What it Takes to Play on Sundays

This past Saturday, I was lucky enough to have to opportunity to work the NFL REGIONAL Combine in Chicago. I emphasize "Regional". This was not the NFL combine that took place a few weeks back. The NFL regional circuit is designed to find guys who maybe played small college football or have been overlooked at the Division 1 level. It is open to any player that is out of college eligibility and is willing to pay the fee to be evaluated. Of the 84 guys we tested, maybe two might get a chance to workout with a team and be on their practice squad.

This was the first year of my five years of involvement with regional combines where the NFL was directly involved. I had the opportunity to work side by side with former NFL players, NFL scouts and a former GM. I thought I knew a lot about football - not even close! This ended up being a tremendous learning experience for me and as a result there are many of my clients who will benefit from my knowledge gained.

The day started with defensive players. After instructions and warm - ups, the players were divided into groups and rotated through the tests - 40, Vertical leap, shuttle, height/weight, and body photo picture. I was the official shuttle timer and that is where my first lesson was learned. The NFL scout told me that it would be a foul if the player misses either of the lines with his hand (which I knew). It would also be a foul if either of their feet touched the lines (which I never heard of and clearly most of the players haven't either). The scout said they were only interested in seeing guys who could control their body enough to stop their feet short of the line and reach and touch the line. A lot of them struggled to the point that they fouled 3 times in a row and received no time - which is obviously bad! The scout looked at me and said "We are not looking for guys who cannot follow simple instructions".

At the end of the day, I sat in a room with the National Director and the scouts. We discussed who would move on to the final combine in a few weeks. Here is a brief rundown of what I took from this experience. I know there is a good chance that none of the kids I train will play at the NFL level, but this is good information for any athlete looking to play at a high level of competition.

1. How big and how fast.

In the meeting, the first thing we looked at is how big was the athlete for their position and then how fast were they. There were little fast guys - NO sorry. There were big slow guys.....NO sorry not playing on Sundays. If you were not good size for your position with good speed, you were done.

2. Can you follow instructions?

Sounds easy right? Run forward around the bags, then step over them going right without crossing your feet. Then shuffle with your chest up, butt down - smack the bags. Sprint through the cones.

Many guys messed this up and were immediately disregarded. If you can't perform a simple drill to perfection, then you sure as hell won't be able to perform your assignment in practice. A scout told me many great athletes are cut every day for this reason. There is no time to make mistakes. Listen to the coach, get it done right or get out!

3. Footwork, Footwork, FOOTWORK!

This was the main coaching point I took from the experts. If you ran a good 40 and were big - but you moved like Frankenstein in the drills - they didn't want you. If you were a linebacker with huge arms and a 35 inch vertical - you better be able to move your feet and change direction. In fact, the only linebacker they kept was a guy who was not that physically imposing, but he could move in space. He did every drill perfectly. His 40 was 4.8 and his vertical was 31 - not eye opening numbers. But the scout loved him.

So yes, still hit the weights hard. But if you are not working on your footwork and your ability to stop and change direction on the dime, you better start! Just in case it needs to be said - we work on that at Soar every week.

The NFL regional combine circuit comes to Columbus on March 26 at Ohio State. I will be in LA on April 9. Visit www.combines.com for more info.