August 6, 2007

Hester's play is speaking for itself

2007 8-17: Wolfe in Bears 8-17: Tightends 8-16: 'Peanut' 8-16: Linebackers 8-15: D-Day 8-15: Madden '08 gets 8-15: Mannelly known 8-15: Cornerbacks 8-14: A step ahead 8-14: Offensive guards, 8-13: Benson has clear More

By Reed Schreck

GateHouse News Service

Devin Hester is quiet, soft-spoken.

"I'm just like the normal person," he said.

Maybe away from a football field. On it, especially for opposing defensive players and coordinators, he's a headache waiting to happen. Six returns for touchdowns as a Chicago Bears rookie in 2006 attest to that. Now teams will have to worry about Hester the wide receiver as well. Hester going from cornerback to wideout has been perhaps the most scrutinized aspect of the team's training camp at Olivet Nazarene University. If successful, the benefits to the offense are obvious. Put the ball in his hands twice as much, the theory is he could do twice as much damage.

Think how much more famous he could become. He's already done a Campbell's Chunky Soup commercial and been awarded an ESPY for being the breakthrough athlete of the year.

Any extra attention, though, isn't likely to change Hester the man.

"If you didn't know who I was," he said, "you would say he's probably with the scout team or something. I'm more laid back than just humble with it. I believe my mom raised me up the right way.

"I've always said I'm no better than the next guy. There's always somebody there who's twice as better as you."

Now that would be a player worth watching. The Bears are content to have the Devin Hester that wears their No. 23.

The early reviews of his camp are between 3 and 3 1/2 stars on a scale of 1 to 4. He's shown quickness, elusiveness and excellent hands. He needs to polish his ability to break free from the line of scrimmage, run routes more precisely and catch balls in crowds. Those will come with repetition.

"I feel like each day I'm getting better and better," he said. "Each day, it's slowly, slowly getting better.

"I'm at the stage where I know all the basic stuff, where I can go run 10 to 12 plays and be confident with it."

Ron Turner said he started getting excited about Hester when the Bears drafted him last year.

"I didn't know I'd have to wait a year to get him," the offensive coordinator said with a smile. While Hester takes his reps as a kick returner, he's expending most of his energy learning wide receiver.

"He's definitely someone special, so I definitely get excited," Turner said. "The progress he's made has been tremendous. Mentally, he's handling everything really well. Physically, he's got good instincts out there. He's definitely going to be able to help us."

Turner said what most impresses him about Hester are "how he's handled things mentally, how he's picked everything up. And two, his route running. We knew he had great hands. He's even said he's more comfortable than he thought he was going to be."

The conversion plan begins with basics.

"We start from the very beginning teaching him the system," Turner said. "Everything we do is based on terms, so we keep teaching the concepts slowly. We don't get involved in all the detailed things, the intricacies of it, the hot reads, the blitz pickups."

Turner said Hester does things "naturally." Work ethic will take care of some of the rest.

"He's got a lot of pride," Turner said. "He's always watching film. He watches himself, but also Bernard (Berrian), Moose (Muhsin Muhammad) and other guys do things and learn from them."

Hester has one word to describe himself.

"Playmaker," he said. "I just want to do whatever it takes to win."