“If you walk on my field, you’ll run on that track!” bellowed Morris, a personal strength and conditioning coach for several NFL players, to a group of boys who were a little too slow in returning to their station for the next round of football drills.

Nearby, Cleveland Browns cornerback and Glasgow resident Hank Poteat just grinned.

There were 110 boys spread across the synthetic turf at Marcus Foster Memorial Stadium, a block away from Simon Gratz High in North Philly and miles away from where the Philadelphia Eagles play on the south side of town.

But, Poteat knew, lessons learned here, in childhood, can help make the path clearer to adulthood for many of the boys collected on that green rectangle, many of whom are from the inner city and aren’t as fortunate as Poteat, the son of an educator. Dr. H. Major Poteat is currently superintendent of the Winslow Township (N.J.) School District.

“A lot of athletes didn’t have the advantage of a father figure, like I had, who could help me with my confidence and put me in situations where I could achieve my goals,” Poteat said. “Just knowing what I was able to get through my dad, I wanted to do the same for some of these younger kids who may not have the opportunity.”

The Mentor Me Summer Football Camp, put together by Poteat’s longtime friend from Harrisburg High, Bobby McRae Jr., doesn’t aim to create football players, though, if it does, that’s great. But it hopes to use football — and contact with NFL players such as Poteat — as a tool.

“Bobby has a vision and a goal for the community as far as helping the youth, and I wanted to be a part of that,” Poteat said. “We talk about building self-confidence, achieving goals in life. … I’m all for that. I was born in Philadelphia, I grew up in Pennsylvania and it’s great to be able to give something back to the community. This is all about building relationships and having fun.”

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Nearby, as players went through a hand-off drill, a coach implored “You cannot play Hot Potato,” as the ball bounced around in the hands of a player. “You squish it and secure it!”

It wasn’t uncommon to hear a coach order a player to run a lap or give him 10 push-ups for some breach. One player had a cell phone in his pocket Monday that started ringing. That was a 30-pushup penalty.

“Hey, that’s all part of being disciplined,” said Poteat, a husband and father of three. “In order to be a good football player, you have to be disciplined. There are rules.”

That message had certainly gotten across to 14-year-old Malik Mitchum, who met Poteat several years ago through family links and has become a camp regular. He and Poteat consider themselves “God-brothers.”

“It’s about hard work and discipline and learning how to express yourself through different things other than crime and stuff in the streets, where you might get in trouble,” Mitchum said. “It’s really about doing good things. That’s what I’ve learned from going to these camps with Hank. He really is my mentor.”

Poteat, a former third-round draft choice out of the University of Pittsburgh, has played in 94 NFL regular-season games over nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets.

He won a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in their 2005 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Poteat’s career blossomed the last three years with the Jets, where he played in 40 games and has all four of his career interceptions. He followed coach Eric Mangini when he was dismissed by the Jets and hired by Cleveland.

Eagles linebacker Omar Gaither was also spending time with the youngsters. Eagles All-Pro running back Brian Westbrook was scheduled to stop by later in the afternoon.

Dillon Collins, who’ll be a freshman at Indian River High, came all the way from Sussex County after his uncle, Rusty Murray of Malvern, Pa., won a spot at the camp in a drawing at his union hall.

“The cool thing about this camp is the opportunity to try something new, get some different perspectives on football,” Collins said. “It gives you extra skills for when you go back to your team. They want you to do your best and they push you to succeed here.”

The camp’s message was even getting across to the coaches, including Pencader Charter senior-to-be Jerome Smith.

A running back and safety who is being recruited by the likes of Syracuse and Wisconsin, Smith knows Poteat through their membership in the Word of Faith Christian Center in Newark. He worked a camp for him last week at Glasgow High, and this week is making the trip here.

“It’s great to get a chance to take what you learned and give it back to somebody younger,” Smith, who lives in Bear, said. “That’s the best part about it. School’s No. 1, they have to remember that. But they have to learn that, when adversity comes upon them, you have to find a way to get the job done. If you’re tired, you find a way.”

