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KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Orakpo: Money player in more ways than one


SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010


PHOTOS BY TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST Brian Orakpo (98) and Clinton Portis greet students at Claremont Immersion Elementary, which was honored for a commitment to health and fitness. Orakpo told the kids his favorite food is pineapple. orakpo from D1 It’sasimilarapproachthatCAA


uses for most of its young stars, from Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons to rookie SamBradford of the St.LouisRams. “I think you have to be careful


going into year one,” saysHoward Skall, Orakpo’s marketing agent with CAA. “Even if you have a guy who went high in the draft and played at a national school like Rak did, you also want to have themestablished inthe localmar- ketplace.Youdon’twant themout theretoomuchbeforethey’veever set foot onthe field.” Says Orakpo: “It would have


been too much of a burden last year. Itwould’vebeentoomuchon my plate.” He’s been busy this season,


though. In addition to a handful of preexisting deals, Orakpo re- cently launched a Web site (Bri- anOrakpo.com) with a blog, joinedTwitter (@rak98), signeda local sponsorship deal with Veri- zon, agreed to take over for for- mer Redskins quarterback Jason Campbellhosting a golf fundrais- er for theLeukemia andLympho- ma Society and began making preparations for his first football camp,whichis scheduledfornext spring. He’s trying to get out in the community more, too — he made an appearance at a Tysons Corner mall Saturday after prac- tice and last Tuesday paid a visit to an Arlington elementary school prior to the milk mous- tache photo shoot forDairyMan- agement Inc. Most NFL players can’t aspire


to the national deals that put the likes of PeytonManning and Tom Brady on television commercials everyweek. But that doesn’t mean there


isn’t money to be made. The vast majority of endorsement deals in sportsareof theregionalandlocal variety, experts say. “The really big ones, those are


rare,” says Stephen Greyser, a se- nior professor at Harvard Busi- ness School, where he specializes in marketing, sports and brand- ing. “Those are for a certified big star or someone who flashes across the sky like ameteor.Most aren’t going to get those kinds of deals.The vastmajority of players getnothing.Or very little.” Because NFL careers don’t last


long, Orakpo knows now is the time to strike, which is why he spent part of his day off last week with a stripe of yogurt smeared acrosshis lip. “Football can set you for life,”


Orakpo says, “or you can have money or fame for three or four years and then go back to square one.Youhave to take advantage of it and be smart with your deci- sions.”


Preparing himself A couple of hours prior to the


photo shoot, Orakpo stepped out of a black SUV at Arlington’s Cla- remont Immersion Elementary, which the NFL was honoring for its commitment to health and fit- ness. Orakpo and Redskins run- ning back Clinton Portismetwith students at an assembly, where one student asked the players to name their favorite foods. Portis chuckled, answering


pork and Frosted Flakes. Orakpo said, “My favorite foodhas tobe— Howmany of youlikepineapple?” The students cheered and hands shot to the ceiling. “That’s my favorite.” Orakpo has actually been pre-


paring for this career step for several years.At theUniversity of Texas, players on the football team were taught how to deal withthemediaandspentmanyof their Fridays visiting local hospi- tals. Before the 2009 NFL draft,


CAAsentOrakpo toAthletes’Per- formance, a comprehensive training center inArizona, topre- pare for the NFL Scouting Com- bine, where college football play- ers performskill tests beforeNFL coaches. But the training there extended beyond the field. Orak- po also sat through a classroom session called “Brand U Media Training.” Don Yaeger, a former Sports


Illustratedreporterwhonowruns 180 Communications, has taught the course for four years,meeting with many of football’s top pros- pects, includingthepast fourNo. 1 overall draft picks. “You can always tell, the higher


they are on the draft board, the more they’re paying attention to ways they can affect their off-the- field revenue,”Yaeger says. Prospects at Athletes’ Perfor-


mance generally understand that their playing contract is slotted


make big game-changing plays, you can be verymarketable, even without being an offensive skill positionguy.” For NFL players, the bulk of


their income will always be their playing contract. When the Red- skins made Orakpo the No. 13 overallpickinthe2009draft, they gavehima five-yeardealworthup to $20 million. This season, be- tween his base salary and bonus- es, he will pocketmore than $7.8 million. Aside from the game’s elite


players, most endorsement deals will bring in five- to six-figure paychecks. Skall searches for authentic re-


