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Local roundup: Lake-Lehman baseball takes over first place

<p>It hadn&#8217;t hit Connor McGovern yet that he was a Dallas Cowboy. After all, Dallas was one of the few teams he hadn&#8217;t spoken with at the NFL combine or during the two-month run-up to the draft.</p><p>So what did the trick? Getting a message from a fellow former All-Big Ten offensive lineman.</p><p>Decorated Cowboys center Travis Frederick, a Wisconsin alum, got in touch with McGovern, the Lake-Lehman and Penn State product who was selected in the third round two weeks ago.</p><p>&#8220;The first person that reached out to me was Travis,&#8221; McGovern told reporters in Frisco, Texas, on Friday following his first workout as a pro. &#8220;It was kind of a surreal moment. All the sudden I look down at my phone and it&#8217;s (a message saying), &#8216;Hey, this is Travis Frederick.&#8217; And I was like, wait a second. This is actually happening now.</p><p>&#8220;He told me to come in, keep my head down and just get to work, basically.&#8221;</p><p>So he did.</p><p>The work began on Friday with the first day of the Cowboys&#8217; rookie minicamp. After getting a send-off at Lake-Lehman on Tuesday, McGovern flew down to Texas on Thursday before suiting up in Cowboys practice gear for the first time.</p><p>Also in attendance was another former Wyoming Valley Conference standout, GAR&#8217;s Shakir Soto, a defensive lineman who was also at the minicamp after signing with Dallas following the abrupt collapse of the Alliance of American Football.</p><p>Soto had previously signed with the Denver Broncos in 2017 as an undrafted free agent out of Pitt. He was also on a reserve/future contract with the Oakland Raiders for parts of 2018 before playing for the San Diego Fleet in the AAF.</p><p>For McGovern, however, Friday was his pro debut.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s still a whirlwind,&#8221; McGovern told the Cowboys&#8217; in-house media team following a morning walkthrough. &#8220;Two weeks went by real quick, just anticipating it so much. Just excited to get that phone call and get down here, and it&#8217;s finally the day I&#8217;m here.&#8221;</p><p>McGovern will look to carve out a role, most likely as a backup, in his rookie season. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett has said he will get a look at both guard and center &#8212; he started at both positions at Penn State &#8212; in the early going.</p><p>Frederick&#8217;s health will be an important factor. A first-team All-Pro selection and four-time Pro-Bowler, Frederick missed all of 2018 after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disease.</p><p>The Cowboys have said they expect Frederick to be ready to go when training camp opens in the summer.</p><p>Just in case, however, McGovern is looking to show he can compete at multiple spots.</p><p>&#8220;I definitely want to show my versatility. I think that&#8217;s one of my biggest attributes,&#8221; McGovern said. &#8220;Being able to play guard, center and even tackle with my height and length. So I want to be able to show that I can do all five positions out on the field.&#8221;</p><p>In the meantime, there&#8217;s the matter of getting his first pro contract worked out.</p><p>The Cowboys signed seven of their eight draft picks on Friday, with McGovern the lone exception.</p><p>Dallas&#8217; website reported that &#8220;McGovern has yet to sign, and likely won&#8217;t for a while as teams try to figure out the offset language on the final years of the contract.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Offset language&#8221; allows teams to recover money if the player is released and then signs elsewhere.</p><p>Under the NFL&#8217;s rookie wage scale, according to spotrac.com, players drafted in the third round between picks 75-92 receive a total value between $3,624,290 and $3,975,925 on their first contract, with a signing bonus in the range of $863,695 to $1,002,690. McGovern was selected No. 90 overall.</p><p>Regardless, expectations for McGovern will be high because of the standard set by the Cowboys&#8217; offensive line. The unit boasts 15 Pro bowl selections and 12 All-Pro seasons (seven first-team) between Frederick, left tackle Tyron Smith and right guard Zack Martin.</p><p>&#8220;Pure excitement for me,&#8221; McGovern said of joining the group. &#8220;Just being able to learn from the guys in front of me &#8230; and get in the classroom with them.</p><p>&#8220;(At Penn State), we used to pride ourselves watching the Dallas Cowboys&#8217; O-line just because of their chemistry and how they do everything the right way. Now just being a part of that is a great honor to me.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">GAR grad Shakir Soto (67) earned a free agent deal with the Cowboys thanks to his play in the now-defunct AAF. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_AP19130808587464.jpg</photo0><caption0>GAR grad Shakir Soto (67) earned a free agent deal with the Cowboys thanks to his play in the now-defunct AAF. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Gutierrez | AP photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_AP19130843281832.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lake-Lehman and Penn State product Connor McGovern (center) went through his first pro workouts on Friday at the Dallas Cowboys rookie minicamp in Frisco, Texas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_AP19130843281832.jpg</photo1><caption1>Lake-Lehman and Penn State product Connor McGovern (center) went through his first pro workouts on Friday at the Dallas Cowboys rookie minicamp in Frisco, Texas. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Gutierrez | AP photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

WVC alums McGovern, Soto get to work at Cowboys rookie minicamp