{"id":563196,"date":"2026-04-04T01:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/563196\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:26:08","slug":"why-inexperienced-uar-bernard-is-turning-heads-before-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/563196\/","title":{"rendered":"Why inexperienced Uar Bernard is turning heads before NFL draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You need experience to get experience, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uar_benard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">but Uar Bernard might prove<\/a> to be a slight exception at the NFL draft.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian has virtually no high-level organized football experience, but his numbers posted at the NFL\u2019s HBCU showcase have certainly turned heads.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard, at 6-foot-4 and 306 pounds with 11-inch hands, nearly 36-inch arms and 6 percent body fat, logged a vertical jump of 39 inches and a broad jump of 10-10, which is marked as 14 inches more than any other defensive tackle at this year\u2019s NFL combine.<\/p>\n<p>Uar Bernard is hoping to make the NFL. Instagram\/@uar_benard<\/p>\n<p>His 40-yard dash came in at 4.63 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHands down, he is the most explosive athlete I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d trainer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7168307\/2026\/04\/03\/uar-bernard-nfl-draft-prospect-nigerian-village\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jordan Luallen told\u00a0The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cHe broad jumped 10-10, and it was effortless. At 306 pounds. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe numbers don\u2019t even do him justice,\u201d quarterback coach George Whitfield added to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>Uar Bernard has very little experience going into the NFL draft. Instagram\/@uar_benard<\/p>\n<p>Bernard was first discovered as a basketball player in Nigeria, and a coach told him to try American football.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, he participated in several camps in Africa before getting selected for the NFL\u2019s International Player Pathway.<\/p>\n<p>Uar Bernard has trained through the IPP. Instagram\/@uar_benard<\/p>\n<p>Now, the 21-year-old, along with a few other prospects, will be in Pittsburgh for the draft starting on April 23. Bernard could go on day three, and his progress is something NFL teams should take into account.<\/p>\n<p>He began training on Jan. 18 in Florida, weighing in at 295 pounds with 11 percent body fat. He first completed the vertical jump at 32 inches and broad-jumped 9-4. <\/p>\n<p>Outside conditioning and physical tests, the IPP program also runs football IQ tests and physical football drills.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard has picked up many things just from watching YouTube, but what remains to be biggest challenge will be learning the ins and outs of playing on the defensive line.<\/p>\n<p>Uar Bernard is seen working out. Instagram\/@uar_benard<\/p>\n<p>The most notable IPP alum stands as Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, who was drafted in the seventh round (233rd overall) in the 2018 draft.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You need experience to get experience, but Uar Bernard might prove to be a slight exception at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,17351,196077,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-563196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-nfl-draft","10":"tag-nfl-draft-2026","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}