, which airs Saturday nights at 11 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 11:30 a.m.

He is one of only three Baltimore-based print reporters to have covered the Ravens during their entire history.

Platania is a four-time Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association award winner and was named Maryland Sportscaster of the Year in 1998 for his work on WCBM-AM (680).

Platania, a graduate of St. Joseph's, Cockeysville (1977), Calvert Hall College High School (1981) and Towson University (1985), is single and lives in Cockeysville.