The Sandspur

Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Sports

Lately, all football fans have heard about is the NFL Combine. While some fans know about the Combine, most don't know a thing about what goes on there. The Combine is an invitationonly event for college players
with professional aspirations to succumb to the most rigorous testing known to man, and still see Lawrence Phillips drafted sixth overall.

The Combine includes fourteen different categories, most of which are tests, but an
interview is included too. The most prolific are the 40-yard dash, and the 225lbs bench press (NC State DT Tank Tyler logged 42 reps). The strangest is the Cybex Test, where players are strapped to a machine to test joint movement, and the least useful is the urine test, because the NFL doesn't do anything to guys who test positive anyway.

The most talked about aspect of the Combine every year is the Wonderlic Test. The Wonderlic doesn't necessarily test any one thing. However, many organizations believe it will test someone's ability to know a
playbook, and quickly read and react within that playbook when under pressure.

The Wonderlic is most scrutinized for Quarterbacks who are required to read defenses presnap and mid-play. Dan Marino
scored a 15 on the test and Vince Young recorded a 6 (according to USA Today). Marino is in the Hall of Fame and Young totaled 2,751 yards passing and running and
19 touchdowns combined in his rookie year. Marino and Young both have shown the weaknesses in the Wonderlic's armor.

One of the drills that perplex people the most is the Broad Jump. NFL talking head Mark
Schlareth said "I've never seen someone broad jump during a football game." However,
the reason NFL scouts test the broad jump is for explosiveness. What most people don't realize is that when scouting players, organizations want someone who has power, not strength. Everyone at LA Fitness is obsessed with how much they can bench press,
but a coach once told me (and I paraphrase) 'If you're good at maxing out at bench press, then you must be good at pushing
people off from on top of you in a game, and that means you're a bad football player.'

The Combine carries a lot of weight with NFL teams as to which players to draft and where
to draft them. Each year some people help their stock, some reaffirm their position, and some severely hurt their stock. At this
year's combine, Arkansas CB Chris Houston ran a 4.32 in the 40-yard dash to put his name on the map. Local high school star

Continued...

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