CLEMSON — Preparing for the NFL draft is a process full of unusual quirks.
Football players spend their lives running in every direction, but the NFL’s obsession with stopwatch times has prospects running straight for 40 yards, over and over, training to shave tenths of a second from their results.
Athletes find themselves not only drawing up plays for NFL coaches and scouts in interview sessions, but some teams will ask odd questions like “What’s your spirit animal?” and “Are you an apple or an orange?”
“I said I was an apple,” Clemson tight end Jake Briningstool recalled with a smirk. “I just feel like more people like apples. The good stuff is on the inside, so you got to get in there and find out.”
If Clemson’s athletes can navigate the twists and turns of the pre-draft process well enough, they could hear their names called in April’s NFL draft.
If they don’t, there is another option: NASCAR pit crew.
Not only were all 32 NFL teams represented at Clemson’s Pro Day on March 13, but the racing giant was also there searching for talent.
That might sound odd, but NASCAR’s pit crews are filled with ex-college athletes. Clemson, in particular, has seen offensive lineman Landon Walker become a fueler for Hendrick Motorsports, which has won consecutive Daytona 500s.
Ex-Tigers linebacker Jonathan Willard became a jackman for Trackhouse Racing, and former Clemson cornerback Sheridan Jones has recently transitioned into working in motorsports as well.
As NASCAR athletic performance coach Phil Horton told The Post and Courier in 2024, “They (football players) wear a helmet, and they have the mindset of not worrying about what happens to them physically while they do their task.”
So, yes, representatives from NASCAR were in attendance as a handful of Clemson athletes went through their paces Thursday.
Clemson’s players were obviously hoping to catch the eye of NFL scouts, first and foremost.
“My freshman year, I remember I watched Pro Day, it was my first time even hearing about a Pro Day,” Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter said. “The fact that my dreams are right in front of me, it’s special.”
It’s a dream that’s been delayed, only slightly, because Carter could have jumped to the NFL as a junior like classmate Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Carter returned as a senior and helped Clemson get back to the College Football Playoff.
At season’s end, Carter turned his attention to training, running copious 40-yard sprints and various cone drills.
Carter actually refrained from running a 40 at the scouting combine in late February and kept training to whittle his time down. During Clemson’s pro day, Carter landed at 4.64 seconds.
Regardless, Carter knew he was going to be “pissed off” by his time. Because he’s competitive.
“At the end of the day, I’m a football player … turn on the film and you can see my speed,” Carter said. “I’m definitely happy with what I ran today, and kinda glad I never have to run a 40 again.”
Preparing for the draft can be monotonous, but safety R.J. Mickens has reaped the benefits of his work.
Mickens, in particular, has always been considered a smart and instinctive player, ranking third on the Tigers defense with 85 tackles. But the 6-foot, 210-pound defensive back’s speed has always been questioned.
At the combine, Mickens ran 40 yards in 4.49 seconds.
“Everyone thought I was slow. Everybody,” Mickens said. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always been overlooked and underestimated. It was great to be able to officially put some things out there, just to make a statement.”
Many statements have been made. Whether it’s 40 times, or even weigh-ins.
Defensive tackle Payton Page checked in at 291 pounds at the NFL combine, an exceedingly svelte figure for an athlete who was 395 when he first hit the scales at Clemson his freshman year.
Page was 303 pounds at Clemson’s pro day because he’s not starving himself anymore.
“There was a lot of junk food at the combine. I didn’t want to eat that junk food,” Page said. “When I got back here, I started eating.”
Some say the pre-draft process is “stressful,” Page said, but he’s enjoyed it.
Some say it’s weird. Offensive guard Marcus Tate was asked by an NFL team for his spirit animal and, unsurprisingly, said a Tiger.
Page didn’t get that question, but he would have had an answer.
“I’m a gorilla, for sure,” Page said.
Carter would have went with a bear.
“There’s different types of bears,” he explained. “There’s less harmful bears. There’s pretty harmful bears. That’s me. I’m not harmful off the field. But, on the field, I’m pretty harmful.”
Harmful enough, the 6-1, 230-pound linebacker expects to be tackling running backs for the foreseeable future.
Not swapping out tires for a NASCAR pit crew.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
