NFL Combine


Speed is the name of this game. Training sets the stage for the NFL Combine. The interview process.

The headline story en route to the NFL Scouting Combine each year is which prospects will take part in the full compliment of drills and who will choose to sit, preferring to use their Pro Day as the written exam for the NFL Draft.
This year is no different.

Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn and USC wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett are among the prominent names deciding whether or not to participate.

For Brady Quinn, who showed up in Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl but opted out of participating because of a bum knee, the NFL Combine could be the instrument he needs to get back on the map as the top quarterback on the board.

“It is feeling good,” Brady Quinn said of a knee injury that kept him out of the Senior Bowl. “I am definitely working hard to get everything a 100 percent, preparing for the Combine and my Pro Day.”

Dwayne Jarrett, meanwhile, is in the same boat as Brady Quinn. The junior entrant had a flair for the dramatic in college, playing his best games against elite competition. He has yet to decide whether he will participate and may save his workout for his Pro Day.

“I am not sure yet,” Dwayne Jarrett. “We haven’t made up our mind about that. We will definitely be there and will see what happens from there. Depending on what happens we will make a decision on that and everyone will know. I am definitely going to work out on my Pro Day.”

For others, speed is the name of the Combine game.

“As a DB or wide receiver, you always want to impress the scouts and coaches with speed, overall speed,” Texas cornerback Aaron Ross admitted. “That’s why I’m at Athlete’s Performance (API), to work on my speed and to get to the full potential that I can get it to.”

“One of my goals is to run a 4.29 or a low 4.3,” Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson explained. “Everything else will take care of itself.”

Peterson has that right. Already considered a top-ten pick, Peterson can cement top-five billing by posting those numbers.

Each player has their own goals in mind from the unconventional training they receive – better results in Indianapolis a unanimous goal.

“Athletes Performance, they really focus on the muscles and the explosion aspects of the Combine work that we’re going to be doing,” Michigan defensive tackle Alan Branch explained. “The bench-press, the technique and where you want to let the bar hit on your chest, getting that rhythm going on. And the 40, they really help you with the start mechanics and how to maintain the speed throughout the whole 40-yard dash.”

“A lot of those guys make it look a lot easier than it really is. I’m just there ... I’m struggling. I just try my best every time we do exercises like that because I don’t want to look too much like a fool.”

“The interviewing process,” Blalock said of what he wants to improve upon before the NFL Draft. “We did it somewhat at the Senior Bowl, but I imagine it’ll be a little more intense at the Combine. So I really want to get that down pat. As far as the Combine stuff, all the drills, just be as good as possible in all those, keeping in mind that they have little to nothing to do with football. So you don’t want to put in too much time with that stuff and let your game suffer.”

At the end of week-long circus, dreams will be realized or shattered by what they do on the turf in Indianapolis – that is if they decide to participate at all.