Watch and listen to what Indiana defensive end Mikail Kamara said Wednesday afternoon following IU's Pro Day at Mellencamp Pavilion in Bloomington. Kamara and 22 more Hoosiers participated in pre-NFL Draft testing and drills with all 32 NFL teams in attendance.
The full video can be viewed at the top of this story. Below are select excerpts from Kamara's media availability session.
Q: What's been the biggest challenge in preparing for the NFL Draft?
KAMARA: The biggest challenge was just staying confident in myself, staying confident in God's plan. I think throughout the process, it kind of made my faith a lot stronger. It made my confidence in myself a lot stronger. At the end of the day, it's all about enjoying the journey and not worrying about the final destination.
Q: What are the biggest lessons you've learned?
KAMARA: I think the two biggest things was to be confident in myself and not worry what anyone else's opinion is of me. And then the next biggest thing is probably my leadership role. This past year we had a lot of younger guys and a lot of transfers, and everyone kind of looked up to me, so I had to kind of step up into a role that I'm not really comfortable in. That definitely taught me to grow and be more vocal as a leader and be more vocal as a person.
Q: How confident are you in Indiana going forward?
KAMARA: Oh yeah, it's going to be — hopefully, we can turn this into 'Bama, old 'Bama. Coach Cig and the rest of the staff are really good at developing players, not just developing players but also recruiting the right guys who have the work ethic and who have the drive to come in every single day and try to get better. At the end of the day, this race that we all have as football players is who's willing to come in every day and who's not going to quit.