Vince Mayle

Folks always mistake Browns rookie wide receiver Vince Mayle for LeBron James(AP Photo/Young Kwak)

(Young Kwak)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns rookie wide receiver Vince Mayle heard it again at the club's youth football camp on Wednesday morning.



"Do you know you look like LeBron?'' a young boy asked the Browns' fourth round pick at FirstEnergy Stadium?

Yes, Mayle is well aware. In fact, he's known it for almost a decade.



"Ever since sixth grade, my nickname has been little LeBron,'' Mayle told Northeast Media Group.

Just two weeks ago, on his flight back here after the NFL Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles, some people gawked and others approached him.



"They thought I was LeBron,'' he said. "At one point in my life, I got it every single day.''



The comparisons have been fast and furious since he was drafted by the Browns with the No. 123 overall pick out of Washington State in April.



"If I'm new to the area, people always say 'do you know you look like LeBron?'' he said. "It's even moreso now that I'm here in Cleveland with him.''



It's only fitting that Mayle has morphed into LeBron, because he's been obsessed with the Cavs' superstar ever since he was a young boy.



"When I was in sixth grade, LeBron James was the first athlete I ever got an autograph from,'' he said. "It was at the ESPY's right after he got out of high school. It was the first autograph I ever got, and I'm probably one of the biggest LeBron fans in the world.''



Mayle, who's still practicing with a cast on his surgicially-repaired right thumb, has the day etched in his memory.



"I just said his name and I asked for his autograph and he was like 'sure kid,''' said Mayle. "I've been the biggest LeBron fan ever since.''



By the time Mayle was playing basketball for Shasta Community College in Reading, California, he was not only drawing LeBron looks comparisons, but hoops ones too. Even on the court, he became LeBron through osmosis.



"I pretty much have one dunk, and that's the LeBron dunk,'' said Mayle. "I have that and I do the chase-down block, so I mean, even when I play basketball I get the mini-LeBron because I watched him so much that I picked up his playing style.''



Mayle even parlayed that thunderous, one-handed windmill dunk into a victory at the regional slam-dunk contest while at Shasta. He's so mini-LeBron that Mayle's teammates at Washington State can't believe he willed himself to the land of King James.



"I have the blue original Cavs jersey, I have a red one and a black one from the Heat and I've got the new blue one from the new Cavs era,'' he said.



Unfortunately, he no longer has the autograph that James gave him in sixth grade.



"I lost it about three years later when I moved back from LA to Northern Californa,'' he said. "I was devastated when I lost it. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it.''



Mayle, who attended an Eastern Conference Finals game, is well aware that James, who will take on the Warriors tonight in Game 4 of the NBA finals, is good friends with Johnny Manziel and that he showed up at Browns practice one day last year.



"That day will be a crazy day if I ever get the chance to meet him,'' said Mayle.



Maybe he'll even replace that lost autograph.



"Yeah, I do need another one,'' he said.



But most of all, he'll finally get to see his idol and doppleganger close-up.



"We're going to see early this year if this resemblance thing really works,'' he said.