May 1, 2004
Former Baylor football standouts John Garrett and Robert Quiroga completed two days of practice with the reigning AFC North champion Baltimore Ravens Saturday in Baltimore. Both players had inked free agent deals with the Ravens earlier in the week and are hoping to make the club's 53-man 2004 roster.
Just five days after the completion of the 2004 NFL Draft, Ravens coach Brian Billick and his staff, which includes Baylor legend and NFL Hall of Famer Mike Singletary, put the club's seven draft choices and more than two dozen rookie free agents, including Garrett and Quiroga, through one workout on April 30 and two more today. It was the first of four minicamp sessions the club will conduct this spring.
The practices were similar to shorts-and-helmets sessions held during training camp, and with a large number of undrafted rookies present, the group was large enough for limited 11-on-11 drills.
Garrett, a product of Mart [Texas] High School, finished the season with 52 tackles, including 17.5 stops behind the line and 10.0 sacks en route to second-team All-Big 12 honors (Waco Tribune Herald, Big 12 Coaches, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News) and Baylor's team defensive MVP honor. His sack total ranks second in school history, just one half-sack shy of Matthew Pearson's 1998 record. A freshman All-America selection in 2000, Garrett registered eight quarterback hurries, forced two fumbles and broke up two passes.
Quiroga, a three-year starter at wide receiver and San Antonio, native, made a splash late in the season when he began returning kickoffs, and was a first-team all-league selection by both the Waco Tribune-Herald and the Dallas Morning News (and a second-team pick by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the San Antonio Express-News, third-team selection by the Big 12 coaches). Against Kansas State, his first game returning kickoffs, Quiroga established a school record with 183 yards on five returns, including a 98-yard return for a touchdown. The following week, he joined Kalief Muhammad as the only players in school history with a 100-yard kickoff return. Quiroga became only the second player in Big 12 history with two kickoff returns for touchdown in the same season.
Baltimore's roster already includes one former Bear standout in Gary Baxter, who finished the 2003 season with 72 tackles for the Ravens.
