Cowboys Corner

A Young lesson

Apparently something good did come of Vince Young’s wonderlic fiasco of a year ago.

The former Texas quarterback caught a lot of flak last year for reportedly scoring a six on the Wonderlic exam given at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Young disputed the results and eventually retook the exam. But the controversy was enough too much for the brass at the University of Texas.

  According to running back Selvin Young, one of eight Texas players at the combine this year, a counselor put Wonderlic Tests in everyone’s locker shortly after last year’s combine. He said he has taken the Wonderlic at least five times and will be ready for the test. But as recent graduate of Texas, he said he will be ready anyway.

  Of course, what he also learned is that the test doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of football, considering that Vince Young was picked third overall by the Titans last year and went on to win NFL rookie of the year honors.

-Clarence E. Hill Jr.

The Bear facts on Wilson

Bears coach Lovie Smith said it wasn’t hard for him to let quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson take a similar position in Dallas despite having one year left on his contract.

Smith said he only wants guys who want to be with the Bears.

And it was obvious to him that Wilson, who grew up in nearby Commerce, wanted to be in Dallas.

_Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Combine interviews begin

The Cowboys will formally interview 60 players at the NFL Scouting Combine, scouting director Jeff Ireland said.

They also will likely informally interview another 60 players. The process began late Thursday night with the team talking to a handful of players at their hotel until 11 p.m.

-Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Waiting on Jerry Jones

A full contingent of Cowboys coaches, scouts, doctors and trainers have descended on Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Dallas Cowboys bus is also here, parked on the street outside the Marriott Hotel across from the convention center.

Owner Jerry Jones and vice president Stephen Jones have yet to arrive in Indianapolis. They were delayed because of stadium meetings, but are set to arrive either late Friday night or Saturday morning.

-Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Jason Garrett likes QB coach

Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is excited about the decision to bring aboard Wade Wilson as quarterbacks coach.

Garrett is familiar with Wilson from their days together with the Cowboys as backup quarterbacks for Troy Aikman. He said he long admired and respected Wilson as a player, coach and person.

“Its going to work out great,” Garrett said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He was always someone who was a great resource for me when I was playing. He is such an experienced guy. He knew so much about football and the quarterback position.

"He was somebody I relied on a lot when I was here as  a player. That has continued through the years. I think it’s a great fit for us philosophically. We are similar how we think about the quarterback positon and how we think about offensive football.”

-Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Bruce DeHaven sighting

I just ran into Bruce DeHaven, the Cowboys' former special teams coach. Bruce is now in Seattle, and the Seahawks have franchised their kicker, Josh Brown. Finally, Bruce will have a settled kicking situation. Bruce said he had tried to get the Cowboys to go after Brown last year when he was a restricted free agent. The Cowboys, of course, ended up using three kickers last season, and Martin Gramatica becomes a free agent March 2.

-Charean Williams

Defensive coordinator wanted

Wade Phillips is clearly holding out hope that they Cowboys will pry Brian Stewart away from San Diego to become the team's defensive coordinator.

Its the only reason the team has held the job open this long.

If the Cowboys don’t get Stewart, the common assumption is that they will turn to secondary coach Todd Bowles. However, the longer the Cowboys are taking to name a coordinator doesn’t seem to bode well for Bowles' chances.

If they Cowboys really wanted to give him the job, they would have done so already.

Phillips said he wants to finalize his staff by Wednesday so stay tuned.

-Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Embracing the star

Wade Phillips said his sister will have to pull the pins out of her Cowboys' voodoo doll. I think he was joking, but it's hard to be sure. The Oilers, back in the day, hated the Cowboys.

-Charean Williams

Oakland needs a quarterback

Scouts, general managers and coaches are convinced that Oakland will use the No. 1 overall pick on LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell. The fact that the Raiders have severed ties with Aaron Brooks will only serve to reinforce their feelings.

_Charean Williams

Small college wonder

Watch for the name of Michael Allen. He's the only Division III player invited to the combine. He is a tight end from Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash. He caught 53 passes for 1,100 yards last season. If he works out well this week, he could make a move up the draft boards.

_Charean Williams