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Bulked-up Ledbetter hoping for 'that call'
by Graham Couch | Kalamazoo Gazette
Wednesday April 22, 2009, 2:45 AM
Ex-WMU tight end regaining touted speed
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/04/bulkedup_ledbetter_hoping_for.html
Jill McLane Baker / Gazette
Former Bronco tight end Branden Ledbetter bench presses 220 pounds in front of NFL scouts during WMU's pro day on March 10. Ledbetter said his effort in the weight room took away from his 40-yard dash.This is the fourth installment of a five-part series profiling WMU's NFL hopefuls as they prepare for this weekend's NFL draft. Coming Thursday: Jamarko Simmons.
KALAMAZOO -- In actuality, it's a pretty dumb question.
Branden Ledbetter gets it every day these days.
From friends and people he barely knows.
"What's going on with the draft?"
Ledbetter's standard, obvious and honest response: "I don't know."
The former Western Michigan University tight end, like all NFL prospects, won't and can't know until sometime this weekend, during or after the draft.
Whether he knows his destination during or after is the question everyone's attempting, though phrasing poorly and in vague terms.
There isn't a mock draft that could be found -- and there are very few legitimate seven-round mockups -- that has Ledbetter on its board.
The knock on Ledbetter, amazingly, is his speed -- a perhaps shortsighted analysis based on one 40-yard dash right after putting on a ton of weight.
Ledbetter said he ran the 40 at WMU's March pro day in just under 4.8 seconds, with dozens of scouts on hand.
Courtesy of Western Michigan University
A bulked-up Branden Ledbetter goes through a drill during WMU's pro day. Ledbetter, gained 30 pounds, up to 250, in two months after his senior season.He was thrilled with his effort in the weight room, but said he overused his legs "attacking" the bench press.
"My legs were gassed after that," Ledbetter said. "I felt really good inside. Then outside ... I'm usually faster, in the 4.6-range."
Ledbetter, known at WMU for his speed and hands, was clocked at 4.52 seconds while in college. However, that was when he weighed about 235 pounds.
Internal bleeding from a bruised intestine suffered Nov. 8 against Illinois caused Ledbetter to miss the final two games of the regular season and drop to 220 pounds by the Texas Bowl.
Ledbetter then, intentionally, put on 30 pounds in two months -- similar to the weight of his predecessor at WMU, Tony Scheffler, a second-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2006.
Scheffler, possibly an inch taller and weighing 254 pounds -- which he'd carried his entire senior season -- ran a 4.55 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. Louis Delmas was the only Bronco is this year's class, and the first since Scheffler and Greg Jennings in '06, invited to the league-wide combine in Indianapolis.
"Putting on the weight as quickly as I did, I could definitely feel it," Ledbetter said of his pro-day sprint at WMU's Seelye Center. "It's good weight, not just sloppy weight thrown on. ... But I did feel pretty heavy on Pro Day. I'm starting to get used to it."
He's been doing so while working out in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Ledbetter, his fiance, Julie Biondo, and 1-year-old daughter, Madisyn, are all living temporarily with his mother.
Jonathon Gruenke / Gazette
Branden Ledbetter, center, suffered a bruised intestine on the play, leading to internal bleeding. It caused him to drop 15 pounds down to 220 by the time WMU played in the Texas Bowl."Not knowing where you'll live, where you're going a week after the draft when you go to minicamp, just not having our own home puts stress on myself and my family," Ledbetter said. " ... We tell ourselves, it'll be over soon."
Biondo, who accepted Ledbetter's marriage proposal on the field after a game last season, has made herself an NFL Draft prospect of sorts, too ... well, at least she's putting in the work.
"He'll go to the beach and mark out 100s in the sand," Biondo said of Ledbetter's 100-yard sprints, sometimes as many as a dozen back-to-back. "Obviously he beats me, but I still do it all with him. ... I do all his lifts with him, too. It's fun to spend time with him."
Biondo said Ledbetter looks better than he did when he first put on the extra bulk while living and training with former teammate Jamarko Simmons at TEST Football Academy in New Jersey.
"When he got back from New Jersey, he was all puffy from all the supplements and water," said Biondo, a Howell native.
That the sudden extra weight slowed Ledbetter's 40 time goes without question. How much it hurt his draft stock remains to be seen.
"I guess I'll be able to tell you after (this weekend)," Ledbetter said. "High 4.7s is not bad for a tight end."
At the very least, WMU's all-time leader in touchdown catches among tight ends figures to be a priority free agent.
His visited with the Miami Dolphins and was en route to Oakland to meet with the Raiders late last week when he did this interview.
"Being able to experience this and meet all the teams, talking to them, practice at Miami Dolphins (facility). The Oakland Raiders want you to come to Oakland. All the training, see how far you can push your body -- it's been exciting," Ledbetter said. "The training part's been fun."
As for this Sunday?
