On Thursday, 75 players were scheduled to report and all 75 came. That's the second straight day of perfect attendance after all 83 invites that were expected on Wednesday reported.
Like the group from the first day, yesterday's bunch attended a welcome dinner as their first official function. This time, however, instead of Charley Casserly of the Texans delivering a speech, the players heard from Falcons general manager Rich McKay.
That night, the offensive linemen were put in the spotlight as interviews took place with all the teams. The star of the evening was Virginia tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson. He was the first player that I can remember to ever to come to the interview dressed in a shirt and tie. His rational for dressing up was that this was a job interview and he wanted to do whatever he could to impress the people interviewing him.
When the teams interview a player, they usually give them a small gift (hat, jacket, etc.). One team gave Ferguson a rolling suitcase, which made for a humorous sight when the 6-foot-5 giant had to bend halfway over just to try and roll it.
Another interesting note on Ferguson: When he and Heath Miller, now a tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers, were teammates as freshmen at Virginia, they both weighed the same (about 255 pounds). Now Ferguson tips the scales at over 300 pounds.
LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT
Quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers were among the groups to get their measurements done this morning. Here are some of the superlatives:
Running backs (second group)
Tallest: LenDale White, USC, 6-foot 3/8
Shortest: Cory Ross, Nebraska, 5-foot-6 1/4
Heaviest: Naujahu Pahi, BYU, 254 pounds
Lightest: Cory Ross, Nebraska, 201 pounds; Leon Washington, Florida St., 201 pounds
Wide receivers
Tallest: Marques Colston, Hofstra, 6-foot-4 5/8
Shortest: Sinorice Moss, Miami, 5-foot-8
Heaviest: Delanie Walker, Central Missouri, 240 pounds
Lightest: Jeremy Bloom, Colorado, 173 pounds
Quarterbacks
Tallest: Matt Leinart, USC, 6-foot-4 7/8; Paul Pinegar, Fresno St., 6-foot-4 7/8
Shortest: David Anderson, Colorado St., 5-foot-10 1/2
Heaviest: Bruce Eugene, Grambling St., 260 pounds
Lightest: David Anderson, Colorado St., 192 pounds
Note: Among the quarterbacks, six will also work out at other positions, including Penn State's Michael Robinson, who will audition at three other positions, and Texas A&M's Reggie McNeal, who will work out at two other positions.
SEEN AND HEARD
There were about 75 players, including quarterbacks Vince Young, Jay Cutler and Brodie Croyle, at the Reebok room yesterday, making it like a QB convention. It's a good spot for them to go to get some peace and quiet, snacks, drinks and, of course, goody bags.
This morning, Reebok sponsored a seminar for the media that Rich Eisen of NFL Network, Heath Miller, Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown and Eddie White of Reebok and I spoke at. It covered a little history on the Combine, and Brown and Miller spoke about their Combine experiences last year and the preparations that went into it. More than 50 writers from around the country attended, including Jarrett Bell of USA Today and Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News.
The media interview room is now abuzz. Just this morning, running back DeAngelo Williams of Memphis, Cutler and Florida State running back Leon Washington were at the podium, giving the media plenty of information to report for the coming months.
Coming back from dinner last night, I ran into Major Adams, who represents Vince Young, and Leigh Steinberg, who is involved with Matt Leinart. Chuck Price, who is also helping handle Leinart, was here early this morning. All of them have been very helpful to work with.
