Something unusual is happening at the University of New Hampshire.
A bumper crop of football players led by wide receiver David Ball have attracted the attention of professional football scouts.
Last week a dozen scouts put the athletes through a battery of tests.
Friday the scouts return to see how well defensive cornerback Corey Graham performs.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports these three hour sessions could be players' first taste of the big time or the closest they ever come.
This story was named 2007 Best Sports Special by the New Hampshire Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
No football player ever dreams of running the 40 yard dash.
They don't think about how many times they bench press 225 lbs either.
At least not until now.
T. 1
Sfx: music, barbells,
A dozen NFL scouts walk into the UNH weight room.
They seem more clipboard and stop watch than human.
But the players are too mesmerized by logos on the scouts windbreakers and ball caps.
Steelers, Browns, Eagles ,Packers.
The logos the young men have watched flash and clash on TV for the past ten years.
This may be the most attention these players ever get from an NFL team.
To start, they get weighed, they get measured and then they have to prove their strength.
Senior Tucker Peterson is the first up.
T.8
(just at the end of T.7- 'C'mon Tuck')
:02 Twenty-five, twenty-five, twenty-five...one, two, three....(fade down)
Peterson's shooting for 25 reps of 225 lbs.
:30 c'mon, five more.....
:50 24! Good work, good work. Good job, good job.
Next, Concordia University and New Hampshire resident Patrick Donovan.
Unlike Peterson, Donovan pushes the bar into the air swiftly, machine-like.
T.9
:18 my fucking pec, it fucking cramped up....it's alright, you don't want to hurt yourself...I've done 42 with a thicker bar
Disinterested in explanations or Donovan's frustration, most scouts file out of the weight room.
One stays back and promises Donovan he can lift later.
Tests at these pro days are standardized.
Teams take an individual's results and plug them into a database to compare to all the other available players across the country.
Coaches, players and scouts are fond of saying that how you play on the field matters most.
But UNH cornerback Corey Graham knows stakes are high on his upcoming drills.
Graham says he doesn't want to mess up something he's been dreaming about since he was a little boy.
T.26
1:13 the first time I ever thought about being in the NFL I was six years old, playing Pop Warner in Buffalo, NY. Play for the Inner-city Cardinals. And I was a running back and I got the pitch. And I shook like 3-4 people, ran for like a 70 yard touchdown and ever since that day I thought about playing in the NFL, b/c I had the talent to do it. (B/c of that one run) B/c of that one run. I thought I had enough talent to do it, at that point.....I figured if I could do it against them, I figured I could do it against anyone. I was six years old at the time, it was a crazy way to think..
Many scouts have come to UNH this year because of wide receiver David Ball.
Ball broke football legend Jerry Rice's all-time college touchdown record with 58.
But, at least according to ESPN's website, Corey Graham is a higher rated prospect.
Graham impressed pro scouts his junior year by running the 40 yard dash in 4.4 seconds.
Doing that again, he says, will help him make it to the next level...professional football.
But last season Graham broke his ankle and now runs with six screws in his foot.
So for the past month the defensive back has tried to regain his form.
5:17 I run and lift and, run in the morning, four days a week. I lift three days a week. I am running drills, three days a week. I train six days a week. Sunday is my only day off. So I am training and do everything it takes to come on the 30th.
NFL agent Drew Pittman who represents nearly 50 pro-players says Graham should do all he can to impress the scouts.
7:40 ...I don't know him, but there is a lot riding on all these guys workouts. A guy that is projected to be top ten pick, but goes out has a bad workout, and is drafted in the low first round, everybody would go, 'so what? He's still a first round pick, that's awesome. And it is, but everything is relative.
Pittman says for the best players a bad workout could cost a player millions of dollars in potential NFL contract.
For lower ranked prospects like Graham he could make $75,000-$100,000 if he is drafted....or between $5,000 and $20,000 if he isn't but still catches on with a team as a free agent.
Graham believes his fate is tied to his time in the 40 yard dash.
He jokes, if he runs a good time, the scouts would tell him he could skip the remainder of the drills.
When asked how good his times are right now, Graham gets secretive.
T.26
9:09 right now my times are getting better and better, I am not going to say what they are right now. But they are improving every day. I am not running the best I have in the past, but I wasn't coming off a broken ankle in the past. But I am getting better and better every day. Hopefully when the time comes, I am going to be where I need to be.
But if he's not where he needs to be, and he doesn't make it onto an NFL roster, he knows he'll just keep at it.
T.26
12:24 if not the NFL this year, would I try to pursue it? of course I would try to pursue it. I am not going to give it up in one shot. I wouldn't give it up like that, it's not that easy.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
