Rookie free agent outside linebacker Jayrone Elliott opened eyes with a three-sack performance against the Rams. Credit: Getty Images

By of the

Green Bay — If any one person helped outside linebacker Jayrone Elliott make his way to the Green Bay Packers, it would have to be Ted Ginn Sr.

It was Ginn, the iconic coach and community leader on Cleveland's east side, who took Elliott under his wing just when the young man's life could have gone in another direction.

"I call him 'Dad,'" Elliott said Monday, two days after his three-sack performance in St. Louis made him something of a household name among rabid Packers fans.

"He mentored me then and he mentors me to this day. It's crazy what he did for me. You wouldn't want to know me before Coach Ginn got me."

Ginn, 58, has spent a lifetime coaching at Glenville High School in Cleveland. From his Tarblooder teams, Ginn has helped hundreds receive college scholarships. Many of them, including Browns Pro Bowl safety Donte Whitner and the coach's son, kick returner-wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. of the Cardinals, have played in the NFL.

One of Ginn's quarterbacks, Troy Smith, won the Heisman Trophy in 2006.

Ginn, however, would prefer to be remembered for his innovative educational practices and what he calls "saving lives."

In an interview Monday, Ginn discussed the unmotivated freshman from the inner-city neighborhood around 105th St. and St. Clair Ave. Although Elliott was academically ineligible as a freshman, Ginn insisted he attend after-school programs and summer school to get his grades in order.

"We almost had him live with us," Ginn said. "Real good kid, and so gifted. Just a smooth athlete. He always came up with the big play when we needed it."

Many times, Elliott did stay overnight with Ted and his wife, Jeannette. His mother, Carla, was working 18 hours a day and trying to take care of his younger sister, so he bounced around to remove the burden from her.

"It was the ghetto," said Elliott. "A lot of violence. Coach Ginn helped me move in with different teammates to be able to get to practice day in and day out. He basically gets kids out of the streets.

"I didn't take anything serious. Thinking things should be handed out to you. It was all a mind-set thing back then, and I'm glad I finally changed it."

Ginn wasn't able to interest Ohio State or other big schools in Elliott, who played defensive end on Glenville teams that finished 34-6. Elliott signed with Toledo, where he played off the bench for three years with his hand down.

"I was 235 playing D-end trying to go against (Central Michigan's) Eric Fisher, the No. 1 pick in the draft," Elliott said. "There was a point in there in college I just wanted to be a regular student.

"It was really my fault. I didn't have my mind made up on what I wanted to do in life. I was immature about it. Basically, it was me."

Toledo coach Matt Campbell, who also drew praise from Elliott for having major impact on his life, junked the 4-3 last season in favor of a 3-4 to suit the talents of a player like Elliott.

Standing up as a linebacker for the first time, Elliott broke out with nine sacks and five forced fumbles. It was too little, too late to get Elliott invited to the combine or be drafted, but seven teams — six employing the 3-4 defense — offered him a contract in the hectic minutes after the draft.

Elliott liked his predraft visit to Green Bay because "it felt like home to me." He took its $5,000 signing bonus.

The Packers returned Clay Matthews and four others at the position, signed Julius Peppers in March and had just drafted Carl Bradford in the fourth round. Perhaps unbeknownst to Elliott, they also had a free-agent agreement with rangy Adrian Hubbard, a two-year starter at Alabama.

"With there being nine guys in the room, we know we're all not going to make the team here," Elliott said. "At the end of the day, if you're good, they'll find you.

"The draft is about money. You get money for what you did in college. Obviously, I didn't do enough. That's one thing that drives me today, to show that guys from Toledo belong in this league."

Five classes removed from graduation, Elliott already has enrolled at Toledo for fall semester "in case I don't make it in football right now," he said.

Odds are Elliott won't be back in the classroom any time soon.

Two executives in personnel that have watched tape of Green Bay's first two games said they'd prefer Elliott to Andy Mulumba, Nate Palmer, Bradford and Hubbard.

"Elliott is a better prospect than Mulumba but not by much," one scout said. "Elliott has more athleticism. He can run. More natural than Mulumba."

Elliott, 6 feet 3 inches and 252 pounds, played merely six snaps against the Titans and then just eight against the Rams. It was suggested by one scout that the Packers were hoping to slip Elliott through waivers and re-sign him to their practice squad if their decision is to release him in 12 days.

"After people see that (his three-sack game) I don't think the Packers can get that guy through waivers," one personnel man said. "He did a really nice job. He's got a heck of a knack."

Elliott's ability to rush off the edge was evident a few days into training camp.

In the Aug. 2 practice at Lambeau Field, he would have had two sacks in 11-on-11 drills. Two days later, he went 2-0-2 against Bryan Bulaga, Don Barclay and Derek Sherrod in one-on-ones.

Elliott's 4-4-2 overall record in the rush drill is tied with Peppers for the best winning percentage at the position.

"He can accelerate and get to the corner," another scout said. "Very impressive."

Elliott's three sacks against third-string left tackle Sean Hooey of St. Louis illustrated his capacity for taking off just at the snap, his 4.77-second speed in the 40-yard dash and the length he uses to keep a blocker's hands off his chest.

No linebacker at the combine had a longer wingspan than Elliott's 82 inches. His 105/8-inch hands measured as second-largest.

Elliott has another thing going for him. A simple "none" was his answer when asked if he ever had a major injury.

This is just his second season playing in a 3-4. Learning the many coverages and Dom Capers' full package will take some time.

Elliott's work ethic was solidified after he read Hill Harper's "Letters to a Young Brother" for one of his entry-level classes at Toledo.

As Elliott put it, "It's the story of how a black man with knowledge wants to give it back to younger black kids, to show them that anything is possible but you've got to work for it and believe."

It is Elliott's favorite book. Ted Ginn Sr. has good reason to be proud.