Colts to Host First Preps Pro Combine at Colts Training
Facility
INDIANAPOLIS - The NFL this week will hold its annual Scouting Combine in downtown Indianapolis. In two months, a similar event will take place.
Only this one will be at the Colts' Training Facility.
The focus?
Indiana's high school players.
The Colts will host the first-ever Preps Pro Combine at the Colts Training Facility on Saturday April 20. The one-day event will give the best high school football players in the state a chance to showcase their skills, Colts Youth Football Commissioner Mike Prior said Wednesday.
"There are combines out there," Prior said, "but we're the first one - I believe - where we're going to videotape the players going through the position-specific drills."
The Preps Pro Combine will consist of body measurements, physical tests and position-specific drills. The physical tests will be used to determine size, speed, quickness and strength. Position drills will allow players to demonstrate their ability in fundamental skill areas.
The Colts and Velocity Performance will test athletes and record results for players and coaches using on online database. They also will provide video clips of each athlete.
College coaches, while not able to attend the combine, will be able to access the results online.
The event also is sanctioned by the Indiana High School Athletic Association and the Indiana Football Coaches Association.
"It's going to be a tool for college coaches who can't get out to all of these high schools, and visit and see the players," Prior said. "They're going to have it right on their mouse - a click away - to find out who is the fastest, who is the biggest, who is the strongest.
"It will showcase talent they might not have seen, that they might have overlooked. They might catch something on this tape of, 'Hey, we like this guy. Let's give him a chance.' We want to make Indiana a football state."
The event will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with drills including bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 40-yard dash/10-yard dash (split), short shuttle and a three-cone drill. A seminar also will be conducted by the IFCA regarding NCAA regulations.
"We want to showcase the skills of Indiana players, high school players," Prior said. "This might give them a little step up, open that door a little but to let these kids explore an opunity they might not have had."
For information, please visit www.myindianafootball.com/combine.
