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View the profile for Heath Benedict | View all Blogs

Pro Day was Saturday at 9am. We had about 7 or 8 NFL teams there and 8 or 9 guys working out. We had a couple guys from Newberry and most of the rest were from Furman. The weather was less than ideal for a Pro Day. There was some rain so we tried to sneak out on the track in between rain storms. I did everything at the combine so I only had to do drills I wanted to improve on. I did run my 40 and do my vertical again. The 40 was on a track so they add time to it, but I ran 4.78-4.85 on the clock. My vertical was 32 inches. I spoke with some of the teams there but nothing too extensive. I received calls from the Rams and Eagles. Coach Castillo from the Eagles is going to come work me out sometime next week.

The combine was the best of the best. Not only were the seniors there but the juniors as well. It was great to be there, see the other guys, and compare yourself to them. Even though we were all competing, Everyone was very nice and supportive of one another. The medical portion was really tough because I had a couple surgeries (nothing major) and they poke an prod you, MRI you, and CAT scan you and everything. It was definitely very taxing on you. But the teams want to make sure they aren't getting a lemon. If I were investing millions of dollars in something, I'd want to know everything about it as well. I didn't have to do any of the psychological testing at the combine because I did it all at the Senior Bowl. But the wonderlic is only 12 minutes long and I had already taken it twice before. I did pretty well the first two times I took it, but I haven't received my results from the third time yet. As far as on the field drills go, I feel as though I did pretty well. After you run the 40 and do the other drills you get pretty tired, but the on the field drills weren't too bad at all. I did everything there. I didn't do as well as I thought I could have. I'm going to be re-doing my 40, short shuttle and pro agility at my pro day this Saturday.

Since I played in Division II we finished our season earlier than Division I. After the season I went out to Los Angeles and trained at 360 sports. I worked out there for about two months until the senior bowl. Then after the senior bowl I went to Jacksonville, Florida to train up until the combine. On a typical day of training I'll get up in the morning and eat breakfast at 8am. Around 8:30 I go warm up and then go through about 45 minutes to an hour of speed training. After that I come back and eat lunch then take a nap for a couple hours. I get up around 1pm grab a snack, then go workout with weights for an hour to an hour and a half. Then I'd come back, grab something to eat and hang out for a little while. Then I'd go do some cardio or technique work for about 30 minutes. After that I'll come back and eat, rest a little bit, then eat right before I go to bed.

The Senior Bowl was good. I didn't really know what to expect as far as the level of competition goes. I mean it was the best players in college football. I felt that I did real well and definitely exceeded expectations. It was awesome to work with an NFL coaching staff for a week. I had great coaches at Newberry but this was a whole different level that I had a chance to experience. I met with just about every team there. Alot of teams showed a good deal of interest. The Eagles, Steelers, 49ers, Rams, and Jaguars are some of them. I just hope I get a chance to play for one of them in the near future. Overall I really enjoyed it. It was a good experience for me and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in it.