05/28 — The biggest news out of head coach Eric Mangini's news conference this morning was that top draft pick Vernon Gholston is still more than a week away from being permitted by NFL rules to report to the Jets.

"The first day Vernon's going to be allowed to be here is June 6," Mangini said. "The thing we can control is calling him, getting him information, reviewing the information. We have a pretty good system in place in keeping him up to date and prepping him as much as we can. It's not the same as being here, but it's really the best we can do based on the way the rules are set up. It's not ideal for him or us."

Ohio State's trimester setup is the reason Gholston is still a no-go. The NFL and the NCAA have a long-standing agreement not to have rookies report to their teams until their colleges are about to hold graduation ceremonies for the current semester. And OSU's "spring quarter commencement" is set for June 8.

We recall that Buckeyes Nick Mangold and Mike Nugent were also delayed in coming to the Jets and we hear that Delaware QB Joe Flacco is in a similar holding pattern in reporting to the Ravens.

So while all the other Jets rookies are at Weeb Ewbank Hall working out with the veterans at OTA practices, including two media-availability sessions today and Thursday, Gholston isn't expected in until the second day of the June 5-7 full-squad minicamp.

"You'd love to have him here," Mangini said, "but there's nothing we can do about it."

The coach also talked about Musa Smith, the former Baltimore backup RB whose signing was announced late Tuesday.

"Musa is a guy we've looked at," he said. "Where he brings value and flexibility is on special teams. He's done a lot of special teams through the course of his career. He's another guy where we have flexibility, whether we want to play him at running back or fullback, and he's added depth to the special teams competition."

On another front, ex-Patriots OLB Rosevelt Colvin's mentioned on Sirius NFL Radio this week that the Jets and Colts are interested in signing him. Mangini said the Jets haven't worked him out, although he's obviously familiar with Colvin from working with him for three seasons up in Foxboro.

One reason for any interest in Colvin: "His mom makes really good cakes. Food flexibility is always good for the head coach."

And Mangini said there is nothing new on the Chris Baker front.

"I haven't spoken with him since we last talked," he said of his previous news conference last Thursday. "I owe him a call. I'll either text him or call him tomorrow. Texting is my new thing."

Now it's out to practice.