Marrow experiences first taste of NFL

He doesn't plan on doing anything the rest of the senior class normally would do. Mitch Marrow won't walk -- he did that last year. He won't go searching for a nine-to-five job. But Marrow will be one of the few Penn students leaving University City to chase an unlikely post-Ivy League occupation -- for the 6'5", 280-lb. defensive end, the dream is a career in the National Football League. "I am thinking of it in terms of work, it's a real good job," Marrow said. "It's a good paying job and a fun job." After being drafted with the 12th pick in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft on Friday, May 17 (73rd overall), Marrow's future employer became the Carolina Panthers. On-the-job training began soon after the draft when Marrow traveled to North Carolina for his first mini-camp. "We had a couple practices and I got to learn the system a little bit. They run a very similar defense to Penn, which helped me out a little bit," Marrow said. For the one-time All-Ivy League selection, the place of employment will be the football field, and his job training sessions will take place in gym shorts and t-shirts instead of three-piece suits, in the comforting setting of weight rooms. Like other students leaving the Penn campus, Marrow's prospects of employment will be difficult. On draft day, he saw the likes of Nebraska defensive end Jason Peter (6'4", 275-lb.) and Louisiana State product Chuck Wiley also drafted by the Panthers before him. Peter was Carolina's first pick, 14th overall, and Marrow's roommate in the first minicamp the week following the draft. Wiley was selected 11 picks prior to Marrow, as the first pick in the round. "I think he knows the challenge that's ahead of him. It's really going to help having good players alongside of him to learn from," Marrow's agent Jim Ulrich said. The stakes got a little bit higher when just a week later the Panthers signed former All-Pro defensive lineman Sean Gilbert. The former Redskin signed the richest deal for a d-lineman in the history of the NFL at $46.5 million over seven years. "I got a big chance to meet Sean that weekend. Anytime you get a chance to play with someone that talented you can only benefit from it," Marrow said. The Panthers' signing of the 6'5", 327 lb. nightmare made his first pro-bowl at 23 years of age in 1993, and cost Carolina their 1999 and 2000 first round draft picks. While Marrow will have some odds to overcome, he will most likely enter the ranks of employment having more fun and making more money than most 1998 Penn graduates.

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