AKRON, Ohio — When he arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine and someone handed him a shirt that read "LB 7," University of Pittsburgh linebacker H.B. Blades couldn't believe his good fortune.

That was the number his uncle Al Blades wore at the University of Miami.

H.B.'s father, Bennie, and his uncle Brian were more successful in the pros, playing a combined 21 years for the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks. Uncle Al, however, was the biggest influence on him.

When Uncle Al played free safety at the University of Miami, H.B. hung out there every summer, meeting future teammates like Santana Moss and Dan Morgan. H.B. said being around Uncle Al made him a better person.

It was Uncle Al who told H.B. not to follow the same route from Plantation (Fla.) High School to Miami that the other three had taken. Uncle Al told H.B. to go somewhere else to make a name for himself.

In March 2003, when H.B. had heeded that advice and was about to leave for Pitt, Al Blades died in a car accident after celebrating his 26th birthday.

So Horatio Benedict Blades thought it couldn't have been more perfect that he embarked on the next phase of his football life wearing No. 7.

"He supported me in everything I did in life and his memory is still with me," H.B. Blades said. "I thought it was a sign of good luck when I came here with the number 7. I was like, `He's taking care of me right now."'

Bennie Blades, a safety who was the co-winner of the Thorpe Award in 1987, was Detroit's third overall pick in 1988. H.B. won't go anywhere near that high in this weekend's NFL Draft. ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. called him "a mid-Day 2 guy."

"Blades is a heckuva college player," Kiper said. "Will he be engulfed a little bit by the centers and guards in the NFL, getting through blocks? We'll have to wait and see on that."