Rams Head Coach Mike Martz on 3rd Round Draft Pick Tony Hargrove:
“We are excited about Tony.  Bill (Kollar) just went down and worked him out, again.  The measurables were off the charts for a man his size.  He had a terrific year, obviously he had academic issues last year and sat out, but the year before that, he’s what we look for in a defensive lineman.  He has a terrific motor, I think he had a 39-inch vertical jump, 31 reps on the bench, he’s a big guy with speed that plays with a great deal of passion.  He’s very athletic, he came to Georgia Tech as a quarterback. 

We became intrigued with him in the last few weeks, and this is a guy that we spent a lot of time and did our homework on.  We really felt like we’d like to have him in this draft and we felt like this was a guy that will ascend quickly, somebody that Bill can develop.  All the tools are there.  He’s a high-motor guy.  He’s got a terrific test score.  He’s got a 27 (wunderlic) test score.  The athleticism, the speed, the strength, all those things that you’re looking for in a pass-rusher and defensive end are there, and I think this is a guy that will develop pretty quickly for us.”

On whether this pick is at all a response to the incident with DE Leonard Little:   “No.  This is terrific value, is what this is.  When you look at the paper of what he did physically, the measurables, it was off the charts when he worked out.  We had to go back and work him out again, we wanted to make sure what we saw was right.  Bill sat down and did a long interview with him.  We wanted to make sure the character and the heart that’s there at the level we want him to play the game.  All those things were answered in a very positive fashion so it made it a very easy pick for us, really.”

More on Hargrove:   “Again, he came in (to college) as a quarterback.  His test score is 27.  The things around the academic issues have been resolved and they’re insignificant, obviously he’s a smart guy.  Georgia Tech’s a very difficult university.  Obviously there’s a lot of things involved there that doesn’t necessarily effect his ability to play and play well for us. “There’s a pretty outstanding upside to this young man.  It’s hard to find guys like these, you can’t find them physically when they line up.  Then when you put the tape on, when he made that transition from quarterback, this guy is all over the field, chasing the quarterback, the ball-carrier.  He’s still learning; you can imagine the transition.  But look at him physically.  Look at the size and the weight and the speed and all those things.  It’s all there.  We feel like we can take our time to develop him.  The biggest thing that we’re always very cautious about with defensive players is that you can get caught up these measurables very easily, if they don’t play with that great passion that we’re looking for on defense, then they’re not worth a file.  And certainly when he was playing, he absolutely showed that type of passion that we’re looking for when he was playing.  We’re excited about him.”

On what kind of defensive end the Rams were looking for:   “We weren’t looking for a defensive end necessarily.  We felt good about what’s on the roster.  He is so unusual that that’s why we went back this week to look at him again with Bill because we wanted to make double-sure that all those things were accurate.  We just think it’s a terrific value for us.  When you look at our roster, I think numbers-wise, we’re fine at defensive end.  He just is unusual.  The willingness to learn at that position, and the physical aspect of it had to be there, and that was something that Bill spent a great deal of time (before the draft) researching, so we feel good about that.”

On trying to keep Hargrove a secret:   “We did.  He made 11 trips.  It wasn’t much of a secret.  I think when you sit out a year like that, when that happens, people are always a little bit leary, but there’s a lot of character with this young man.  And again, I can’t say this enough, we did our homework on him.  We know a great deal about him.  And passing the Kollar test, as far as the intensity and the willingness to play at that level, he has that, that high motor, along with his athleticism.  The thing he just doesn’t have is experience.  He just hasn’t been there very long.  I think those things that we’re all excited about are the willingness, and obviously he’s smart enough to learn all those things.”