While training, my goals were to put on some solid weight – which I definitely did, I weighed in at the combine at 314 – and get stronger, of course I did that, too. I also wanted to improve my technique in the 40-yard dash, and I feel like I did really well in that regard. All of the other guys worked hard, too. I can’t speak to what he specifically did, but Trenton Brown definitely worked really hard to lose the weight he needed to. He definitely did that.
It was a blessing when I got the combine invitation. I’ve seen a lot of my older teammates go there, and it was always something I envisioned myself doing. I was very fortunate to get the invitation, and I just wanted to go there and show what I could do and turn some heads, which I feel like I did.
Before I left for the combine, I spoke with Marcus Gilbert, who was also training down in Miami at Bommarito. My freshman year at Florida, he was one of the senior starting tackles at the time. He sat down with me and explained the whole interview process, told me that’s one thing that catches a lot of guys off guard. With his advice, I went into the combine with the right mindset and had an enjoyable experience all around.
As far as the whole experience itself in Indianapolis, a lot of people when they see it on television think it’s all physical. They see everybody run the 40s, do the combine drills and the position drills. That’s the last day. That’s the relief for the guys at my position; that’s actually the fun part. The days prior to that, you’re actually getting up at 4:30 a.m. every day. You have medical exams, x-rays, doctors checking on you, getting blood drawn. You have a bunch of psychological exams; probably four or five hours of testing they have you do to see how you may respond to certain circumstances, different types of coaching. Then you have meetings with the NFLPA, the Wonderlic test. And you’re meeting with coaches, too, all in between and throughout that process in both informal and formal interviews.
The informal interviews are in what they call a train station – it’s like an open house event with a bunch of different positions coaches in one room and you’re literally just walking around and they’re constantly grabbing guys for 15 minutes each to get as much information as they can. Between all that and the other things you have to do – the testing – it’s tough. You also have all the formal interviews, which are scheduled at certain times throughout the day in hotel rooms. You have the head coach, the position coach and sometimes all the position coaches in there. It’s just a private meeting where they ask you about your personal life and stuff like that. They may put film on the board and ask you to describe some plays. They want to see where your head is as a player, and they want to get to know you on a personal level.
Throughout the interview process, I thought I did really well. I had formal interviews with the [Seattle] Seahawks, [Miami] Dolphins and the [San Francisco] 49ers. I’ve had people give me really positive feedback. People can tell I’m real knowledgeable about the game, real well-spoken, have a high football IQ. I believe I showed that with the feedback I was getting. I feel really happy with my knowledge that I spread to the teams.
I knew one thing I was going to have to address was my injury history, sitting out the 2013 season [with a torn labrum]. I was looking forward to addressing it because I wanted them to yank on me and check my body out because I feel like the best I’ve felt in a while. That was the main thing I was looking forward to going in there because there may be a question mark about my durability, but I feel as strong and as healthy as ever. I passed all the medial tests. I got out there and ran around great and felt real athletic – after they yanked and pulled on me – I did all the workouts and didn’t pull out of anything. I had nothing to hide and nothing to protect in that regard.
