---

FOXBORO - Season No. 15 is about to start, yet Rodney Harrison said he is approaching it with the enthusiasm of an athlete a decade younger.

But he can't turn back the clock, and he knows it.

"The years are really winding down," the Patriots' veteran safety said Friday, marking the start of the club's full-squad minicamp. "So you learn to appreciate it all that much more."

It's tough to see Harrison appreciating one of the moments from last year's final game, his futile efforts to dislodge the ball from the grip of the New York Giants' wide receiver, David Tyree, on their final possession, leading to Eli Manning's 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left to play.

Harrison said that after a month or two of "rest" following the Patriots' disappointing 17-14 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, he was feeling ready to return to battle. But he refused to call the post-defeat funk a "pity party." "I don't think you have a pity party when you give everything and lay it all out on the line," he said. "You give everything, you sacrifice things ... things that you wouldn't normally sacrifice. So it's no pity party for me, because I laid it all out on the line."

Harrison said he didn't dwell upon the past, either the defeat in the Super Bowl or the lingering effects of the "Spygate" controversy that dogged the franchise throughout the offseason.

"For the most part, it's been a good offseason," he said. "The guys have enjoyed themselves and they've spent some time away from football that you have to have to get that mental break. But we're coming back focused and we're ready for the season."

Harrison wasn't about to offer any predictions for his 15th NFL season, either.

"Today, we have an opportunity to get better for today," he said. " I can't make predictions for the future and what's going to happen ... we just have to keep getting better day by day, and that's always been our perspective."

Belichick's view

For the head coach, each preseason camp is part of the process of building a team from scratch - and this camp is no different, Bill Belichick said Friday.

"You've got to start from Square One, no matter where you are ... offense, defense, special teams," Belichick said. "Even the players that have been here, we've got to start it from the bottom and build it up brick by brick."

Belichick estimated he was at the eighth "brick," given that his team has had eight organized practices to date.

"We've had the passing camps, we've got the offseason program ... there's a lot of individual work that's gone into these group camps," he said, "and now we're able to put some things together as a team, and in units we weren't able to do on an individual basis." Quick kicks

Belichick expressed pleasure over the Celtics' 98-88 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA finals, but regret that he wasn't able to attend after having been present for several other playoff games. "We had some early stuff this morning, meetings and all, and I didn't want to be late for our big day today. I thought I'd better be here on time," he said ... Offensive tackle Nick Kaczur was present and running drills, despite his having been arrested in April for possession of illegal pain-killers, and his subsequent participation in a federal sting operation to apprehend his supplier. Kaczur declined interview requests ...

Tedy Bruschi had a scary moment late in the Friday morning workout; during one of the 11-on-11 drills, the veteran inside linebacker crumpled to the ground and stayed down for a few minutes, and appeared to be favoring his right leg when he finally got to his feet. But after a few minutes, Bruschi was back in the drills - one player called out, "Paul Pierce!" as an allusion to the Celtic captain's knee injury and dramatic return to play Thursday night - and he knocked down the next pass to draw a rousing cheer from his teammates ... Harrison said he hadn't heard from fellow ex-Charger (and current free agent) Junior Seau regarding the latter's plans for this season. "I paged him a couple of times, but he didn't call me back," Harrison said, "Junior is a warrior and he loves football, so if he wants to play, he'll probably play. He's probably too busy surfing ... surfing is a priority over everyone." ...

Offensive guard Gene Mruczkowski, who spent all of last year with the Dolphins and played in 15 games, re-signed with the Patriots and was present for the camp. He played in 18 games for the Patriots from 2003-06.