Senior moments: for 96 NFL draft prospects, Senior Bowl week is the ultimate job interview. For the more than 800 NFL types watching them, it's the ultimate hobnob opportunity

Sporting News, The, Feb 2, 2004 by Vinnie Iyer

At the Senior Bowl South team's Wednesday morning practice in Mobile, Ala., eight young men battle with one another, using powerful hand punches.

It resembles a royal rumble WWE cage match, but it's merely a standard defensive line drill simulating the toughness of the trenches. One of the players is LSU defensive tackle Chad Lavalais, who is fighting off concerns about his lack of ideal size with tremendous quickness.

This combat goes on for a few curious minutes before an air horn signals a change in the drill rotation.

Zoom out. There's a rainbow of team colors in the track suits gathered around the scene. Redskins burgundy, Vikings purple and Dolphins aqua dot the sidelines.

Behind them, Jon Gruden and Steve Mariucci mingle with their coaching brethren. In perpetual motion and wielding at least three wireless devices, agent Drew Rosenhaus is busy working his spin on his client, Florida State defensive tackle Darnell Dockett, another participant in the just-completed drill.

Standing in the highest row and standing out among the sparse crowd of prep school boys and girls are ball-capped middle-aged men--personnel director types--who have analyzed plenty or fundamental football through their binoculars over the years.

There isn't anything much different going on at the North's practice in nearby Fairhope, except that the bleachers are much lower and a group of Senior Bowl debutantes in Old South attire, complete with parasols, expand the colors of the rainbow.

Welcome to Senior Bowl week, where there is as much action out of bounds as between the hashmarks.

The convention

The buzz begins at Monday's official scouting weigh-in. Before the prospects can get on the field and show their skills, they are stripped down and measured up in a tale of a tape for those with NFL heavyweight clout, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio among them.

The league's who's who of executives and coaches continue to file out and flood the first and second floors of the Adam's Mark hotel, the Senior Bowl hospitality headquarters, wandering among prospects who aspire to join their teams. There were 556 former Senior Bowl participants on opening-day NFL rosters in 2003. There are 96 prospects in this year's game.

Youthful autograph seekers scurry to meet the college all-stars, but their eyes spy Dan Marino in the lobby, causing a change of direction. Seconds later, Gruden and a Buccaneers entourage coasts by the registration desk.

Between 800 and 1,000 Senior Bowl passes are handed out to NFL-related personnel, so it's hard not to bump into some of the game's most powerful names.

The mob of executives and coaches at the Adam's Mark spills on to the practice fields the next three days, starting with Tuesday's North and South workouts, which are full-blown in contrast to Monday's warm-up drills.

Gruden is one of few coaches who shows a bit of his game face when examining quarterbacks and offensive play calls. Saints coach Jim Haslett takes notice of the defensive backs. With no current team for which to evaluate players, recently fired Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis shakes many hands in search of the right one. The glad-handing and business card exchange aren't confined to coaches. "I'm just trying to catch on somewhere," says an amateur scout seeking NFL employment. "This is the place to be to do it."

The greatest pressure may be on the players, but everyone at Senior Bowl week is eager to impress someone.

The competition

The Senior Bowlers are not unlike the rest of the college graduating class in America--they are fighting for positions in a difficult job market. Senior Bowl week provides a crash course in "Introduction to the NFL."

South coach Marty Schottenheimer stresses the week is about "gathering information"--players learn about being a professional football player, which is a two-pronged process.

First, there are team and positional study sessions in the hotel. Second, players need to be receptive to--and show improvement from--the instruction on the field. In turn, Schottenheimer's Chargers, North coach Marvin Lewis' Bengals and the 30 other teams learn more about how the nation's best college seniors will respond in an NFL training camp environment.

Schottenheimer and Lewis reiterate that taking notes and paying attention in meetings are as closely monitored as what happens on the field.

"This week isn't about every little ball thrown or every little completion," says N.C. State's Philip Rivers, a four-year starter and one of the South's three quarterbacks. "It's more like, 'Can he take charge of the huddle? Can he practice? How does he study? Does he work?' Those kind of things you don't see on game tape."

Interestingly, the hitting is much more fierce in scrimmages against teammates than it will be in the game. "It starts slowly early in the week, but it can get pretty intense in a hurry" says Titans director of college scouting Mike Ackerley.

It's a level practice field. On the North roster, there is room for big-name Big Ten quarterback John Navarre of Michigan and Tusculum College cornerback Ricardo Colclough, who works against Navarre and the North receivers.