Kansas State tight end Briley Moore, a graduate from Northern Iowa, frantically scrolled through his waterproof phone. “It was a dream of mine since I was a little kid to go to the combine,” Moore said. “So, once I had seen a couple on Twitter got the combine invite, I was taking a shower, checked my phone.” Nothing.
His heart sank.
Then, it hit him.
“Checked my spam on one of my old email addresses from when I was in Northern Iowa, and it was there,” Moore said. “So, my uncle, his wife, and my fiancée were all out in the living room, and I started screaming when I was in the shower.”
They came running. What was the fuss all about?
“I told them I got it.”
The annual NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis was canceled because of the pandemic, leaving prospects to show off for scouts, coaches, and general managers at their college pro days instead.
weeks on college campuses this spring).
“It’s not fun not being able to be there and get that experience. But at the end of the day, it’s what made today so important,” Moore said at Kansas State’s pro day.
The scouting combine had morphed from a small gathering of players and talent evaluators to an annual event that went prime time last year just before COVID-19 upended everything. The annual get-together is the capstone to college football careers for the 300-plus invitees who get to see how they stack up against their peers in their draft class or even historically.
“We’ve been watching it since we were little, and that’s something that we look forward to,” Oklahoma running back Rhamondre Stevenson said. “It’s a bummer not being able to do it.” Scrapped along with the combine were visits to team facilities, leaving Zoom calls as the way to get to know players.
“That’s something that all of us college players going into the draft look forward to, the combine,” Stevenson said. “But I think I had the upper hand by going to the Senior Bowl, talking to many scouts, and showcasing my game there. Then, I had a second chance here at my pro day. I’m blessed.”
For those who didn’t get to the Senior Bowl, their pro day was their only shot to show off in front of NFL teams. “As far as the combine not being had, I was a little disappointed that I wanted my numbers to be next to everybody else’s numbers at my position because I’ll take my number up against anybody,” Texas safety Caden Sterns said. “So, I was a little disappointed.
