Notes & Quotes: Day 2AUSTIN - The Dallas Cowboys' depth on the offensive line took a hit Friday
morning when second-year guard Shane Hannah left training camp after
deciding that football wasn't in his future.
Hannah, listed at 6-5, 329, reported to camp at about 370 pounds and was
the target of most of the Dallas offensive coaches during Thursday morning's
practice.
Hannah, drafted out of Michigan State in the second round, then missed the
afternoon practice, apparently trying to decide if he wanted to continue
playing in the NFL. He made the decision to leave and packed up and left
Friday morning.
Dallas head coach Barry Switzer said that if Hannah didn't want to pursue
a career in the NFL that it was best he call it quits now.
"He doesn't want to play the game anymore, so he just left," Switzer
said Friday morning. "You've got to have a heart to play the game.
If it's not in your heart, hey, I understand it. If he was my son, I'd tell
him the same thing."
Hannah spent the majority of his rookie season on the injured reserve list
after tearing up his right knee last year in training camp. But he reported
to training camp overweight and out of shape.
Hannah will apparently return to his native Ohio and work on his father's
farm.
"We drafted him and felt like he had the potential to be a player,"
Switzer said. "Some of these guys, it takes a few years before they
become a player. I've been patient with players all my life. That's the
key: keep them and let them develop.
"It's easier to fire them," he said. "It's easier to run
them off. It's damned hard to make them players."
Troy Aikman had an interesting response when he was asked by someone
what he thought of the $120 million deal Shaquille O'Neal signed with the
Los Angeles Lakers.
"Pocket change, huh?," he said with a laugh. "I'm happy for
him. But I just can't fathom that kind of money."
How's that again, Troy?
Didn't you sign a $50 million deal of your own just a couple of years ago?
Deion Sanders, working his receiving skills in the early part
of training camp, came up with the camp's best catch so far Friday afternoon.
During the 7-on-7 drill, he ran an out rout, but safety Brock Marion tipped
the ball in the air. Sanders, however, caught the ball off the tip and got
both feet in bounds for a legal catch.
Marion ran to the chain link fence screaming about the play, but was quieted
when Sanders told him, "Don't take it personally. I'll do that to everybody."
The Cowboys are no longer the young-buck group they were of a few years
ago, and it's beginning to show in the number of starters who aren't practicing
right now.
Missing from the first practice were tight end Jay Novacek, center Ray Donaldson,
defensive ends Charles Haley and Tony Tolbert, offensive tackle Erik Williams
and cornerback Kevin Smith. Running back Sherman Williams is also out while
he rehabs after a knee injury.
All those players are coming off some sort of offseason surgery that will
limit their playing time in training camp.
"The management of our veteran players is a big part of training camp,"
Switzer said. "A lot of those guys, we know what kind of players they
are so it's not absolutely necessary that they be out there every day."
One small fan had one of the better lines of the morning when he shouted out to Deion Sanders, "Hey, Deion, let's go fishing." Sanders is a noted fisherman, and he was even arrested this offseason for fishing on private property. ... Deion's golf cart continues to be the talk of training camp. But at least one player knows he won't be riding in it. "I think he has a weight limit on that thing," said offensive lineman Nate Newton, who would surely bust the limit. ... The Cowboys practiced in front of 2,100 fans Friday morning and 1,500 in the afternoon, running their two-day total to 7,600. ... The temperature morning practice was a breezy 89 with a heat index of 93. The afternoon temperature, however, was up to 104 with a heat index of 108.