Former Cowboy camp hand praises Choice
May 15, 2008
Albert Breer
Had a nice talk with Damarius Bilbo, the ex-Cowboy training camp and practice squad receiver, and got a chance to get his opinion of his college teammate, Tashard Choice.
Bilbo, who was signed to the Desperados practice squad this week, wasn't shy in passing along his thoughts.
"Tashard Choice transferred from Oklahoma when I was a junior," Bilbo says, "and came in and you would've thought he was there for four years."
Choice, Bilbo says, was elected a "lifting captain" at Georgia Tech almost immediately, alongside the newest Desperado, Ravens safety Dawan Landry and Lions receiver Calvin Johnson.
"You can't tell him he can't do anything," Bilbo said. "There was a knock on him going into the draft that he had bad hands. I threw to him at Pro Day this year, and he didn't drop a ball. And I throw pretty hard."
Bilbo -- who also said the YouTube clip we posted here a while back encapsulates Choice's all-the-time enthusiasm -- has an interesting story himself.
As a collegian, he was moved from quarterback to running back to receiver, and came into the league in 2006 training camp with the Cardinals as a receiver. After being cut, he signed with the Cowboys. He was then cut by Dallas, and signed to the practice squad, where he spent the rest of the season.
He says in a December practice that year, Tony Romo threw a ball to him so hard that it split his hand open, requiring 14 stitches to fix. For obvious reason concerning his healing, Bill Parcells moved him to safety, and he entered 2007 training camp, under the new staff, at that position.
Anyway, he was released last summer and decided to pursue a master's at Tech thereafter in Information Technology and Industrial Design. And when the chance to play for the Desperados came along in February, he passed it up. He said he had to finish the semester out in his graduate program first. With the semester done, he joined the team yesterday.
I just thought it was an impressively mature decision. Many athletes say that academics are important. But few act on that thought the way Bilbo did.
