There's nothing the Philadelphia Eagles can do in Thursday night's preseason opener to throw Browns center Alonzo Ephraim for a loop.
After all, he's been through enough of a whirlwind the past two weeks that anything from here on out will be a virtual breeze.
Ephraim was sitting at home in Birmingham, Ala. - without a team - during the last full week of July. In fact, football was the farthest thing from his mind. His focus was on making sure his fiancé, Kelly Amos, had no problems in giving birth to their child.
Now, after a season-ending knee injury to LeCharles Bentley and then Bob Hallen being put on the exempt-left team list on Tuesday, Ephraim may have just been thrust into a starting role.
"God works in mysterious ways. I'm a firm believer in that," Ephraim said following Tuesday's training camp practice.
Mysterious, to be sure. But probably more like bizarre. At least his journey to the Browns indicates such
His fiance's due date was July 28, the same day the Browns announced the devastating news about Bentley, the plum of the offseason free-agent signings.
"The Browns called me that Thursday (July 27, the day Bentley got hurt and just the second day of camp), but I had to put them off for a while," Ephraim said.
Doctors induced labor on July 28, and Amos gave birth to a boy, Alonzo B. Ephraim II. Ephraim spent 15 hours with his son and fiance, then flew to Cleveland, signed a contract and joined the Browns. Something like that can make a person's head spin, but Ephraim knew that with the veteran Hallen entrenched at center, he had plenty of time to learn the offense and his new teammates.
But all that changed this week when Hallen's situation began to become clouded.
Adding to the story is the fact Philadelphia is the team that originally signed Ephraim as a rookie free agent in 2003 out of Alabama. He played two seasons with the Eagles before being released and spending last year with Miami.
The 25-year-old Ephraim has played in 40 NFL games with five starts. Oh, and did we mention that none of those starts has been at center? They were at right guard.
"My experience in the NFL has been at guard, but center is my natural position," he said. "It's where I played in college."
Ephraim was a four-year letterman for the Crimson Tide, starting 25 consecutive games. But while it is a great league, the Southeastern Conference is not the NFL. And in the NFL, guard is not center.
Nonetheless, here's Ephraim, who probably still needs a road map to find the Browns' training camp hotel, in charge of making the line calls and protecting the middle of the line for second-year quarterback Charlie Frye.
"I'm pretty familiar withy the offense," Ephraim said. "I'm pretty confident I can step in and do the job. Confidence comes with practice, and the coaches have done a good job of preparing us in practice. Plus I have a lot of good guys around me."
Ephraim said the fact the first foe is the Eagles - "I'm familiar with some of their players and how they do things," he pointed out - will help him in his Browns debut.
But only so much. There's no question Ephraim has a real challenge ahead of him.
"We're paid to do a job," he said. "And this is the NFL, where you always have somebody getting hurt and somebody else stepping in for him.
"So in the end, you just have to be a ballplayer and flow with it."
Then Ephraim added, "It's not about Alonzo. It's about the Browns."
The Browns being able to weather all the problems they've encountered at center in less than two weeks of camp.
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ATTENTION GRABBER: Being celebrities themselves, members of pro sports teams usually aren't awed by meeting high-profile people.
But all that changed Tuesday when Columbus, Ohio native and Kent State product Ben Curtis came to practice. Team employees went over to greet him, and they watched intently after practice as Curtis, who won the 2003 British Open, challenged players to hit a golf ball through the goal post from 60 yards.
"There were about eight to 10 players in that, and about six to seven of them put it through," Curtis said. "You can tell by watching that who the good golfers are on the team."
He then got into a field-goal kicking contest with Phil Dawson. "The farthest I was able to hit from was only 30 yards," Curtis said. "I did it Lou Groza style (straight-on approach)." A longtime Browns fan who has attended games at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Curtis was visiting camp for the first time.
"This was a lot of fun," he said. "When you watch the games on TV, you can't see the players' faces. But being so close to the players at camp, you can see their faces. I'm a big football fan, so that adds something."
CHARACTER WITNESS: Curtis showed that despite his fame, his ego hasn't become over-inflated. Watching practice from behind one end zone, he kneeled down so he wouldn't obstruct the view of the fans standing behind him.
NETWORKING: Tuesday was Affiliates Day for members of the 40-station Browns radio network.
JUST VISITING: Former Browns guard Gene Hickerson took in practice.
CROWD PLEASER: Attending training camp, especially for the first time, can make a real impression on fans. A man in his early 20s, wearing an orange No. 17 replica Braylon Edwards jersey, didn't take his eye off the practice field. While smiling broadly, he was heard to say, "This is easily the best day of my life."
PLAYS OF THE DAY: Frye and wide receiver Dennis Northcutt continued their hot camp connection as they combined for a 59-yard pass to the defense's 1-yard line. ... Unheralded inside linebacker Clifton Smith, who is quietly having a good camp, broke up a Frye pass to running back Lee Suggs. ... Tight end Paul Irons picked a Derek Anderson pass the ball right off the top of the grass for a touchdown. ... Rookie Carlton Brewster, facing a real logjam at wide receiver, helped himself by making a one-handed catch of an Anderson pass. ... Quarterback Lang Campbell threaded the needle on a scoring pass to tight end John Owens.
UP NEXT: The Browns will leave for Philadelphia Wednesday. They will be off Friday following the game. Their next practice in Berea will be Saturday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. For updated practice information, call the Browns training camp hotline at 1-877-627-6967.
QUOTABLE: "I'd go in and play it myself, but I've got an arthritic hip." - Browns head coach Romeo Crennel, joking, as he discussed the Browns' search for help at center.
