The team meeting had all the intensity of early morning chemistry class, all the relevance of a lecture on the Byzantine Empire -- until Devard Darling stood up and put a human face on the issues.

	Devaughn Darling, who celebrated Florida State's entry into the Orange Bowl during the 2000 season, died during an offseason workout last year.

In an emotional appeal, the new Washington State receiver shared the story of his brother's death during football conditioning drills and encouraged his teammates to join the Collegiate Athletes Coalition. With that, the last of the Pacific-10 Conference schools signed on with the CAC, a players-rights group that was formed to lobby changes in college basketball and football with the NCAA and its member schools.

"I just told them about my brother," said Darling, who transferred from Florida State after his teammate and twin brother, Devaughn, died there during off-season workouts a year ago. "I told them, 'Sign up because in a split-second this could happen to you.' "

The NCAA has tried not to pay attention to the CAC since its formation last year, despite national media coverage that included a January report on "60 Minutes." The NCAA, citing its discomfort with the CAC's affiliation with one of the nation's largest unions, the United Steelworkers of America, canceled a scheduled meeting with the group that month during which ways to prevent further player deaths were to be discussed.

Locking up membership at every Pac-10 school could make that harder to do. Besides Washington State, the CAC recently signed up the football teams at Cal and Oregon State, giving the CAC nine football teams and five basketball teams from that conference, said Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player who is chairman of the group.

"It reflects the fact that virtually all student-athletes are for this," Huma said. "We've shown we can organize a whole conference. Now we can target student-athletes in other regions."

Huma declined to say where the CAC plans to focus its organizing efforts next, citing concern about resistance from coaches or athletics directors. While some coaches, like Washington's Rick Neuheisel, have been supportive of the group, others have taken a more cautious stance.

The recent organizing efforts come as a key NCAA body meets this week to consider several initiatives that have been a part of the CAC agenda. One of those is the elimination of the $2,000 cap on employment earnings during the school year. If the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors gives final approval this week, as expected, athletes will be allowed to earn as much as they can above the value of their scholarships as long as they abide by other NCAA rules regarding compensation.

Huma applauds that move but is critical of what he considers a lack of action on the issue of off-season workouts. Last year, Darling and two other players -- Rashidi Wheeler at Northwestern and Eraste Autin at Florida -- died during voluntary practices and conditioning drills, prompting calls for greater measures to ensure the safety of athletes.

Earlier this month, the NCAA Management Council responded by recommending that a school employee other than a coach or team staff member should be present at these workouts and armed with the unchallenged authority to cancel or change the workouts. It also recommended an expanded campaign to educate players, athletics directors and others about hydration, heat, appropriate clothing, supplements and other topics related to conditioning.

Huma said the NCAA needs to go a step further and enforce its widely ignored rules regarding so-called "voluntary" practices, in which players are expected to work out on their own. Currently, the NCAA leaves it up to individual schools to police themselves.

"If they can enforce their rules about guys taking groceries, they can enforce some rules that save lives," Huma said. "The NCAA is the only entity powerful enough to make sure these workouts are safe."

The awareness campaign is likely the first step toward a more comprehensive solution, said Michael Aguirre, chairman of the NCAA Division I Student Athlete Advisory Committee. The SAAC, which is made up of athlete representatives in all sports, not just football and basketball like the CAC, is a formal NCAA group that sits on key committees but does not vote.

"I think it's a good step in the right direction," said Aguirre, a former wide receiver and current graduate student at Arizona State. "We need to make the summer workouts safe. I'm just not sure if we can mandate (compliance)."

DeLoss Dodds, chair of the NCAA football rules committee and athletics director at Texas, said he is not in favor of stronger NCAA enforcement of practice rules. He said a better option might be to allow coaches to supervise more workouts in the months leading up to the season, enabling players to gradually get into physical condition.

"You can't just drop kids into practice in August," Dodds said. "They can't be eating bon-bons all summer then suddenly hit two-a-days."

Dodds said he would rather hear from the SAAC on issues of importance to athletes. But, he said, he has followed the growth of the CAC and "there's certainly no reason we can't listen to this group as well." The CAC says it has no intention of formally unionizing players, and collects no dues.

Aguirre questions the depth of support for the CAC on Pac-10 teams, and argues that his group is the better agent for change. He said the SAAC shares many of the same goals as the CAC, and, as a group formed and recognized by the NCAA, it has the ear of leaders in college sports.

But Aguirre lauds the CAC for raising awareness about athlete welfare. "One thing the CAC has done is force us to have our discussions more out in the public," Aguirre said.

Aguirre and Huma both spoke earlier this year before a Congressional committee that asked wide-ranging questions about NCAA practices. Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., of Brooklyn, plans to push for more hearings before Congress adjourns in August, said Jesse McCollum, an aide to Towns.

"The CAC's been very helpful," he said. "They've presented their point of view very well and given us a 2002 perspective, rather than a 1985 perspective."

Other than Pac-10 teams, the only other schools with CAC representation so far are at Hawaii, Boise State and Saint Louis University.

Darling said that making the CAC a truly national organization is not impossible, but that it will be tough. He said that at Florida State, there was little awareness of either the CAC or SAAC until his brother died during a grueling conditioning drill.

"If it doesn't hit home, you don't pay attention," he said.

Tom Farrey is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at tom.farrey@espn.com.