Spring Break
Nelson Improved His Draft Chances
Zac Boyer
Issue date: 4/24/06 Section: Sports
Nelson began by joining former Yale quarterback Jeff Mroz, another Linta client, for some lifting for the scouts, the frog leap and getting weighed in and measured. He topped the scales at 264 pounds and measured 6-foot-6 - his football height, as Nelson later joked - and was measured reaching 34 inches on the vertical leap before heading out to the turf for football drills.
Nelson began with two attempts at the coveted 40-yard dash, which scouts had him clocked in at around 4.95 seconds and 5.08 seconds. The times may have been a bit slower, however, considering Nelson was not familiar with the drill.
"The 40 needed a lot of work coming out of the stance," Nelson said. "The 40 is something that takes a lot of practice because those first couple of steps mean the whole world."
He then moved on to a variety of shuttle runs, from the standard back-and-forth short drill, which he registered 4.68 seconds, to the more advanced three-cone drill and the long shuttle. Linta later called the three-cone drill "exemplary" - he ran it in 7.22 seconds, Linta said - despite his lack of familiarity with the task.
"It's my first time going through some of the drills, so I just had to put a lot of effort into it," Nelson said. "It's so hard. The technique and stuff is new to me."
Nelson then ran routes for the scouts while Mroz threw to him, running through a variety of outs and cuts at different distances. He caught all seven passes from 10 yards, then went on to catch seven of the next 11 at up to 30 yards away despite having two of those greatly overthrown.
"I missed a low one or two, but you're not going to catch them all," Nelson said.
He turned a few heads after he was finished catching while Mroz was showing off his distance for scouts. Nelson was out catching Mroz's passes from 50 yards away, then simply threw the balls back to Mroz with little difficulty before heading back to the field for some blocking drills with Chudzinski and the Redskins' scout.
"I love hitting," Nelson said. "I'll do that any day. That's something that doesn't bother me; I don't mind hitting."
The scouts were mostly pleased with Nelson's times, with some pointing out that the short shuttle run was impressive as the time is usually consistent with the 40 time. In Nelson's case, it was much faster.
Linta still knows that the workout was just one step in the right direction for Nelson.
"The guys who have been to the combine have been doing this for three months," Nelson said. "What we're trying to demonstrate today is the catching ability, the heart and the hands."
Linta will continue to work with Nelson on getting stronger and faster, hoping to negotiate a deal with a team shortly after the NFL Draft concludes this coming weekend.
"The problem is, you had the party and everybody came, now hopefully somebody had a good enough time to invite him back," Linta said.
Nelson began with two attempts at the coveted 40-yard dash, which scouts had him clocked in at around 4.95 seconds and 5.08 seconds. The times may have been a bit slower, however, considering Nelson was not familiar with the drill.
"The 40 needed a lot of work coming out of the stance," Nelson said. "The 40 is something that takes a lot of practice because those first couple of steps mean the whole world."
He then moved on to a variety of shuttle runs, from the standard back-and-forth short drill, which he registered 4.68 seconds, to the more advanced three-cone drill and the long shuttle. Linta later called the three-cone drill "exemplary" - he ran it in 7.22 seconds, Linta said - despite his lack of familiarity with the task.
"It's my first time going through some of the drills, so I just had to put a lot of effort into it," Nelson said. "It's so hard. The technique and stuff is new to me."
Nelson then ran routes for the scouts while Mroz threw to him, running through a variety of outs and cuts at different distances. He caught all seven passes from 10 yards, then went on to catch seven of the next 11 at up to 30 yards away despite having two of those greatly overthrown.
"I missed a low one or two, but you're not going to catch them all," Nelson said.
He turned a few heads after he was finished catching while Mroz was showing off his distance for scouts. Nelson was out catching Mroz's passes from 50 yards away, then simply threw the balls back to Mroz with little difficulty before heading back to the field for some blocking drills with Chudzinski and the Redskins' scout.
"I love hitting," Nelson said. "I'll do that any day. That's something that doesn't bother me; I don't mind hitting."
The scouts were mostly pleased with Nelson's times, with some pointing out that the short shuttle run was impressive as the time is usually consistent with the 40 time. In Nelson's case, it was much faster.
Linta still knows that the workout was just one step in the right direction for Nelson.
"The guys who have been to the combine have been doing this for three months," Nelson said. "What we're trying to demonstrate today is the catching ability, the heart and the hands."
Linta will continue to work with Nelson on getting stronger and faster, hoping to negotiate a deal with a team shortly after the NFL Draft concludes this coming weekend.
"The problem is, you had the party and everybody came, now hopefully somebody had a good enough time to invite him back," Linta said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Anonymous
posted 4/24/06 @ 5:46 PM EST
Give Ed a "good going"
Post a Comment