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http://mmqb.si.com/nfl-draft-combine-reuben-foster-alabama-hospital-incident-draft-stock
Ask former Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster to get up from the interviewee’s seat and explain a blitz on the whiteboard, and you might be unimpressed. Ask him to explain what happened at the hospital in Indianapolis, and you might leave unsatisfied. Ask him about his support network of friends and family, and you might feel unsure.
But if you ask him about Ball, that stuff between the white lines, you just might fall in love.
“There’s that moment,” Reuben says though a smile, “when you first hit somebody and you get chills. You hear the crowd say Ooooh. And before that, when you put on your suit and you transform and you become a dog; you’re a beast. Just seeing all the other guys become a dog with you. No stress.”
Foster can’t wait to get back in that moment and move beyond what has been an emotionally taxing pre-draft process. His childhood dream of performing at the NFL scouting combine was derailed by offseason rotator cuff surgery, and his brief stay in Indianapolis, for medical evaluations and interviews with NFL teams, was cut short when he engaged in a heated argument with a hospital employee while waiting in the long line for medical tests at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital.
Two weeks ago, Alabama invited teams to come a day early to its pro day to interview Foster, who was thoroughly prepped and equally contrite.
“The main point I want to get across is that I’m sorry, because it was a dream experience for me to be there at the combine,” Foster says. “And it hurts not to be there, even with me not touching him and just arguing with him. There are plenty of opportunities to let someone take you down. At the end of the day it didn’t do nothing but hurt me. It was a learning experience, a small stepping stone.”
Teams had plenty of other questions for Foster and his coaches and associates: What was the story behind that triple shooting in April at an Auburn nightclub where Foster had been partying? And what kind of impact will Foster’s family and friends have on his career once the checks start rolling in? And just how did Foster become the defensive signal caller at Alabama if he’s uncomfortable drawing plays on the board?
He is considered a high-first round talent, one of the best linebackers to come out in years and the most highly regarded to emerge from Tuscaloosa during the Saban era. Yet, at least one NFL team with a selection in the top 15 had already removed Foster from consideration before the incident at the combine.
“He already had immaturity, issues with life skills. This is the same guy,” said an evaluator for the team after Foster was sent home from Indianapolis. “We’re not in the market.”
It’s enough to make you want to put on a suit and transform into someone else, somewhere simpler. “I can’t wait for this all to be over,” Foster says, “so I can settle down and just play football.”
Ask former Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster to get up from the interviewee’s seat and explain a blitz on the whiteboard, and you might be unimpressed. Ask him to explain what happened at the hospital in Indianapolis, and you might leave unsatisfied. Ask him about his support network of friends and family, and you might feel unsure.
But if you ask him about Ball, that stuff between the white lines, you just might fall in love.
“There’s that moment,” Reuben says though a smile, “when you first hit somebody and you get chills. You hear the crowd say Ooooh. And before that, when you put on your suit and you transform and you become a dog; you’re a beast. Just seeing all the other guys become a dog with you. No stress.”
Foster can’t wait to get back in that moment and move beyond what has been an emotionally taxing pre-draft process. His childhood dream of performing at the NFL scouting combine was derailed by offseason rotator cuff surgery, and his brief stay in Indianapolis, for medical evaluations and interviews with NFL teams, was cut short when he engaged in a heated argument with a hospital employee while waiting in the long line for medical tests at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital.
Two weeks ago, Alabama invited teams to come a day early to its pro day to interview Foster, who was thoroughly prepped and equally contrite.
“The main point I want to get across is that I’m sorry, because it was a dream experience for me to be there at the combine,” Foster says. “And it hurts not to be there, even with me not touching him and just arguing with him. There are plenty of opportunities to let someone take you down. At the end of the day it didn’t do nothing but hurt me. It was a learning experience, a small stepping stone.”
Teams had plenty of other questions for Foster and his coaches and associates: What was the story behind that triple shooting in April at an Auburn nightclub where Foster had been partying? And what kind of impact will Foster’s family and friends have on his career once the checks start rolling in? And just how did Foster become the defensive signal caller at Alabama if he’s uncomfortable drawing plays on the board?
He is considered a high-first round talent, one of the best linebackers to come out in years and the most highly regarded to emerge from Tuscaloosa during the Saban era. Yet, at least one NFL team with a selection in the top 15 had already removed Foster from consideration before the incident at the combine.
“He already had immaturity, issues with life skills. This is the same guy,” said an evaluator for the team after Foster was sent home from Indianapolis. “We’re not in the market.”
It’s enough to make you want to put on a suit and transform into someone else, somewhere simpler. “I can’t wait for this all to be over,” Foster says, “so I can settle down and just play football.”
