Bodden Makes Browns' Regular Season Roster
Sept. 1, 2003 Duquesne University's record-setting defensive back Leigh Bodden made the Cleveland Browns' opening day roster. On Sunday, the Browns' reduced their roster to the mandated 53-man regular season limit and the Hyattsville, Md. native is one of those 53 guys. Bodden signed with the AFC North and Pittsburgh Steelers' rival Browns on Sunday, April 28, 2003, following the completion of the 2003 NFL draft earlier that day. DU alums Jeremy Conley and Josh Rue were also signed that night, Conley by the Steelers and Rue by the Miami Dolphins. Allderdice High School's Conley was released by his home team in early June. Rue, dropped by the Dolphins shortly after the preseason training camp got underway, within a week was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals. This Pittsburgh native was one of the players waived by the Cardinals this weekend. An earlier newspaper report in the Arizona Republic indicated that he had a good chance of being added to the Cards five-member practice squad. Whether or not that possibility works out will be known later this week. Bodden suffered an injury during training camp but was able to play in all four exhibition games. In the Browns' final two exhibition games, the Hyattsville, Md. native registered four tackles --- three in this past week's win over Atlanta. His three take-downs were the second-highest by any Cleveland player last Thursday. In his final season with Duquesne, Bodden was an American Football Coaches Association Division I-AA All-American and the 2002 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League Defensive Player of the Year. He also was a consensus All-American as a junior. The Northwestern High School grad finished his career with 28 interceptions, tying the previous I-AA career record since broken by fellow AFCA All-American Rashean Mathis of Bethune-Cookman. The holder of every Duquesne interception record, he picked off seven passes in his last season under Coach Gattuso including a school record-tying three vs. Iona. He was a prime reason DU's defense was ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA in 2002 in total and scoring defense and second in pass and pass efficiency defense. Bodden is the first Duquesne player in the league, as DU alum Phil Axelrod wrote in a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, "... since Al Demao completed a nine-year career in 1953 as a center/linebacker for the Washington Redskins. The Dukes had 43 players in the NFL between 1933 and '53."
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