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Hull ready to prove his worth to scouts
The game slowed down for Josh Hull in 2009. Suddenly, he learned to not only spot but anticipate every movement on the field, little things like the offensive tackle on the other side of the play pulling along the line. He started meeting running backs at the hole instead of chasing them.
http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1803460.html
CDT/Nabil K. Mark
Josh Hull in introduced before the game as part of senior day. Penn State beat Indiana 31-20 November 14, 2009. CDT/Nabil K. Mark
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Football is about to get fast again for the former Penns Valley and Penn State linebacker, and he intends to keep up.
Hull, the last of the Nittany Lions’ three starting linebackers to receive an invitation to next week’s NFL Combine, has spent the last few weeks at TEST Football Academy, a training facility in Martinsville, N.J., that specializes in improving players’ speed.
Nearly four dozen NFL hopefuls, including former Penn State offensive tackle Dennis Landolt and one-time Nittany Lion wide receiver Chris Bell, are training in Martinsville. The group also includes players like Temple defensive end Junior Galette, Michigan safety Stevie Brown, running back LaMarcus Coker (who played at Hampton after leaving Tennessee) and Rutgers tight end Shamar Graves. Few, if any, will hear their names called on the first day of April’s NFL Draft. But most have the ability to get drafted and, eventually, signed — they just need to catch the attention of a few scouts at the combine.
Hull figured his chance to impress scouts would come during Penn State’s Pro Day in mid-March. But late last month, he got a call from the NFL Players Association, who informed him that he had been on the 33-man “bubble list” composed of players who might or might not receive invites depending on how many underclassmen declared for the draft.
The former walk-on became Penn State’s sixth combine invitee, joining fellow linebackers Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee, defensive tackle Jared Odrick, quarterback Daryll Clark and tight end Andrew Quarless.
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“It was awesome,” Hull said Thursday morning. “I spent about an hour and a half calling all my friends to let them know.”
Hull had his sights set on the NFL even before the beginning of the season, when he made a team-high 116 tackles, 41 more than he recorded the previous year. The combine invite merely served as a double shot of confidence and ratcheted up his workout intensity.
“It kind of speeds up the process,” Hull said. “It forces me to become more meticulous about everything I’m doing.”
How quickly a linebacker can diagnose a play or fight off a blocker means very little at the combine, held from Feb. 24 to March 2 in Indianapolis. The measurable drills — bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, shuttle run and, of course, the 40-yard dash — are what shoots a prospect up or down the draft boards. College players spend the weeks between the end of their season and the combine on workouts designed specifically to improve their times or numbers in those drills.
Hull, who put up 225 pounds 28 times last summer, isn’t worried about the bench press, nor the three-cone or shuttle runs — “I’m a linebacker,” he said, “that stuff is second nature to me” — but does believe he has some ground to make up in the 40.
For the majority of the season, the 6-foot-3 Hull weighed between 235 and 238 pounds. He hopes to be right at 235 for the combine, turn in an impressive 40 time, then add five pounds for Penn State’s Pro Day to show he can still move at a higher weight.
NFL Draft Scout currently has Hull rated as the 16th-best inside linebacker available. Like Lee (the No. 4 inside linebacker on that list) and virtually all of the linebackers who have recently gone from Penn State to the pros, Hull doesn’t care if he ends up in a 4-3 or a 3-4 defensive scheme (he played all three positions in Penn State’s 4-3 scheme), only that he finds his way to training camp.
“I’m really more worried about getting the opportunity and proving to people I can play at that level,” he said.
The faster, the better.
Jeff Rice covers Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4609 or jrice@centredaily.com.
Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1803460.html#ixzz0g0uW5His
The game slowed down for Josh Hull in 2009. Suddenly, he learned to not only spot but anticipate every movement on the field, little things like the offensive tackle on the other side of the play pulling along the line. He started meeting running backs at the hole instead of chasing them.
http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1803460.html
CDT/Nabil K. Mark
Josh Hull in introduced before the game as part of senior day. Penn State beat Indiana 31-20 November 14, 2009. CDT/Nabil K. Mark
View larger
Football is about to get fast again for the former Penns Valley and Penn State linebacker, and he intends to keep up.
Hull, the last of the Nittany Lions’ three starting linebackers to receive an invitation to next week’s NFL Combine, has spent the last few weeks at TEST Football Academy, a training facility in Martinsville, N.J., that specializes in improving players’ speed.
Nearly four dozen NFL hopefuls, including former Penn State offensive tackle Dennis Landolt and one-time Nittany Lion wide receiver Chris Bell, are training in Martinsville. The group also includes players like Temple defensive end Junior Galette, Michigan safety Stevie Brown, running back LaMarcus Coker (who played at Hampton after leaving Tennessee) and Rutgers tight end Shamar Graves. Few, if any, will hear their names called on the first day of April’s NFL Draft. But most have the ability to get drafted and, eventually, signed — they just need to catch the attention of a few scouts at the combine.
Hull figured his chance to impress scouts would come during Penn State’s Pro Day in mid-March. But late last month, he got a call from the NFL Players Association, who informed him that he had been on the 33-man “bubble list” composed of players who might or might not receive invites depending on how many underclassmen declared for the draft.
The former walk-on became Penn State’s sixth combine invitee, joining fellow linebackers Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee, defensive tackle Jared Odrick, quarterback Daryll Clark and tight end Andrew Quarless.
Advertisement
“It was awesome,” Hull said Thursday morning. “I spent about an hour and a half calling all my friends to let them know.”
Hull had his sights set on the NFL even before the beginning of the season, when he made a team-high 116 tackles, 41 more than he recorded the previous year. The combine invite merely served as a double shot of confidence and ratcheted up his workout intensity.
“It kind of speeds up the process,” Hull said. “It forces me to become more meticulous about everything I’m doing.”
How quickly a linebacker can diagnose a play or fight off a blocker means very little at the combine, held from Feb. 24 to March 2 in Indianapolis. The measurable drills — bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill, shuttle run and, of course, the 40-yard dash — are what shoots a prospect up or down the draft boards. College players spend the weeks between the end of their season and the combine on workouts designed specifically to improve their times or numbers in those drills.
Hull, who put up 225 pounds 28 times last summer, isn’t worried about the bench press, nor the three-cone or shuttle runs — “I’m a linebacker,” he said, “that stuff is second nature to me” — but does believe he has some ground to make up in the 40.
For the majority of the season, the 6-foot-3 Hull weighed between 235 and 238 pounds. He hopes to be right at 235 for the combine, turn in an impressive 40 time, then add five pounds for Penn State’s Pro Day to show he can still move at a higher weight.
NFL Draft Scout currently has Hull rated as the 16th-best inside linebacker available. Like Lee (the No. 4 inside linebacker on that list) and virtually all of the linebackers who have recently gone from Penn State to the pros, Hull doesn’t care if he ends up in a 4-3 or a 3-4 defensive scheme (he played all three positions in Penn State’s 4-3 scheme), only that he finds his way to training camp.
“I’m really more worried about getting the opportunity and proving to people I can play at that level,” he said.
The faster, the better.
Jeff Rice covers Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4609 or jrice@centredaily.com.
Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1803460.html#ixzz0g0uW5His