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“Hank is a veteran corner who has played inside and outside,” said Browns General Manager George Kokinis. “His versatility and knowledge of the system will be an asset to our secondary.”

The 31-year-old Poteat originally was a third-round draft choice of Pittsburgh in 2000 and went on to play three seasons with the Steelers (2000-02). He subsequently had stints with Tampa Bay (2003), New England (2005-06) and the Jets (2006-08). In his career, the 5-10, 195-pounder has played in 94 regular season games, including 18 starts. He has collected four interceptions, including two each of the last two years. In 2008, he also registered a sack, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

Hank Poteat at your service.

Long before the journeyman cornerback re-signed with the Jets three weeks ago after being released eight times in his nine-year career, Poteat was wearing a red t-shirt and nametag — “Hello, My Name is Hank” — whipping strangers into shape.

It was 2005.

Poteat, professional football player, was out of a job.

Again.

He kept a low-profile and never wore his Super Bowl ring to work, helping men and women of all shapes and sizes.

“I had a guy come in who was about 100 pounds and wanted to gain a whole lot of muscle,” Poteat, 31, said this week. “He came in at 6 or 7 o’clock at night and didn’t eat since breakfast. But he wanted to gain all this weight. He couldn’t even lift the bar.”

Standing under a brightly lit locker with his name on it, Poteat smiled at the memory. Somehow, his wild and wacky career that has included stints with the Steelers, Buccaneers, Panthers and Patriots found its way back here.

“I’ve seen so much,” he said. “You never know what might happen in this league.”

The Steelers selected Poteat — an All-Big East player at the University of Pittsburgh — in the third round of the 2000 draft. The 5-10, 195-pound cornerback, however, never lived up to expectations.

On August 31, 2003, he was cut for the first time.

It proved to be a seminal moment.

“That was the turning point,” Poteat said. “It was a life-changing experience for me. That’s when I really understood what I needed to do to be a pro. It opened my eyes.”

Poteat leaned on his faith.

Less than two months later, the Buccaneers signed him. He played in one game, registering three tackles on special teams.

Three weeks after Poteat arrived in Tampa, he was cut for the second time.

On Christmas Eve of the 2003 season — a little more than a month after the Buccaneers cut him — the Panthers signed him.

Poteat played two preseason games with Carolina in 2004 before agreeing to an injury settlement after breaking his thumb.

On Sept. 5, 2004, he was released for the third time.

A strange journey was about to get much stranger.

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Another possible description would be journeyman. But perhaps the best way to capture the veteran defensive back is that he’s a survivor and sometimes a thriver.

Poteat is back for his third tour of duty (or is it his fourth?) with the Jets as of today. Asked if his role will be changing much from what he was doing at training camp before he became a final cut, he chuckled.

“I don’t know. We’ll see when I go out there and practice,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure.”

This summer Poteat was working with the Jets corners as usual, even seeing action at safety along with David Barrett as head coach Eric Mangini, coordinator Bob Sutton and secondary coach Jerome Henderson continued to seek position flexibility. After posting the first two interceptions of his career last season, he came up with another in the preseason opener at Cleveland.

Full Story: NewYorkJets.com

Now a New York Jet, Poteat is hoping to inspire new football dreams among Newark-area children at an in-store appearance in Bear this weekend.

Poteat is slated to appear at The Athlete’s Foot in the Fox Run Shopping Center on Saturday to help promote his summer football camp at Glasgow High School for children between 8 and 14 years old.

Registration for the camp usually goes for $230, but kids who sign up during Poteat’s appearance at The Foot Locker will receive a discount, according to Hank’s wife, Jasmine, who has lived in Delaware with her husband since 2002.

The camp will run from July 14 through July 17 and feature appearances by pro football players such as fellow Jets cornerback Drew Coleman; Na’Shan Goddard, an offensive tackle for the 2008 Super Bowl champion New York Giants; and Brandon “Bam” Childress, a wide receiver who signed a two-year deal with the Eagles this off-season.

