BEREA, Ohio — Fourth-round Browns draft pick Sheldrick Redwine still has the autograph given to him as a boy by Sean Taylor, the late, great safety from the University of Miami and Washington Redskins.

Redwine’s mother was a teacher, and she worked at the same school at Taylor’s sister.

“Sean gave an autograph to his sister to give to me,’’ Redwine told cleveland.com at rookie minicamp. “It was a great experience for me when I was young.’’

Redwine still has the autograph, scrawled on a napkin, at his mom’s house in Florida.

“I don’t have it framed,’’ Redwine said. “It’s just sitting there. We won’t lose it though.’’

A few years after Redwine’s mom presented him with the prized signature, Taylor was gone, murdered at his home in Miami on Nov. 27, 2007 by intruders when he was only 24 and in the prime of his NFL career.

“I remember walking in my mom’s room and she was crying,’’ Redwine said. “I was about 11 years old. I remember it was just a shock. I had a friend who was actually related to him, they were like cousins. I saw him on the news crying, so it was all just surreal to me.’’

Redwine never forgot Taylor’s kind gesture, and when he became a Hurricane himself in 2015, he was determined to honor Taylor’s memory as a Hall of Fame safety for The U.

“That’s one thing that coach (Manny) Diaz will definitely let you know when you get in there,’’ Redwine said. “You have a legacy to live up to and it’s on you how much work you put in to live up to it."

When the ‘Canes first moved Redwine to safety as a junior, he emulated Taylor — taken No. 5 by the Redskins in the 2004 draft — in more ways than one.

“I taped my fingers and stuff going out to practice just trying to be like him a little bit,’’ Redwine said. “You say that name at Miami, everybody knows who you’re talking about. Just seeing how he played, he played the game reckless, but he played it between the snaps also. He (had) an aggressive nature. I feel like I have that about myself, too.’’

Redwine calls on Pete Taylor for help

Redwine (6-0, 196) took his adoration of Taylor a step further last offseason when he enlisted the help of Taylor’s father Pete, who trained Sean and now helps coach up other young men in South Florida.

“I reached out to him and we just started working from there,’’ said Redwine. "He really does it just to give back and help the kids.’’

He also does it to help ease the pain of losing his beloved son, who was shot outside his bedroom when he tried to defend his family that day.

“It’s a therapy,’’ Pete Taylor told cleveland.com. “To watch these other kids grow and get better, that’s all that counts. When you see the kids do great, you know it’s worth it. When you see it clicking for another kid and they succeed, you think, ‘well maybe it wasn’t all a mistake. Maybe it was destiny.’"

To see Redwine be successful with the Browns would be one way for Taylor to honor his son, whom former Browns and Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams used to call the best athlete he ever coached.

“I’d love to see that happen,’’ said Taylor. “Especially with (Redwine) coming from The U. I hate to be selfish, but it’s all about the U. We have great talent coming out of this school, and the players set a great tone for each other.’’

He said Redwine reached out to him after Miami’s 34-24 loss to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl in 2017, and asked for help.

“He said he’d see me in the morning and he showed up,’’ Taylor said. “He stepped up and did what he had to do."

Taylor said it showed Redwine was serious about taking his game to the next level and ultimately getting drafted.

“We worked on some things with his speed, his explosion and also some backpedals,’’ said Taylor. “We did about 12-15 sessions, and when he went back to practice for his senior year, he did better and that’s why he moved himself up to where he’s at.’’

Taking it to the field

As a senior, Redwine started all 13 games and became one of Miami’s best defensive players. He made 64 tackles for fifth on the team, 3.5 for a loss, three sacks, three interceptions and wore “the turnover chain’’ four times — second most of any player. He also earned All-ACC Honorable mention honors.

“Speed and explosiveness, that’s Pete’s specialty," said Redwine. “I loved it because you see the way Sean Taylor turned out. Just working out with Pete, he got me right, telling me this was the same stuff he did with Sean. So that’s what I was thinking — hopefully I end up the same way.’’

But Taylor worked with Redwine on more than just his 40-time and burst. “He’s had deep talks with me about what it takes to make it in the NFL and what it took to make it as a college player and I appreciate him for all of that,’’ Redwine said.

Along the way, Redwine got the sense that the workouts, at a small gym in south Florida, were helping Taylor as much as him.

“I can see how he uses it as a type of therapy,’’ said Redwine. “The memories of him working with the son he lost are hard, but then he comes in and works with somebody else’s son and it helps.’’

Taylor, author of Going Full Speed: The Sean Taylor Stories, never asked for anything in return.

“He really just does it for the love,’’ Redwine said. “He’s really doing it just to give back. It was ‘just come out and we’ll do what we gotta do with what we have.’ I was 20 years old and I’d be there with seven-year-old kids. He had them doing the same workouts. I was going a little more intense, but he was putting just as much into them."

Taylor sees Sean’s drive in Redwine

Taylor saw some of the his son’s work ethic in Redwine during their time together.

“Sheldrick is a hardworking kid and that’s what it’s going to take to be great, and he puts his maximum effort into everything he does, so those qualities and traits will come out very soon,’’ he said.

Pete started coaching Sean, a two-time Pro Bowler in his three-plus seasons, when he played youth football and “it changed my whole perspective of how I needed to be involved with him, so he got taught right, but he had some great coaches at Miami that were also a big part of his life, and Sheldrick does too.’’

Redwine’s position coach at Miami, Ephraim Banda, who was instrumental in getting Redwine to the NFL, saw the change in him before his senior year.

“Early in his career he was casual and when he’s casual he’s not a very good player,’’ Banda told cleveland.com. “As soon as he became urgent on the field and mastered that, his game just took off. When he’s urgent, he’s as good if not better than any safety in the draft.’’

Studying Sean’s tape

Redwine has watched hours of Sean’s college and pro tape to try to assimilate his game.

“He’s a different type of player,’’ said Redwine. “I feel the greatest safety of all time — him and (former ‘Cane and Ravens Pro Football Hall of Fame safety) Ed Reed — top two greatest safeties of all time, even though Sean had a shorter career, I feel like just production-wise and knowing what he would’ve done, I feel like they were the top two of all time.’’

The biggest thing he took from Taylor’s tape: “Take the ball. It’s one thing he did great, whether it be interceptions, forcing fumbles, hard hits across the middle — get the ball.’’

The Browns have high hopes for Redwine, who was discovered at Miami by Browns Vice President of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith, also a former ‘Cane.

“At the beginning of the season, people didn’t have him on any lists, but ‘Zo knew,’’ said Banda. “He only played safety two years for us and ‘Zo knows he’s going to get a lot better.’’

Redwine plans to continue working with Pete, possibly even this offseason between minicamp and training camp.

He also hopes to honor Sean in some way as a pro for making his own NFL career possible, and for inspiring him as a boy by signing a napkin that he’ll cherish forever.

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