At 22, free safety Bobby Blackshire is the third-youngest player in Ravens training camp. (Only offensive tackle Jared Gaither and cornerback Derrick Martin are younger.) A longer interview with Blackshire will be published in tomorrow’s paper, but here’s a preview with the two-time first-team All-Conference USA choice and three-year starter at Tulsa.

Despite his success at Tulsa and the invitation to Ravens training camp, Blackshire was very close to quitting football in spring 2005. "It was a multiple of things that almost made me quit," he said. "But I had some good people around me who told me not to quit. I have to give credit to my mom, my coach and my girlfriend."

Blackshire said he felt conflicted about whether to continue his career. "I didn’t really want to quit, but I had to worry about school," he said. "I was thinking about it for one day and then the next day, I was back out there playing because I love to play. I don’t know. I guess I had a bad day."

In a summer of sequels, Blackshire said there is one sequel that he refuses to watch. "I haven’t even watched ‘The Grudge 2," and I won’t watch it," he said, calling "The Grudge" the scariest movie he has ever seen. "That was crazy."