The Canadian Football League’s Invitational Combine is on in Waterloo, Ontario.
It is an opportunity for athletes to earn their way into the league’s Combine later this month. Legendary Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant knows what is going through the players’ minds.
“It’s nerve-wracking. You get one opportunity to go out there and show what you can do, so that you can get invited to the show. I went through the same thing. I wasn’t invited to the combine, but I did have a pro day. Everyone has a dream as a kid to play football at the highest level. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these guys. So there will be a lot of nerves. The guys will be ready to go and to show every team and the league that they deserve to go to the big show and get an opportunity to play at the highest level.”
Durant went on to explain the difference between a combine and a pro day.
“The combine is all about numbers. It’s about your 40-yard dash, your broad jump, your vertical, and your short shuttle. So the scouts can compare numbers to previous guys and see where you stack up against some of the top-tier guys in the league. When it comes to pro day, it’s about how you move—execution and more football-related drills. For quarterbacks, you get to throw every route you’re throwing to familiar receivers. At the combine, these are guys from every team in the country. You’re not familiar with how they run their routes, their body movements, the timing that can throw you off a little bit. That’s why you see a lot of these top-tier quarterbacks refusing to throw at the combine because you want to be in your comfort zone. You want to be with receivers that you understand. You want to show NFL scouts or CFL scouts that you have the timing to make these throws that they’re going to take to be successful at the next level. So, on pro day, you focus on football-related drills. In the combine, it’s all about timing and showing where you stack up against the other guys.”
You can hear Darian Durant on Mondays on the SportsCage with Double Talk.
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