"Go hang out with my family, enjoy the day, too. ... And hopefully expect that call."
by Graham Couch | Kalamazoo Gazette
Wednesday April 22, 2009, 2:45 AM
Ex-WMU tight end regaining touted speed
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/04/bulkedup_ledbetter_hoping_for.html
Jill McLane Baker / Gazette
Former Bronco tight end Branden Ledbetter bench presses 220 pounds in front of NFL scouts during WMU's pro day on March 10. Ledbetter said his effort in the weight room took away from his 40-yard dash.This is the fourth installment of a five-part series profiling WMU's NFL hopefuls as they prepare for this weekend's NFL draft. Coming Thursday: Jamarko Simmons.
KALAMAZOO -- In actuality, it's a pretty dumb question.
Branden Ledbetter gets it every day these days.
From friends and people he barely knows.
"What's going on with the draft?"
Ledbetter's standard, obvious and honest response: "I don't know."
The former Western Michigan University tight end, like all NFL prospects, won't and can't know until sometime this weekend, during or after the draft.
Whether he knows his destination during or after is the question everyone's attempting, though phrasing poorly and in vague terms.
There isn't a mock draft that could be found -- and there are very few legitimate seven-round mockups -- that has Ledbetter on its board.
The knock on Ledbetter, amazingly, is his speed -- a perhaps shortsighted analysis based on one 40-yard dash right after putting on a ton of weight.
Ledbetter said he ran the 40 at WMU's March pro day in just under 4.8 seconds, with dozens of scouts on hand.
Courtesy of Western Michigan University
A bulked-up Branden Ledbetter goes through a drill during WMU's pro day. Ledbetter, gained 30 pounds, up to 250, in two months after his senior season.He was thrilled with his effort in the weight room, but said he overused his legs "attacking" the bench press.
"My legs were gassed after that," Ledbetter said. "I felt really good inside. Then outside ... I'm usually faster, in the 4.6-range."
Ledbetter, known at WMU for his speed and hands, was clocked at 4.52 seconds while in college. However, that was when he weighed about 235 pounds.
Internal bleeding from a bruised intestine suffered Nov. 8 against Illinois caused Ledbetter to miss the final two games of the regular season and drop to 220 pounds by the Texas Bowl.
Ledbetter then, intentionally, put on 30 pounds in two months -- similar to the weight of his predecessor at WMU, Tony Scheffler, a second-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2006.
Scheffler, possibly an inch taller and weighing 254 pounds -- which he'd carried his entire senior season -- ran a 4.55 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. Louis Delmas was the only Bronco is this year's class, and the first since Scheffler and Greg Jennings in '06, invited to the league-wide combine in Indianapolis.
"Putting on the weight as quickly as I did, I could definitely feel it," Ledbetter said of his pro-day sprint at WMU's Seelye Center. "It's good weight, not just sloppy weight thrown on. ... But I did feel pretty heavy on Pro Day. I'm starting to get used to it."
He's been doing so while working out in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Ledbetter, his fiance, Julie Biondo, and 1-year-old daughter, Madisyn, are all living temporarily with his mother.
Jonathon Gruenke / Gazette
Branden Ledbetter, center, suffered a bruised intestine on the play, leading to internal bleeding. It caused him to drop 15 pounds down to 220 by the time WMU played in the Texas Bowl."Not knowing where you'll live, where you're going a week after the draft when you go to minicamp, just not having our own home puts stress on myself and my family," Ledbetter said. " ... We tell ourselves, it'll be over soon."
Biondo, who accepted Ledbetter's marriage proposal on the field after a game last season, has made herself an NFL Draft prospect of sorts, too ... well, at least she's putting in the work.
"He'll go to the beach and mark out 100s in the sand," Biondo said of Ledbetter's 100-yard sprints, sometimes as many as a dozen back-to-back. "Obviously he beats me, but I still do it all with him. ... I do all his lifts with him, too. It's fun to spend time with him."
Biondo said Ledbetter looks better than he did when he first put on the extra bulk while living and training with former teammate Jamarko Simmons at TEST Football Academy in New Jersey.
"When he got back from New Jersey, he was all puffy from all the supplements and water," said Biondo, a Howell native.
That the sudden extra weight slowed Ledbetter's 40 time goes without question. How much it hurt his draft stock remains to be seen.
"I guess I'll be able to tell you after (this weekend)," Ledbetter said. "High 4.7s is not bad for a tight end."
At the very least, WMU's all-time leader in touchdown catches among tight ends figures to be a priority free agent.
His visited with the Miami Dolphins and was en route to Oakland to meet with the Raiders late last week when he did this interview.
"Being able to experience this and meet all the teams, talking to them, practice at Miami Dolphins (facility). The Oakland Raiders want you to come to Oakland. All the training, see how far you can push your body -- it's been exciting," Ledbetter said. "The training part's been fun."
As for this Sunday?
"Go hang out with my family, enjoy the day, too. ... And hopefully expect that call."