Many believe that Orakpo has a face for television, being that he is clean cut, engaging and wants to give back to the community. ITo see more photos from a day in the life of Redskins defensive lineman Brian Orakpo, go to washingtonpost.com/redskins


and will only earn them in the ballpark of a 3 percent increase from a similarly-drafted player the prior year. Yaeger explains to them that it’s the off-the-field en- deavors that increase their earn- ing potential. He asks each player to come up


with fivewords that describe how they’d like to be perceived by fans, and then teaches players how to incorporate those concepts into their interviews and public ap- pearances. “Brian was one of those guys


who was as thoughtful about this as anyone I’ve worked with,” Yae- ger says. Orakpo’s five words: account-


able, competitor, humble, leader, versatile. “Brian was great,” Yaeger says.


“Hewas one of the guyswho real- ized they can impact their off-the- field revenue by having a brand that other people want to be alignedwith.”


A product that fits Following the school visit, Or-


akpo headed to Redskins Park, where a crew was waiting in the team’s television studio to record some audiospots.OneofOrakpo’s new deals is with Dairy Manage- ment Inc., and they had an after- noon to record audio, shoot still photos and record video. Wearing jeans and a hooded


sweatshirt with a Pro Bowl logo, Orakpo sat behind a microphone


and read a script. His deep voice booms like BarryWhite crooning througha tuba. “I drink chocolate milk as a


great way to fuelmy body. It con- tains important nutrients for strong muscles. This is Brian Or- akpo and I loooove chocolate milk.” Orakpo hopes his brand trans-


lates to companies and organiza- tions that care about health, hard work and cleanliving. “We’re looking for somebody


whowouldbe apositive rolemod- el for kids, someone who’s clean cut, someone who’s engaged, wants to give back to the commu- nity, might be willing to make a school appearance or talk with kids,” says Isabel Maples of the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, who was helping supervise the photo shoot. Skall has been busyworking on


Orakpo’sbehalf.Asarookie,Orak- po had a deal with Nike, a Pepsi agreement and contracts with a handful of trading-card compa- nies. Skall is trying to build from there, and says with any player, that means there’s a lot of cold calls and a lot of rejection. It’s often a bigger challenge


witha defensive player. “It’s a quarterbacks league,” he


says. “Youlookat thequarterback, protecting the quarterback and on defense, guys who can get to the quarterback. So if you’re a guy who can get the quarterback,


AUTO RACING Busch says he’s mature enough to win a future title BY JENNA FRYER


avondale, ariz. — Kyle Busch’s latest brush with NA- SCAR cost him $25,000, and proved he’s still a work in prog- ress when it comes tomaturity. But Busch bristles at the no-


tion that his antics and outbursts have kept him from winning a Sprint Cup championship. Busch enters Sunday’s Kobalt


Tools 500 at Phoenix Interna- tional Raceway ranked seventh


in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. He’s a bystander in the three-driver title race featuring Denny Ham- lin, his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Kevin Harvick and Jim- mie Johnson, the four-time de- fending champion. “This year, I feel like we were


in contention up until we had a couple of bad races,” Busch said. The first bad race was Kansas,


when David Reutimann inten- tionally wrecked him as retalia- tion for earlier contact. Then his


engine failed at California, and finally there was last weekend’s meltdown at Texas. Busch spun early in the race


and had to go to pit road for some quick repairs. NASCAR said he was speeding in his push to beat the pace car back onto the track, and he was ordered back to pit road for a penalty. While serving the penalty, he


gestured obscenely to the NA- SCAR official guarding his car, and the one-finger salute was captured live on ESPN. NASCAR


called him for unsportsmanlike conduct, parked him for two laps, and Busch never recovered while finishing 32nd. Busch apologized after the


race for his behavior, which in- cluded a rant on his team radio, and reiterated his contrition af- ter NASCAR fined him and placed him on probation through the end of the year. Now he’s at Phoenix, trying to


put it all behind him. “I feel real comfortable with NASCAR officials,” Busch said. “I


have a great relationship with quite a fewof them. I feel like the time that I’ve builtwith themhas been really good. It’s not some- thing where the whole relation- ship is tarnished in oneweekend. “I’ve built a great relationship


with those guys where now I’m not on such great grounds, but I’m a lot better than what I was, say, four years ago.” Busch has made strides since


