The recently concluded NFL combine in Indianapolis lured hundreds of hopefuls from around the country hoping to impress scouts under the bright lights of Lucas Oil Stadium.
Four recent University of Idaho football players are taking a different path.
Rather than join an NFL combine preparation program this offseason, offensive lineman Nate Azzopardi, defensive lineman Zach Krotzer, linebacker Isiah King and running back Elisha Cummings chose to remain in Moscow – their home for the past five years – and train together as they look ahead to UI’s pro day on March 30.
Nate Azzopardi and Isaiah King take a break between sets during a recent workout at the University of Idaho. (Peter Harriman/The Spokesman-Review)
Nate Azzopardi and Isaiah King take a break between sets during a recent workout at the University of Idaho. (Peter Harriman/The Spokesman-Review)
“This is just like it was all the time for the last five years,” Azzopardi says. “We are taking this journey together.”
Krotzer added “I have been with these guys most of my adult life.”
“It is being around people we know and have had a relationship with. This is a good opportunity for us to not go nowhere else,” Cummings says.
Under the guidance of UI strength and conditioning coach Jamel Cooper, the players meet six days a week for two-hour sessions focused on the various NFL evaluation skills.
This day, they spent an hour on the field doing sprinting drills: high knees, butt kicks and A skips and sprinting while tethered to chain, a maximum of 100 pounds for King and Cummings and 120 pounds for Krotzer and Azzopardi, to groove the forward lean that is the drive phase of a sprint, which is most of what the NFL’s definitive 40-yard dash is.
Afterwards, they spent equal time in the weight room doing repetitions focused on leg and hip strength and rotational work, like stepping up on a thigh-high box while holding a kettlebell and then twisting from the waist before stepping down.
The intentional effort they put into each rep would easily mirror any other recent graduate taking practice law school or medical school admission tests to try to jump start a professional career.
Their days are not merely defined by the workouts. Before and after, the players spend about an hour in the training room getting treatment, and then there is a monastic austerity until they meet at the practice field and the weight room to do it again. “Rest and recovery,” says Azzopardi. “Resting and get your mind right. The number one goal is to keep getting better.”
The players know the benchmarks they need to reach to convince NFL scouts they can physically play in the league and that it is worth scouts’ time to go ahead and evaluate them as football players. They test themselves intermittently with mock pro days, and all four are pleased with the progress they are making.
Isaiah King gets started on a recent workout at the University of Idaho. (Peter Harriman/The Spokesman-Review)
Isaiah King gets started on a recent workout at the University of Idaho. (Peter Harriman/The Spokesman-Review)
“I am in my best shape. This is the fastest I have been at this weight,” King says.
“I have got to be in the best shape of my life in order to give myself a shot,” says Cummings.
Azzopardi points out Idaho’s pro day is still more than a month off, and all four are confident that by then they will be able to show scouts they can meet the physical standards for playing.
“We are really close right now. We are close to the numbers we need. It is very doable,” Krotzer says.
Idaho’s pro day is the only one the four have scheduled. There is a lot riding on it. If they don’t get drafted or sign an NFL free agent contract, Krotzer says he and Azzopardi are investigating playing in a professional league in Japan. Cummings hopes he can continue training and take a second run at the NFL.
But all four realize they are living through a moment where life can fundamentally change. If professional football doesn’t work out, they are prepared to get on with real life.
In the meantime, however, they are living kind of an ideal life. They are young, strong, and focused on a dream. Watch them between reps move through the weight room with the thoughtful, slow swagger of people training hard that is part accommodating to fatigue but part feeling in your muscles that you have moved weight and overcome inertia.
Will they ever be this focused or feel this physically capable again? And they are doing it with teammates, in Moscow, in winter.
“I like the cold,” says Krotzer.
“The cold weather is fine with me,” King seconds.