When I got to the Browns I started to take my stuff home and someone told me there was a bag for that.
There were only 1,200 students at Elizabeth City and not many coaches or people helping the football team. Langhorne: Yeh, all my practice stuff I took home and washed but not the game uniforms. I was invited to the combine and was big enough and could run.ĭBN: Is it true you had to wash your own uniforms while at Elizabeth City State? I was drafted in the fourth-round of the USFL draft by the Oakland Invaders, but my agent said to stay with the established league. He would stay and run the JUGS machine with me and said he would be back to find me. This led to the NFL scouts showing up including Dom Anile of the Browns.
Langhorne: In 19 the USFL was searching for talented players to begin their new league and they showed up to see Bobby Futrell, a cornerback at our school. How do you assume NFL scouts were able to find you prior to the draft? He then went to the Indianapolis Colts for two years and was very productive.ĭBN caught up with Langhorne at his dealership to find out what happens to a small college player when he is introduced to Frank Minnifield and Hanford Dixon, the Fazio’s Grocery Store poster that depicted four defensive backs holding leashes to a Rottweiler, pit bull, German Shepard and a Doberman with the caption “The Last Dogs of Defense”, and if he still hates John Elway.ĭBN: Your college career was at Division II Elizabeth City State in North Carolina. He is also part of the NFL’s “uniform police” on game days at FirstEnergy Stadium.įor his playing career while with Cleveland from 1985-1991, he had 261 receptions for 3,597 yards, a 13.3 average per catch with 15 touchdowns and zero fumbles. Langhorne also does a local live television pre-game show called “Tailgate 19” for CBS affiliate WOIO hosted by Tony Zarrella with Josh Cribbs, Bob Golic and Langhorne as panelists. He lives in the Cleveland area and is a sales and leasing executive with Ganley Chevrolet in Brook Park, Ohio. Today, Langhorne has his feet in quite a few fires. The Browns’ offense became one of the league’s best passing attacks as they leaped from 25 th (1985) to fifth under Infante’s direction. Byner and Mack rushed for over 1,000 yards collectively instead of individually and became more involved in the passing game. In the second game of his second season, Langhorne was thrust into the starting role of slot receiver. All of a sudden, with Kosar’s arm strength and accuracy, the Browns morphed from this run machine into a solid passing attack as soon as Schottenheimer hired Lindy Infante away from the United States Football League (USFL) as his offensive coordinator and subsequently discovered that Newsome was an excellent receiver as well. As his receiving talents began to surface, the Browns played him more and more and instead of having 20 catches a year he would have 50 to 60 a season.Īll the while, the Browns became absolutely loaded at the wide receiver position by adding Webster Slaughter while Brennan began to get more snaps, too.
Langhorne ended up playing special teams in his rookie year while he was learning the game at the professional level. Gone for 1985 were receivers Duriel Harris and Glen Young and now this unit featured Brian Brennan, Clarence Weathers - and hopefully the young Langhorne.
The club’s tight end was three-time Pro Bowler Ozzie Newsome who was utilized more for his ace blocking skills but had receiving talents. The backfield featured Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack, both of which would surpass 1,000 yards rushing that year. Quarterback Bernie Kosar had come to Cleveland in unusual circumstances via the NFL Supplemental Draft and was just a rookie.
Schottenheimer believed in defense, plus he believed in running the ball. Head coach Marty Schottenheimer was in his first real season at the helm of Cleveland after he had gone 4-4-0 in the interim head spot after Sam Rutigliano was fired after a 1-7-0 start the year before. In 1985, the Browns took a flyer in the seventh-round on a gifted young receiver who had good size and speed with great hands and but came from a small school.