Written by Andrew Mahoney at The BostonGlobe.com
The Patriots acquired Barkevious Mingo Thursday. Here’s a closer look at the linebacker.
■ His first name is pronounced bar-KEY-vee-us. His mother, Barbara, combined the first three letters of her name with a name she liked — Kevious, when she named him. His nickname is is KeKe (pronounced Key-Key).
His father, Hugh, named his two older brothers Hugh and Hughtavious.
■ While attending high school in West Monroe, La., he captured the Class 5A state title in the 400-meter run. Coaches at LSU initially considered playing him at safety before settling on linebacker.
■ As a sophomore in college, he played on the 2011 LSU team that reached the national championship game (LSU lost to Alabama). He played in all 14 games, including four starts, and led the team in tackles for a loss with 15. He was second on the team with eight sacks.
■ Entering his junior season, he was rated as the No. 3 player in the draft by Mel Kiper of ESPN.
■ He was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the sixth overall pick of the 2013 draft. After registering five sacks in his rookie season, he had just two in his second year, and zero last year.
■ According to his bio with the Cleveland Browns, he enjoys working with children and has volunteered at numerous youth football camps and clinics.
■ He collects and builds model RC cars.
■ After each of his first two NFL seasons, he traveled to Brazil in Feb. 2014 and Turkey in Feb. 2015 in support of tight end Gary Barnidge’s American Football without Barriers program, which provides educational football camps in counties that don’t have football.
■In a loss to the Denver Broncos last season, he picked off Peyton Manning in overtime and nearly set up a Cleveland win.
■ He’s considered undersized for a linebacker, and weighed just 227 pounds at the end of last season, according to his agent. He decided not to participate in Barnidge’s progam this offseason to prepare for the 2016 season.
Cleveland.com reported that, in an effort to gain some muscle, he worked with Vickie Gates, a former world-class body builder. Mingo moved into her house, and worked out twice a day while consuming 5,892 calories each day. He returned to the Browns in April weighing approximately 250 pounds.
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