Mizzou's Gabbert, Smith cram for NFL exams
PHOENIX • In a span of days, Parkway West graduate Blaine Gabbert went from Mizzou junior quarterback to a probable first-round prospect for the 2011 NFL draft to potentially becoming the No. 1 quarterback taken after Stanford's Andrew Luck decided to stay in school.
"We believe that he has a chance to fight to be the No. 1 quarterback taken in the 2011 draft," said Ben Dogra, one of Gabbert's representatives at Clayton-based CAA Football. "And if history repeats itself, if you're the first quarterback taken, you have a legitimate chance to be a top 10 pick."
The dynamics at play will be fluid, even volatile, through the April 28-30 draft. Every player has a draft range, Dogra said, by way of example suggesting a top 15 scenario for a player may mean he goes anywhere from fifth to 20th depending on numerous variables.
"There's a method to the process: It takes four months, and there's going to be movement by the players and the teams in the evaluation process," said Dogra, whose group went seven for seven with first-round picks last year. "So you want to make sure the players are as prepared as possible."
Which explains why a week ago Dogra was sitting in a theater room of the Phoenix branch of Athletes' Performance, an elite and comprehensive training facility that has produced the first pick in the last five NFL drafts — including the Rams' Sam Bradford, who trained at AP's Florida campus.
Among his other clients, Dogra was shepherding Gabbert and former Mizzou defensive end Aldon Smith through their first few days at AP, where they will spend six weeks immersed in all-encompassing, largely individualized preparation for the Feb. 23 NFL scouting combine and beyond.
Believed to cost around $40,000 to $50,000 a player between the fee for the program itself, meals, the two-bedroom condos with which each is furnished and transportation — in Gabbert's case, the use of a Chevy Suburban — the once-exotic concept now has become a virtual must.
"Absolutely," Dogra said. "There's so much at stake for these players in the NFL draft, and each draft slot can potentially be worth millions of dollars. … So typically you don't want to leave any stone unturned."
Which dovetails nicely with the approach of AP, where Gabbert already was "full throttle" on his six-days-a-week program less than 48 hours after arriving and Smith was trying to make every minute worthwhile.
"You can't waste a day," Smith said. "Every day counts."
As hard as they will work there, the program isn't so much about running through a gantlet as preparing for one.
"We have the biggest job interview in the world in February," Gabbert said.
Being ready means not only refining and maximizing 40-yard dash times and other measurables but also being past any lingering injuries or ailments, being nutritionally sound and mentally sharpened for team and media interviews and the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test.
"They're all equally important, because if one is out of line, all the others aren't going to work well," Gabbert said. "They kind of used the analogy of gears, and if one gear is broken it won't turn."
The gears at AP started turning shortly after Gabbert and Smith arrived Jan. 9, with analyses of everything from their body fat to motion on a functional movement screen to a VO2 Max test and beyond.
Between those readings and a discussion of goals, Phoenix AP general manager Mark Iralson said, "We come up with a workout prescription."
While some of the program is more general, much of it is contoured to specific needs of each player, starting with diet.
A nutritionist and chef work together to prepare three meals a day for each player depending on his specific needs.
Smith, for instance, wants to add weight to his 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame and thus will be taking in more calories than the basically set Gabbert (6-5, 235), both in terms of meals and the recipe in his post-workout protein shakes. Weight room routines, of course, also are individualized.
On AP's FieldTurf surface, the players work out with compatible skill positions, generally about seven or eight to a batch.
In Gabbert's case, he and Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder are throwing against defensive backs such as Nebraska product Prince Amukamara and Texas' Aaron Williams and throwing to Alabama's Julio Jones and Georgia's A.J. Green — all potential No. 1 picks.
"Competition helps," Dogra said. "When you're training and going up against the best players in the country ... it can really impact how you perform and make you better."
Those workouts are filmed and reviewed by position coaches.
Gabbert is working with Terry Shea, a longtime collegiate and NFL coach who last was with the Rams and more recently worked with NFL-bound quarterbacks Matt Stafford, Josh Freeman and Bradford.
Among the areas of emphasis between Gabbert and Shea will be NFL terminology, reading defenses after life as a spread quarterback in college and, correspondingly, working under center.
That concern about Gabbert may be more minor than most realize: He worked under center in high school and, in fact, practiced it frequently at MU despite the fact the Tigers rarely did it in games.
Also individually evaluated are Wonderlic preparation sessions and media training by longtime journalist Don Yaeger.
According to Iralson, Yaeger researches each athlete's background, films interviews with them and has one-on-one sessions with each about "the right things to say, how to explain themselves if they had some trouble in the past" and alternatives to grunting out, "Well, I just didn't do it" in times of failure.
That training also includes reminders of the perils of social media foolishness.
"The NFL's looking at that," Iralson said. "Everyone's looking at that wherever you're going to work. People forget that, and that can get them in a lot of trouble."
All of which theoretically adds up to the least amount of trouble possible for any of the program participants.
By the time they arrive at the combine on Feb. 22, the AP trainees will have received a scouting report on the mass poke-and-prod routine in Indianapolis that includes the details of each day, video of the drills and even pictures of the hotels they'll be in.
"We want to make sure that when they show up, nothing is new to them instead of going, 'Oh, wait, I've never seen this before,'" said Iralson, adding that AP sets up its own mini-headquarters in Indy, complete with healthy food, workout equipment, massage therapists and lounge luxuries as a safe place for its proteges to maintain their training edge and "just get away from the craziness."
Some might see all of it as madness in itself.
"It used to be, 'That guy's just crazy. He's a meathead. All he does is train,' " Iralson said.
But with millions potentially at stake in each notch of the draft now, it would be crazier not to embrace the ways of the system, which for MU players also will include a pro day in Columbia after the combine and probably individual workouts with teams before the draft.
"Some people think it's an overkill process by the teams, but the reality is that that is the system," Dogra said, adding, "You don't want to leave anything up to chance. … You want them to have every single resource and opportunity to maximize every single step of the process."