The NFL Draft is coming close and that means it is time for all the best college prospects in football to descend on Indianapolis for the 2013 combine at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The event is being held from Feb. 23 to 26 and features all-day coverage from the league on television on NFL Network as well as through NFL.com. Each day will show off new workouts from every position and this is one of the best chances for draft prospects to shoot up boards for each team
There are a number of players that will be looking to show off their skills, including linebacker Jarvis Jones from Georgia, Matt Glennon from NC State, Geno Smith of West Virginia, Matt Barkley from USC as well as Desmond Trufant from Washington. Last year the top two picks were basically known all throughout the offseason, with Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin being argued about at one and two.
This year there is a weak quarterback class by those standard, but there are still some solid players on the board, including Luke Joeckel from Texas A&M, Dee Milliner from Alabama and Sharrif Floyd from Florida.
The players at the combine go through rigorous physical and academic drills, including aptitude tests and positional workouts. Each group is broken down by position with hundreds of players working out. Groups go at different tines, with tight ends, offensive lineman and special teams players going on Saturday, while quarterbacks, running backs and wideouts will go on Sunday.
The combine is too big for just one weekend, as the event continues through next week, with defensive linemen, linebacker and defensive backs finishing workout over Monday and Tuesday.
The workouts each player goes under varies between speed, strength and agility and includes the 40-yard dash, bench press and vertical jump. Other workouts include the broad jump, three-cone drill and the shuttle run. All these workouts help executives, scouts, general managers and coaches measure the effectiveness of each player.
The combine is an inexact science, as some players never pan out that performed the best in each category, but running back Chris Johnson bucked that trend recently when he was the top scorer in the 40-yard dash. In fact, the former 2,000-yard rusher has the all-time best performance at the combine in that workout.
Vince Young memorably scored in single digits during his Wonderlic aptitude test, but this year the league has announced that a new aptitude test will be used to supplement it so that it is not the only figure. According to the league website, the new test is more evolved than the original test.
The first groups of players will arrive on Wednesday, with the linemen and special teams players starting off with registration and medical examinations over the first two days. Friday is one of the biggest days of the combine, with the NFLPA Meeting, interviews and psychological testing. On-field workouts begin the next day and as the week goes on the other groups of position players will arrive.