Childress also is expected to join Poteat for Saturday’s in-store appearance, according to a spokeswoman for the Bear Athlete’s Foot.

Anyone who signs up for the camp this Saturday also will be eligible to receive a pair of cleats for $20 compliments of franchise owner Cesar Dumet Jr.

Poteat will be available to meet fans and sign autographs from noon until 2 p.m. on Saturday and then again from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For those who don’t know, Poteat is an eight-year veteran of the National Football League, who was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2000 draft.

After playing a single game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he signed with the New England Patriots and played in three playoff games en route to their Super Bowl victory in 2004.

A member of the New York Jets since 2006, he recorded a career season in 2007 with 16 games played, 45 tackles and two interceptions, including a pick of Eagles QB Donovan McNabb in week 6.

Source: Newark Post

Poteat (5’10”, 195) returns to the Jets after appearing in all 16 games in 2007. He started nine games, recording the first two interceptions of his eight-year career in consecutive games vs. Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb and Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer. On the season, Poteat registered a career-high 45 tackles and five pass breakups.

Poteat first joined the Jets in 2006 after stints with Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and New England. He was drafted by the Steelers in the third round (77th overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft.

Related: Jets re-sign veteran CB Hank Poteat to one-year deal

At this point, nothing is imminent and no official visit has been scheduled.

Poteat spent parts of 2004, 2005 and 2006 with the Patriots. He was with the Jets for most of 2006 and all of last season.

The Patriots currently have Ellis Hobbs, Tim Mixon, Mike Richardson, Antwain Spann and Jason Webster under contract at cornerback. Also, 2007 first-round pick Brandon Meriweather is an option at corner, while Chad Scott, who is an unrestricted free agent, is a candidate to return.

The New York Giants are basking in the fairy tale that accompanies every Cinderella story.

But eight-year veteran NFL cornerback and Delaware resident Hank Poteat said the Giants should be careful.

Every slight of Super Bowl opponent New England — overt or subtle — and every boast of supremacy is bound to catch the attention of Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

“Belichick is very thorough,” said Poteat, who lives in Glasgow and played for Belichick when the Patriots edged the Eagles in the Super Bowl, 24-21, in 2005.

“He gets everything throughout the league or the newspaper, where someone might have said this or that. Even if it had nothing to do with our game or our team, he’ll have info on a guy.

“That’s why you see guys pretty much not say a lot, because if you do say the wrong thing or say too much, you best believe it’s going to be brought up in a team meeting.”

Full Story: Poteat warns Giants against comments – [The News Journal]

In the 71st game of his career — after an overthrown Donovan McNabb pass sailed into his arms — Hank Poteat walked toward the Jets’ sideline without so much as a fist pump. He did not speak. He did not smile. He did not bump chests.

Only a select few knew that Poteat waited eight years and seven seasons for that very moment, the first interception of his vagabond career. When safety Kerry Rhodes found this out, he could not resist a little needling.

“That’s your first one,” Rhodes said. “You aren’t going to celebrate a little bit?”

Full Story: Poteat’s Patient Approach Continues to Pay Off for Him and the Jets – [New York Times]

Related: Poteat’s Been Potent – [New York Post]

Never underestimate the power of the ring. Hank Poteat happened to have it — his Super Bowl XXXIX ring, that is — with him when he opened the doors to his first football camp for 50 kids at a sizzling hot high school football field in northwest Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday.

“First of all, anytime you have a Super Bowl ring, a lot of people want to see it,” the Jets cornerback told newyorkjets.com Thursday. “I showed the kids the ring and told them the significance of it to me. I wanted these kids to know we all have plans and dreams in our lives, but your first plan, your first try is not always going to go as expected. But if you have that desire in your heart, keep going after it and don’t quit.”

Full Story: Perseverance Pays – [New York Jets]