2007,when despite his enormous talent, Hendrick Motorsports tired of the tantrums and shock-


Kobalt Tools 500 When: 3 p.m. TV: ESPN. Where: Phoenix Int’l Raceway.


ingly fired himtomake roomfor Dale Earnhardt Jr. Busch is up front in acknowl-


edging hismisconduct. But don’t tell himthat’s why he hasn’t won a title. “Whether or not [my maturi-


ty] is the cause for me not being able to contend for a champion- ship, I would have to disagree 100 percent,” he said. “I won a Nationwide championship last year being the same person I am.”


— Associated Press


lationships – products and servic- es that Orakpo actually uses and wouldwant to endorse. The key is finding the perfect fit and being creative. “I think thewhole idea of a sack


of groceries and quarterback sacks—theremightbe something there,” Skall adds. “You can play off that, I think.” Orakpo knows that to succeed


off the field, he needs to keep excelling on it. And Skall knows thathis clientwouldbe evenmore marketable if the Redskins can win and thrust Orakpo onto a national stage. “Especiallywhenyou’re talking


more from a local and regional level to becoming more national, it certainly helps to have the team success,”hesays. “Veryfewplayers have been able to be real relevant froma nationalmarketing stand- point without being on a success- ful team.” Part of brand-building also en-


tails work in the community. Or- akpo is eager to launch his own charitable foundation. Six of his teammates—Lorenzo Alexander, London Fletcher, DeAngelo Hall, Donovan McNabb, Santana Moss and Portis — already have theirs, andOrakpois intheearlystagesof deciding what cause he’d want to support and what activities he’d have associatedwithit. Now 24 years old, Orakpo says


he has a different perspective on life and on sport in his second season.Lastoffseason,hegotmar- ried and laterhad a baby. “People look at us as rolemod-


els, see us on the field, and Iwant to showthemanother side—that we’renot just jocks,not just touch- downs and sacks,” he says. “Iwant


to give them a different perspec- tive on who we are and what we do.”


‘Unlimited potential’ Downstairs at Redskins Park,


next to the team’s cafeteria is a racquetball court. On this day, though, it’s been turned into a photo studiowith lights scattered about and a white backdrop near the back wall. Milk, cereal and other props fill one table off to the side. Orakpo never imagined that


he’d be shooting photos with a milk moustache. Since 1993, nu- merous athletes have sported the moustache in advertisements, from Alex Rodriguez and LeBron James to Andy Roddick and Mc- Nabb. This shoot isn’t technicallypart


of the long-running “Got Milk?” campaign, but it will be used in conjunction with the NFL’s “Fuel Up to Play 60,” the league’s health and fitness initiative. Orakpo is dressed in full uni-


form, from his gold game pants and burgundy jersey to his shoul- der pads.He smiled oncommand, flexed his giant biceps. Props came and went. At one point, a carton of chocolate milk ap- peared. “Chocolate milk?” Orakpo said


with a chuckle. “But I got a white moustache.” It was quickly re- placedwitha regularmilk carton. Thephotoshootwasjustanoth-


er step. He has big plans both on andoff the field. “Whenit’sall said in done, I’d like to be financially stable,”hesays, “sothat if Iwant to do different stuff, it’s stuff that I want to do,not that Ineed to do.” To do that, he’ll need to keep


playing at a high level,maintain a strong connection with fans and help his teamreturn to a place of prominence intheNFL. “Inmy opinion,he’ll be the face


of the Redskins and one of the building blocks and cornerstones for the next decade here,” Skall says. “He has unlimited potential from a marketing standpoint lo- cally. Nationally, it’s more challeng-


ing.The teamhas tostartwinning and he has to do his part — keep makingProBowls,keepplayingat a high level. If that happens, there’s some real potential. The sky’s the limit.” maeser@washpost.com


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