University of Tennessee Athletics
Coleman Shows He's Tennessee Trained
February 25, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
UTSports.com
The league invited 332 players to the combine, while hundreds of others will compete in front of scouts at collegiate pro days and private workouts for teams. But at the end of the draft, just 256 players were selected by teams last season.
The combine is the premier event against the biggest competition for those coveted spots, and Coleman took full advantage of his opportunity. He posted impressive numbers across the board, including a time of 6.61 seconds in the 3-cone drill, the best time of any player in the multi-day event.
Coleman ranked third among defensive backs in the bench press, with 20 repetitions and was also third in the 60-yard shuttle with a time of 11.21 seconds. He also recorded a 4.53 seconds mark in the 40-yard dash.
"I felt like my overall performance was good," Coleman said. "I've been training really hard and the times and numbers that I've been seeing in training just carried on to the combine. I felt like my hard work paid off."
The combine is about more than on-field performance. Players are put through a grinder over several days of physical and mental testing that stretches their schedules from early in the morning to late into the night.
Coleman participated in group interviews with representatives from many teams in the room, on topics ranging from the everyday to in-depth knowledge of the game of football and his position. He also had the opportunity to meet with teams on a one-on-one basis.
"Every coach wanted to know how smart a guy is," Coleman said. "They asked basic questions, then asked football questions to test your knowledge about the game. They asked questions about coverages and I gave them the coverages and got good feedback from them."
After the interviews were done, it was time to hit the field, the part that Coleman looked forward to the most.
"The last two days were great because we had competition going in the bench and the 40 and the drills," Coleman said. "I got to meet and compete against new guys that were top prospects in the country."
Coleman will continue training in preparation to return to the place where he was Tennessee Trained under strength coach Dave Lawson, the Anderson Training Center, for Tennessee's Pro Day on March 25.
"My plan is to keep myself in top shape," Coleman said. "I'm training hard and want to have a good pro day to back up my performance at the combine and show teams that I am consistent."
