Kevin Kolb

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - It stands there alien in this world of Cowboys. Planted off Route 377, just a football throw from one of the many ranches that dot the Lone Star landscape, is a billboard as unfamiliar in these parts as the sight of a UFO in Philadelphia. The idea behind the sign is not foreign in this football-crazed state. It proudly celebrates a hometown boy - a quarterback, no less - who made it all the way to the NFL. Splashed across the top of the standard-size billboard are the words, "Welcome to Stephenville.

Have either of you guys seen anything from Kevin Kolb that leads you to believe he can get the Eagles a win on Sunday? Or a touchdown? I realize we haven't seen much of him yet, but he's been out there long enough where we ought to have seen a spark, a glint, a glimmer, something promising. To me, this guy looks like he couldn't back up Bobby Hoying. For perhaps the first time in our respective 40-year careers, I find myself in complete agreement with Frank. . . . Other than throw interceptions and fumble, Kevin Kolb remains a complete mystery.

POSITION: Backup quarterback HEIGHT, WEIGHT: 6-3, 218 AGE: 24. BIRTHDATE: Aug. 24, 1984. HOMETOWN: Victoria, Texas COLLEGE: Houston YEARS PRO: 2 HOW ACQUIRED: Drafted by the Eagles in the second round (36th overall) in 2007. THIS YEAR: Has appeared in five games in relief of Donovan McNabb, with four interceptions in 34 attempts. NEXT YEAR: That's going to be the big question this offseason, isn't it? EARLY EXPOSURE: As a 5-year-old, Kevin would hang around the middle-school team coached by his father, Roy. "I was always in the locker room," Kolb said.

Second in the season-preview series. WACO, Texas - If he could have, Kevin Kolb would have followed Art Briles to this south Texas town, home of Baylor University. Twice before in the life and football times of Kolb, he trailed after this Svengali-type coach - first to Stephenville High School and then to the University of Houston. On both occasions, Kolb had to make gut-wrenching decisions. But the road shared by these two Texas slingers, separated only by time and now thousands of miles, had to eventually hit a fork.

Eagles starting quarterback Kevin Kolb - who grew from humble, hog-hunting roots into a man anointed by Andy Reid and the organization as the heir to a kingdom with no crown - is dead. He passed away not long after executing his duties as team leader and the face of the franchise for less than a half of one football game. He is survived by anger, betrayal, pity, and doubt, as well as his immediate relative, Eagles backup quarterback Kevin Kolb - a man who bears a striking resemblance to his kin but who recently suffered a horrible setback in life that left him cut off at the knees.

BRENT CELEK characterizes Kevin Kolb as "a country boy who likes to fish," but, in fact, Kolb did not grow up pursuing his current favorite off-the-field passion, competitive bass fishing. It developed after college, when he met up with some old friends. "I had no desire to get into it, I just kind of stumbled into it," said Kolb, who won a couples competition in Texas' Hubbard Creek Lake with his wife, Whitney. Kevin took fourth this year in an individual tourney that he said featured about 70 boats.

ONCE UPON a time, the Eagles took a quarterback in the second round of the NFL draft, a quarterback named Randall Cunningham. It was 1985. The incumbent starter at that point was Ron Jaworski, age 34. Jaworski had played in a Super Bowl and had been ridiculously healthy before suffering a broken leg toward the end of the previous season. The day of the draft, Cunningham was described as a strictly for-the-future guy. As coach Marion Campbell said, "It's no secret we're looking for a young quarterback.

With all due respect to Kevin Kolb, he is not going anywhere. It is great that he wants to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League, but unless some team comes at the Eagles with a ridiculous offer - say, two first-round draft picks, which is unlikely - Kolb is going to be right here next season, backing up Michael Vick. That is not Kolb's preference, but he is under contract through 2011, and the Eagles most likely are going to hold him to it. Coach Andy Reid has said it before and I'll say it for him again: In a quarterback-driven league, it is a beautiful thing to have two guys who are legitimate starters on the roster.

Nine days after Clay Matthews drove his head into the ground, Kevin Kolb was blindsided by his coach. On Sept. 21, the Eagles' starting quarterback walked into Andy Reid's office on the second floor of the NovaCare Complex and, after a long conversation, exited as the backup quarterback. "That," Kolb said more than three months later, "was a tough, tough day. " Reid had decided - after an off-season of building up Kolb, a half-game of football in which the quarterback was ineffective and then concussed, and 11/2 games with a new and vastly improved Michael Vick - that it was time to make a switch.

OFFICIALLY, Kevin Kolb became the Eagles' starting quarterback on the evening of April 4, when Donovan McNabb was traded to Washington. In another sense, though, Kolb is still becoming the starting QB. Easter Sunday was the "paperwork" date of Kolb's ascension. The unofficial part of the organization's most significant transition in more than a decade - you could call it the "real" part - started with minicamps, but it accelerates this coming week at Lehigh, when the team reports for training camp.

