--At San Jose State, Dwight Lowery had 13 interceptions in two seasons. He had nine as a junior and four as a senior, as opponents started shying away from testing him.

But at the NFL Combine in February, Lowery ran times of 4.54 and 4.7 in the 40-yard dash, and followed those up with a mild improvement at SJSU's Pro Day in March, clocking in at 4.52.

So which of these sets of numbers are more important? Well, the fact that he fell to the fourth round, where the Jets selected him, suggests that most NFL observers paid more attention to Lowery's lack of raw speed, than his obvious ability to pick off the football.

"I don't play to my 40 time," said Lowery, who signed with the Jets eight days before the beginning of training camp. "I have good football speed."

The Jets obviously believe that, too, and coach Eric Mangini raved during the spring about Lowery's intelligence and ballhawking abilities.

"He's got very good ball skills," Mangini said, "and there's two types of ball skills. There are the kind where you can find the ball and knock it down, and there's the kind where you can find the ball and translate it into an interception. Kerry (Rhodes) has the type of ball skills where he can translate finding the ball into interceptions. Ty Law has that. Otis Smith had that. It's just a different level than just being able to locate it and knock it down, and Dwight has that, as well.

"I liked, when watching him on tape," Mangini added, "his awareness of where the receivers were, his awareness of what the patterns were, his ability to be able to take advantage of those things and instinctively play the ball. I think that's translated into the production he's had."

Lowery will get an immediate chance to challenge for playing time in extra-DB situations, and if nobody grabs hold of the right cornerback spot, it's not far-fetched to think he could wind up starting there late in the season. But he's not thinking that far ahead.

"The biggest thing is to come in and play hard and do what got you here," Lowery said. "Don't change anything that you've done to this point. You're taking coaching and do the best you can. As a person, you can't really change who you are."

When he interviewed Lowery at the Combine, Mangini was particularly impressed with the cornerback's understanding not only of his position, but the other ones on defense.

"We had some film there," Mangini recalled, "so if it was a blitz or some kind of zone blitz, he could explain what the linebackers were responsible for under these zone coverages. He saw the whole picture from the corner spot, where a lot of times those corners come in, they can explain, 'OK, I got that cat,' and that's pretty much it. But you want them to be able to see the big picture so they understand how they fit, and he did."

Soon Lowery will find out where -- and how much -- he'll fit into the Jets' rotation of defensive backs.

CAMP CALENDAR
Camp opens July 24 (first practice). Rookies reported July 16. Quarterbacks and injured veterans report July 20. Veterans report July 23.

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