| It doesn’t matter how many players you poll, every prospective draft
pick will tell you it doesn’t matter where he goes, but when he goes in
the NFL Draft, scheduled this year for April 20-21 in New York. For Hawaii WR Ashley
Lelie, that is the simple truth. Lelie has traveled from coast to coast in three-year
intervals most of his life. The son of Rene Lelie, an Army gunnery sergeant, Lelie is
known for the way he moves.
"Home is Honolulu," Lelie said. "I was born in Los Angeles. Then I lived
in Los Angeles twice, Hawaii twice, Buford, South Carolina, and Louisiana."
Having consistently run the 40-yard dash in a scintillating 4.3 seconds and coming off
a monster junior season, Lelie became the most coveted receiver in the 2002 NFL Draft
after skipping his senior season at Hawaii. He leapt ahead of Florida receivers Reche
Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Bryant and Michigan’s Marquise
Walker, among others. But after a pulled hamstring forced him to watch top wideouts work
out at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis Feb. 28-March 2, Lelie has dropped back in
the pack.
"We’re all good players, good receivers," Lelie said. "We’re
all going to get to the NFL. The competition will come in training camp. Where (I’m)
drafted isn’t important. I always have to prove myself."
Has he ever. Lelie lost all nine games he played as a senior at Radford High in Hawaii.
But the blame doesn’t belong on Lelie’s shoulders. His prep coach was simply set
in his ways. And his ways were, more or less, run the ball no matter the situation.
"We ran every play," Lelie said. "The coach wasn’t going to change
his philosophy for one player, especially on the high school level."
In Radford’s two-TE offense, Lelie caught nine passes as a senior. That February,
Lelie’s high school teammates were signing collegiate letters of intent while Lelie
was working out the specifics of walking on at the University of Hawaii. Lelie redshirted
as a freshman in 1998. In 1999, Jones’ first year on the Big Island, the rough
diamond began to be polished.
"I just never quit," Lelie said. "I love the game so much. I loved being
out there playing. Even though I wasn’t a superstar. I was really raw when I went
into Coach (June) Jones’ offense. I could block, but then in the Hawaii offense, we
don’t really have to block at all."
While few knew about Lelie because of his Western Athletic Conference address, the
secret is out. In Lelie’s last three games with the Rainbow Warriors, he turned in
the top two single-game performances in Hawaii history with 285 receiving yards against
Air Force and 262 against Brigham Young.
"When the competition gets bigger, Ashley gets better," Jones said.
"Some guys have that ability and some go the other way. The great ones get better
when the competition gets better. In his case, he just kept getting better and better
because he understood he (could) play in the NFL.
"Really, all Ashley has to prove is that he can do it at the next level. He’s
got all the skills to do it. If he continues to work at it like a Jerry Rice — work
ethic is the key for everybody."
In Hawaii’s final three games, Lelie caught 23 passes for 758 yards (33.2 yards
per catch). He had eight touchdowns in that span and set the school’s single-season
record with 19.
"In the clutch, when the team needed me to step up, I stepped up," said
Lelie, who finished the season second in the nation in receiving behind LSU’s Josh
Reed with 1,713 yards.
"He’s more than we could handle, that’s for sure," Air Force head
coach Fisher DeBerry said. "He’s a true All-American and a great receiver. He
can surprise you with his speed."
Nothing Lelie has done since Jones inherited the redshirt freshman in 1999 has
surprised the former NFL head coach.
"We knew he could catch the football, we knew he had some speed," Jones said.
"He just grew every year and this past season he exploded. He’s tall, has
tremendous speed. I think he ran a 4.27 at the (Hawaii timing day) combine last spring.
Then he catches the ball probably better than anyone I’ve ever had — that
includes the NFL level."
In Jones’ passing offense, which averaged more than 50 pass attempts in 2001,
Lelie emerged as a go-to pass-catcher for QBs Timmy Chang and Nick Rolovich.
Lelie has been resting his hamstring, but said he ran in the 4.2s as recently as the
week leading up to the Combine and "consistently" ran that before that. With the
recent 40 time posted by Tennessee WR Donté Stallworth (Stallworth reportedly ran 4.23
and 4.26 at Tennessee’s timing day), Lelie will have to re-open some eyes to remain
near the top of the heap among wide receivers. "If I’m 100 percent," Lelie
said, "I’m the fastest … at least on the field."
That strained left hamstring is a concern for Lelie. He has been resting since the
strain occurred working on his starts in Atlanta with trainer Chip Smith at Competitive
Edge Sports. Lelie said the injury is not a chronic problem, and he had never strained
anything before.
His chance to show resiliency comes at Santa Monica City College at 11 a.m. March 25.
That is Lelie’s scheduled pro timing day, the first time he’ll open up to a full
sprint since just before the Combine. What scouts and personnel men read on their
stopwatches that day is the first number in the equation that will decide where Lelie is
drafted on April 20.
Kansas City, Jacksonville, Dallas and Houston have set up workouts with Lelie as of
March 18 and he anticipates working out for at least 20 teams.
"He is fast, he’s very fast," one NFL scout said. "Beyond that, he
wants the football. He isn’t real big, not real small, and there is definitely a
willingness to work and improve there. He knows his ceiling is a ways off. I don’t
know if you start talking about franchise receivers until you get him in that atmosphere
and have corners and safeties playing physical — NFL physical — with him at the
line of scrimmage. If he can separate, and then go up and get it at this level, I
don’t know why he can’t be a very, very good one. Remember, he is still a young
guy."
"We play on Astroturf, so getting hurt was a factor in my decision (to come out
early)," Lelie said. "But I wanted to play in the NFL since I was 4 or 5, so the
sooner the better. At times I didn’t think I was going to make it. I just want to get
there."
A 170-pounder when he arrived in Honolulu, Lelie weighed in at 197 pounds in
Indianapolis but has never played at more than 190 pounds. Speed has never been an issue.
Under the tutelage of a former NFL boss, his route-running and receiving skills are
getting there. Smith’s training specialty, according to Lelie, is to add weight yet
maintain speed; Lelie said teams have asked him to get bigger.
"To be honest, his best football is ahead of him," Jones said. "Somebody
is going to get a diamond. He continues to get better as long as he has the opportunity.
He is a hard worker and developed into what I think will prove, three years from now, to
be the best receiver in this draft."
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