Eagles' Abiamiri a confident pick

For now, Victor Abiamiri is the Eagles'

other

second-round draft pick.

He's the guy who doesn't play quarterback and didn't receive all that much attention after being selected by the Eagles last month.

These things can change, of course. In fact, it's highly probable that Abiamiri will have more impact on the fate of the 2007 Eagles than quarterback Kevin Kolb, the second-round pick who has been closely scrutinized at the team's never-ending minicamps.

Abiamiri, the 57th player taken in the draft, will likely arrive at training camp in late July as the fifth defensive end behind veterans Jevon Kearse, Trent Cole, Darren Howard and Juqua Thomas. An injury to any one of them would likely place Abiamiri in defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's rushing rotation.

"I most definitely believe . . . I have the talent to contribute to this football team in a very positive way," Abiamiri said yesterday after the Eagles resumed their rookie minicamp at the NovaCare Complex.

Abiamiri's college career at Notre Dame could be described as solid but unspectacular. He registered 211/2 career sacks, third all-time and two shy of former teammate Justin Tuck's school record. The Irish, however, were never a dominating defense during his time in South Bend.

As a senior last fall, Abiamiri had 101/2 sacks, but only a half-sack in the Irish's losses to Michigan, Southern Cal and LSU.

"I think I had a solid senior year," Abiamiri said. "But I'm always my own biggest critic. I always want to improve and I think there's always room to do better. I've yet to tap into my potential."

Abiamiri, 6-foot-4 and 267 pounds, may still have a lot to learn about dealing with NFL offensive tackles, but he's already received a tremendous education in life. The youngest son of Rita and Peter Abiamiri attended a prestigious academic high school in Baltimore.

The Gilman School happened to also have a pretty good football team, but that's not why the Abiamiris sent their son there. Abiamiri's oldest brother, Rob, who plays tight end for the Berlin Thunder in NFL Europe, went to Mount St. Joseph's in Baltimore, the same high school as former Phillies pitcher Gavin Floyd.

"It really was a place where my parents wanted me to go," Abiamiri said. "It's one of the top academic schools in the Baltimore area. I did meet the football coach before I went there, but I wasn't being recruited because I had never played football ever in my life. I went for the academics with the idea that I would also play sports. I enjoyed playing basketball, then I went out for the football team and the rest was history."

Gilman coach Biff Poggi and his defensive coordinator, Joe Ehrmann, ran a successful program, but one that was quite different. It was detailed in the book Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood by Jeff Marx.

According to Marx's book, Ehrmann, a defensive tackle for the Baltimore Colts and Detroit Lions from 1973 to '82, would ask the Gilman players what the job of their coaches was and the group response would be "to love us." And the job of the players was "to love each other."

That's definitely different from what you'd hear on most high school football fields.

"They never yelled or cursed," Abiamiri said. "They made every guy feel special from the starting quarterback to the guy that walked on just because he wanted to play. They never cut anybody. . . . They didn't put football on this high pedestal."

But Poggi and Ehrmann coached four undefeated teams during their nine years at Gilman, including Abiamiri's senior season, when the school was nationally ranked.

"It wasn't exactly a football factory," Abiamiri said. "It was kind of a good people factory. They tried to make good men who could use their talents to help others in their community. That's what my parents did, too."

Peter Abiamiri is a social worker, and his wife, Rita, is a nurse. They came over from Nigeria before Victor was born. Before Victor's senior year at Gilman, the family took a trip to the parents' native country.

"It was huge for me to kind of reconnect with my family and kind of rediscover myself and really get an idea of who I am," Abiamiri said. "A lot of people go through life not really knowing their roots or their ancestry, so to be able to go back to Nigeria and talk to my family members was great."

Dick Humbert dies. Former Eagles end Dick Humbert died last Wednesday at 88 in Richmond, Va. Humbert played for the Eagles in 1941 and from 1945 to '49. He was a member of their back-to-back NFL championship teams in 1948 and '49.

He caught 68 passes for 731 yards and six touchdowns on offense and collected 14 interceptions on defense. Humbert served with the Navy in World War II.

A memorial service will be held tomorrow in Richmond.