FOXBORO – At 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds, Jermail Porter certainly looks like an offensive lineman.

But here’s news from the Looks Can Be Deceiving Dept.: Porter has never played a down of competitive football.

The former Kent State Golden Flash was an All-America wrestler, finishing sixth in the heavyweight division at the NCAA Championships in March. But while he had no background on the gridiron, Porter said on Friday that he began thinking of jumping to football last year. Likely thanks to New England defensive coordinator Dean Pees’ connection to the school – Pees was head coach at Kent State for several years – Porter finds himself given a chance with the Patriots.

“This is a whole new world,” he said Friday morning after his first football practice. “It’s a heck of an opportunity, and I’m going to try to make the most of it.”

If Porter can pull off the change of sport, he will be following in the footsteps of Stephen Neal. Neal also never played football in high school or college, and has been the Pats’ starting right guard over the last couple of seasons.

“I’ve watched wrestling film of him,” Porter said of Neal. “This is one avenue he took, and it seemed like it would be a possible transition for me.”

Bill Belichick said scouts find guys like Porter by turning over a lot of rocks, and “sometimes you find one in a place where you don’t expect to find one.”

Porter has a long climb ahead of him, however.

“We just have to see how it goes here with Porter. Right now he’s working on offense, but [the coaches] will flip him over [to defense] and just see how it goes,” Belichick said. “We’re just taking it day by day and see how he does in different drills and in different situations. I don’t really have any expectations other than as long as he’s improving, we’ll keep working with him and see maybe where the best fit for him may be. But I really don’t know that until we’ve had a chance to see him play a little bit. He’s certainly a good looking kid; he’s got a good frame, he’s got good balance, we know that from wrestling.”

After Friday’s second practice, Porter spent time with O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia and the blocking sled, learning to fire off the line and punch his hands up into an opponent’s chest.

Seymour’s wife cleared

The publicist for Richard Seymour sent an e-mail to reporters on Friday announcing that Tanya Seymour, the defensive end’s wife, had been cleared of lynching charges tied to her Jan. 29 arrest.

Tanya Seymour was arrested on charges that she participated in a group assault on two women early New Year’s Day, authorities said. In the state of South Carolina, the law stipulates that two or more people causing physical injury is considered second-degree lynching.

Said attorney Neal Lourie: "We felt that once all the particulars of the case were heard in open court that Mrs. Seymour would be cleared of any wrongdoing. She has maintained her innocence from the beginning.”

The Seymours are South Carolina natives; in a statement through publicist Denise White, Richard Seymour defended his wife in a statement: “These claims aren’t even who we are, we are a Christian family and are glad the truth prevailed. My wife is an amazing mother and person and her Christian character speaks for itself. We are glad we can finally put this behind us.”

Said Tanya Seymour: “I’m glad that the truth has now come to light. It has been a long couple of months knowing that I was innocent and waiting for a court date. I’m relieved this ordeal is now over.”

Belichick on Smith signing

While this weekend is mostly about the rookies, Friday was the first chance reporters had to talk with Belichick since the news broke that New England had acquired tight end Alex Smith in a trade with the Buccaneers. The Pats sent an undisclosed draft pick in return.

“That’s something that’s kind of been … I don’t want to say in the works, but it’s been out there for a little while,” Belichick said. “It just felt like, given the player, the situation and what the compensation was, it was something we wanted to do, and we feel like Alex is a good player. He’s done a lot of different things for Tampa Bay, in the passing game, in the running game, pass protection. [He’s] a smart guy, athletic. In [former Tampa Bay coach Jon] Gruden’s offense, you see him doing a lot of different things, lined up in different spots: playing on the line, playing off the line, playing in motion, playing split out, different kinds of routes they run and so forth.

“We’ll see how all that comes together, but we felt like, at this point, it would give us good depth at that position. We felt like the compensation was fair, so we went ahead and did it.”

A third-round draft pick in 2005, Smith joins a tight end group that includes Chris Baker, Benjamin Watson, David Thomas, Brad Listorti and Tyson DeVree.

Extra points

In all, there were 30 players taking part in Friday’s sessions: 12 draftees, five rookie free agent signees, three players currently on the New England roster who have never played in a regular-season game (Listorti, LB Angelo Craig and OL Ryan Wendell), and 10 players in on tryout. … Third-round draft pick Brandon Tate was in shorts and a jersey like the rest of the players, but did not take part. He continues to rehab his right knee after tearing his ACL last October.

smanza@projo.com