The sound and fury of this year's draft class comes courtesy of two big cats from Penn State. The roaring exploits of LB LaVar Arrington combined with the silent terror of DE Courtney Brown has created this spring's draft drama: Who goes first? Don't be surprised if it's the soft-spoken Brown. He usually arrives before the vocal Arrington, just more subtly. Check out the famous "LaVar Leap" of Halloween 1998, in which Arrington soared over the Illinois O-line to drop Elmer Hickman for no gain—a SportsCenter classic practically before LaVar hit the ground. It's not often you see a 6'3", 250-pound LB wearing a QB's number, getting Vince Carter air and making a bone-jarring tackle. But look closer and you'll see that the last person Arrington clears is Brown, already shaking things up in the backfield. In fact, the 6'5", 270-pound DE spent more time behind enemy lines than John McCain, amassing a school record 29 tackles for losses in '99 and a career PSU mark of 33 sacks. Penn State DE coach Larry Johnson says Brown's quickness gets him places early and often. "If you miss blocking him on that first move," Johnson says, "you're done." Mix in an 86-inch wingspan and the tunnel vision of a classic power rusher, and it's what coaches call "a very complete package." He dumped the contents of that package all over the Minnesota backfield in '97. With a cast protecting his dislocated left thumb, Brown beat the OT, the TE and a back before sacking QB Cory Sauter for a 10-yard loss. That move clinched a 16-15 Nittany Lion victory. Had Arrington done it, he would have gone into a frenzy. Brown doesn't roll like that. "I've just tried to be a better team player," he says in typical humblespeak. That gets a laugh from Arrington. "He can open up a little bit," he says. "I just think he's more prone to joke around guys he knows already." The vocal storm in the Penn State calm, Arrington has no such boundary. "The team that gets me will get the best player in the draft," he says. "Look at the films." Like the film from Penn State's 31-25 win at Purdue last October. In addition to a pair of sacks, including one that forced a fumble he returned for a TD, Arrington hovered like a Huey in the Indiana sky to block a 37-yard FG attempt. Johnson thinks that play may top the LaVar Leap. "That ball actually hit him in the chest," he says. Arrington's acrobatics spring from his temperament. "Some guys like the game; LaVar has a passion for it," says Johnson. "That's why big plays come natural for him." On March 16, all that ability, passion and big play history passed through a peculiar prism called Pro Scout Day. Perform the usual battery of sprints, leaps and lifts as expected, and carve a slot in the top three picks. Fail to "run well," and game-day feats are ignored. Such is the logic in today's NFL. That wasn't lost on Arrington. After the Lions' 24-0 Alamo Bowl victory, he turned his focus to predraft workouts. "I'm like Vince Carter," he says. "I'm going to show these guys something they've never seen." A week before the workout he declared, "I'm better than Peter Warrick." He worked out better, running an impressive 4.51 40 to go with his vaunted 37" vertical leap. Brown is a bit more understated: he's taken the controversial position that it would be "a great honor" to go No.1. But apparently not as great as sporting a PSU cap and gown in May. Most would-be draftees skip their last school term; Brown is taking 12 hours this semester. On Pro Scout Day, he told his profs he had to "prepare for his vocation," then walked into Holuba Hall and blazed a 4.56 40, leaped 36" and bench-pressed 225 pounds 26 times—which could put him behind the Draft Day podium before his friend Arrington. Just don't expect a long speech.

This article appears in the April 17, 2000 issue of ESPN The Magazine.