Thursday, February 25, 2010

NFL Combine Starting Now!

It's another one of my favoritest times of the year, along with the NFL Draft, the NBA Draft, March Madness, and New Years Day college football.

Forty-five minutes north of Bloomington, almost every decent NFL prospect is gathering in Indianapolis to be interviewed, weighed, measured, evaluated, worked out, and ogled by the cabal of creepy old men we know as "general managers" and "scouts." Stocks will rise, stocks will fall, and Mel Kiper Jr...

...won't sleep for days.

Four IU football players are making the trip; tackle Rodger Saffold, who was impressive at the East-West Shrine game and has seen his stock rise, defensive ends Jammie Kirlew and Greg Middleton (Kirlew projects as a LB, Middleton projects as an underachiever), and safety Nick Polk (ask Shark what he thinks of Polk in the NFL).

I'm a little surprised not to see Matt Mayberry's name on the list, or Ray Fisher for that matter! Still, every year non-combine invitees make rosters around the league. One side note: With all that defensive talent, how were we so godawful on defense last year?

Northwestern, meanwhile, is sending three players to Indy: QB Mike Kafka, corner Sherrick McManus, and defensive end Corey Wootton, who projects as a 1st-2nd rounder.

Last year, NFL.com really stepped their game up with awesome coverage of the combine on their website and TV channel. Just great TV if you've got nothing to do at four in the afternoon. You can peruse their highly informative website here, and celebrate the fact that you're not paying ESPN Insider rates for the exact same information.

3 comments:

  1. You going to Indy this year Fodor?

    Ray Ray will catch on to some NFL team if he doesn't get drafted. He can play both sides of the ball and has return skills. He has special teamer written all over him

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  2. as usual, i'll think about it but then not actually do it. However, I will be up there for the Big Ten Tourney (post coming soon on that, by the way).

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  3. It's too bad the Bears don't have a first round pick in the draft this year. Next year though!

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