FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - It's been three full seasons since Laurence Maroney arrived in New England to be the dash alongside Corey Dillon's smash, and to eventually carry the mail in the Patriots backfield. Yet, as he opened his fourth pro training camp last week, the 24-year-old runner still remained mostly enigmatic.

Is he the guy who has sporadically fit the bill of a first-round draft pick, and whose flashes of brilliance have included a five-game stretch near the end of 2007 in which he racked up 550 yards on the ground? Or is he the guy who has been largely unreliable, missing 18 games due to injury in his first three seasons, and averaging less than 56 yards per tilt in those he's been able to play?

Hardly anybody seems to know what to make of him, or his future.

Except for Fred Taylor.

"He reminds me," Taylor said, "of myself when I was younger."

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