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- Mar 19, 2019
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PARTICIPANTS HOPE PERFORMANCE DOES THE TALKING
Although many of Saturday’s participants have made their rounds to meet and workout with NFL teams over the last couple of months, they were especially grateful to perform back in their own community in front of their hometown team.
"For me, this is the next step in the process so I can show coaches that I can play in this league and that I'm somebody that they want in their organization,” Purdue quarterback David Blough said. “It was really a great day and a lot of fun getting to learn from the coaches here in Indianapolis and being able to show what I can do."
Blough, who feels he was snubbed from the Combine in February, has been using workouts like Saturday’s as motivation.
"I believe I deserved to be there, but like I said, two weeks from now it's not gonna matter,” Blough said. “Whether you're the first pick or not, I'll come in your quarterback room and I'll compete with you until somebody kicks me out.”
Knowing how seriously the Colts take their Local Pro Day also gives the players a little extra juice.
"That excites me, knowing that they do, and it's not just an event where they've got guys working out," former Lawrence Central High School standout and University of Missouri linebacker Brandon Lee told Colts.com. "I mean, they're truly doing their scouting and looking to take guys from the local area. So, I mean it gives you hope that at least one of the 41 guys that were here today — one, two or three maybe — might get an opportunity here in town. I mean, I'd be happy for any guy here who got that opportunity, just being from the city, and hopefully it's me."
The prospect of being signed and hopefully playing for your hometown team is also a longtime dream for these participants. If the opportunity arises for Lee, he’s got his sights set on the bigger picture.
"It'd be amazing to me and family, but more than anything I think it would show the community — with me growing up here in the actual local area of Indianapolis — it'd just give them a vision and give them hope that they can make it happen as well, and that it's not always a guy from Texas or a guy from the South or this, that and the other,” Lee continued. “I think it would just give young kids a vision, and give me a lot of opportunities to give back to the community here."
Former Brownsburg High School and Marian University long snapper Owen Gilbert, who was former longtime Colts long snapper Justin Snow’s very first high school client, hoped to learn from the Colts’ staff where he stands among his competition.
"I just wanted to get some feedback, really. Just let myself know where I stand compared to the competition,” Gilbert, who won an NAIA national championship with Marian in 2015, said. “I've been to a few Combines so far, but I haven't really gotten any major feedback from any coaches or scouts on how I stand, so I was really happy to hear about my performance today and what they had to say."