Analysis doesn't roll as smoothly off the tongue of Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie as it does for his cornerback running mate, Nnamdi Asomugha. But Rodgers-Cromartie had no trouble Thursday pinning down what it feels like to be playing on the outside at the current OTA, after spending his first year with the Eagles trying to learn to play the slot. "It feels like I'm at home," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "From being inside a long time, I still got a little rust on me, so the main thing is, just go through these OTAs and knock that off, and go from there.

The Eagles hope to benefit from the more obvious aspect of spring practice and classroom time. Players get a head start on learning the offensive and defensive playbooks. The less-obvious aspect may be even more important. That became clear last year. The Eagles, like all other NFL teams, were denied the May and June camps, then were forced to open training camp with some veteran players standing around waiting for the new collective bargaining agreement to be finalized. Obviously, the players had less time to learn from the coaches.

TEN YEARS ago, the Eagles hit pay dirt in the second and third rounds of the draft, selecting safety Michael Lewis, cornerback Sheldon Brown and a running back by the name of Brian Westbrook. Lewis, Brown and Westbrook made a collective 241 starts for the Eagles and helped them make it to the NFC Championship Game four times and to the Super Bowl once. Since then, with two notable exceptions, the draft's second and third rounds have been one dry hole after another for the Eagles.

With Michael Vick, coach Andy Reid is on franchise quarterback No. 3, following the Donovan McNabb era and the Kevin Kolb cameo. Will he take a shot on No. 4 this week? The NFL draft begins Thursday night with the Eagles holding the 15th overall pick, and most observers expect the team to use the first round to add an impact defensive player. There is a deep defensive tackle class, with Fletcher Cox at the top of the list, though the Eagles would probably have to trade up to get him. The team could also look for a big, top-tier cornerback such as Stephon Gilmore or Dre Kirkpatrick after trading Asante Samuel on Wednesday, while many fans have set their hopes on linebacker Luke Kuechly.

High & Inside will be devoted each day this week to observations and information related to the NFL draft: BROWNS general manager Tom Heckert enters this year's draft with plenty of ammunition — 13 overall picks, including three in the top 37 and six in the top 118. He also told reporters that he carries the lessons learned from mistakes he made with the Eagles, when he said he was influenced by pressure from within the organization and...

A DECADE AGO, Super Bowls were being won by guys like Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer. Two of the dominant quarterbacks in the NFL were undrafted Kurt Warner and sixth-round find Tom Brady, who also won Lombardi trophies. So, the idea that you could win it all without a "franchise" quarterback - or at least without a guy who emerged from college carrying that label - got a lot of traction. But as Thursday's start of the 3-day NFL draft approaches, the diamond-in-the-rough rationale seems a bit dated.

In addition to the champs, chumps and rebuilding Redskins, the Eagles will play 10 games against non-divisional opponents. The home highlights include visits from local boys who've done good (Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco) and the first look at Cam Newton. Among the interesting road trips, the Birds play at Pittsburgh and Arizona. And because they're also visiting New Orleans, we have imposed a restriction on that town's signature drink. The Eagles have five prime-time games, with two Sundays, two Mondays and a Thursday night game.

RECENTLY, a contending East Coast football team acquired a backup quarterback with the express intent of using him as a "wildcat" weapon. The quarterback possessed rare athletic skills, but those skills often got him into as much trouble as they helped him elude. The quarterback's passing mechanics were flawed. His footwork was clumsy. His ability to decipher defenses was deficient. In addition, the quarterback brought with him baggage of his own creation; baggage that he never could shake.

Out of the race to nab Peyton Manning, the Arizona Cardinals are moving on with quarterback Kevin Kolb. The former future of the Eagles remained on the Arizona roster at a 4 p.m. deadline Friday, ensuring him a $7 million roster bonus that the team would not have paid if they had landed Manning. Coach Ken Whisenhunt issued a statement acknowledging that "acquiring Peyton Manning is no longer an option for us. " Also on Friday, the Cardinals agreed to terms on a five-year contract for offensive tackle Levi Brown, who had been released by Arizona on Tuesday in a salary cap move.

Don't be too quick to dismiss the significance of the Eagles' meeting with Robert Griffin III. It happened Thursday night at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, a few days before the Heisman-winning quarterback from Baylor ran a sizzling 4.41 in the 40-yard dash. The most common reaction to the news was that coach Andy Reid and general manager Howie Roseman were doing "due diligence" by getting to know the likely No. 2 pick in this year's draft. Given Reid's perceived need to bounce back strong from an 8-8 travesty of a season, there's no way he can afford to use a first-round pick on a slow-developing position such as quarterback.