Arizona CB
Antoine Cason's Draft Diary
As told to
Richard Cirminiello
March 6, 2008
I’m back with the second installment of my Draft Diary and it’s all
about The Combine in Indianapolis.
My
first day in Indianapolis was Saturday, Feb. 23. I arrived with a bunch
of other players and almost as soon as we got settled in our rooms, we
had to head over to the hospital for our physicals. I had no recent
injuries, so my exam went pretty fast.
On
Sunday morning, it was an early wakeup, around 4:30 am, to take the
urine test before 6:30 am breakfast. It’s ironic because the food they
serve for the meals at the Combine is all the stuff that we were trained
to stay away from during our Combine preparation. Bacon, eggs, etc.. I
stayed on the meal plan that I was using throughout my training so I
didn’t upset my body during this time.
After breakfast, my height (6’0”), weight (191) and body fat percentage
(5%) were recorded, and then I proceeded to the individual team doctors,
who requested a physical of me. There are seven rooms with between
three and five teams in each room, doctors and trainers surrounding me,
some light conversation passing between everyone in the room. Again,
since I had no recent injuries, my exams went pretty quickly. Someone
would say loudly, “Antoine Cason has no injuries”, and then I would move
on to the next room with a whole new audience. This entire process took
up most of the day.
The media session was next, consisting of general questions. Nothing I
hadn’t heard before. After the time with the media, there was a decent
amount of downtime before 5 pm dinner. After dinner, I went over to
what is called “The Train Station”. This is where a lot of informal
interviews of the players by the scouts took place throughout the night
as we waited for scheduled individual interviews with teams. In the
Station, scouts asked me questions about my family, where I’m from, how
do I rate myself as a player, the toughest opponent I ever faced…things
like that.
Around 9 pm is when we all started to go to our formal interviews with
the teams. The individual teams would request an interview with a
player and they were scheduled during this block of time. Each team had
15 minutes per interview. I had received eight requests on Sunday night
and another 12 on Monday. I enjoyed these meetings. GMs and head
coaches were asking me to break down my film, whiteboard offenses and
defenses, run through formations, and quiz me about all the positions in
the secondary and their responsibilities.
On
Monday morning, after another early rise for breakfast, I attended the
meeting with the NFLPA. It was very interesting learning about the
collective bargaining process and the business face of the game of
football. After that meeting, I spent more time at the Station, talking
with coaches and then on to a series of tests. The color test was
crazy. I had to read through a list of colors (example: R-E-D, but all
the letters are green). First you say the word aloud. Then you start
over and say the color and then repeat several variations after that.
After the color test, there was a book of 100 questions that I had to
answer. An example was defining a team player, and some choices were “a
guy that takes risks on the field” or “someone who sticks to his
assignment and takes care of his role within the game plan”. Stuff like
that.
Then my group and I met with our section leaders before doing the bench
press. I did 20 reps of 225 and I was happy with that result. After
the bench press, we took the Wonderlic test and then headed out for
dinner. I had some down time before more scheduled team interviews so I
went to the suite my training company, Perfect Competition, had rented
out and got a deep-tissue massage from Mark Gomez and Talitha Cadenhead,
and saw my chiropractor, Dr. James Adams.
After 12 more meetings with different teams, I went back to get another
massage before I went to bed since running day was right around the
corner.
Tuesday morning was exciting for everyone in my group. For DBs, there’s
a heavy emphasis on the 40-yard dash and I looked forward to showing
what I was capable of doing. I was in Group 10, which included Josh
Barrett (Arizona State), Mike Jenkins (South Florida), Leodis McKelvin
(Troy) and my Arizona teammate, Wilrey Fontenot.
My
first 40 felt good. My start wasn’t where I wanted it to be so I had to
regroup during the sprint to make up for it, but felt confident when I
finished. I improved my start on the second sprint and felt good again
when I was done. We don’t find out what we run until much later in the
day. I heard from a number of people my best unofficial time was a
4.47.
After the 40 were position drills, then the vertical (35.5), broad jump
(10’8”) and the short shuttle (4.08) was the last event. Then you’re
done. Just like that, it’s over. I went right up to the room to pack
and then flew home to Long Beach, Calif. to chill and regroup. Overall,
I was very happy with my performance at the Combine.
My
next step in the process will be the University of Arizona Pro Day on
March 8. I plan to participate fully in the workout and I’m excited
about another chance to show the scouts what I can
do.
I’ll check back with you at some point after my Pro Day and before the
Draft. Take care.
February 18, 2008
Hey, Antoine here, and you’re reading the first installment of my NFL
Draft Diary.
It’s been a busy couple of months since I played my final game as a
University of Arizona Wildcat. I truly enjoyed my time there and will
carry great memories with me as I move forward to my next challenge,
playing in the National Football League.
After my junior season, there were several different voices suggesting I
look into leaving school early for the NFL, and the league’s Advisory
Committee had answered my inquiry with a first day projection for the
2007 Draft. Although I was confident I could play on Sundays, I felt
that I still had many goals left that I wanted to accomplish at Arizona,
such as graduating, winning the Jim Thorpe Award, becoming a consensus
All- American and playing in a bowl game to cap off a winning season.
Despite just missing on a winning season and playing in a bowl game, I
was able to reach the other goals I had set, winning the Jim Thorpe
Award, a goal of mine since high school, being named All-American by
several organizations (AP, Walter Camp, Rivals, Football Writers) and
graduating with a degree in political science. The whole year was a
blessing to me and I’m glad I stayed in school to finish what I had
started.
My
favorite moment from last season was our big win over Oregon (34-24) on
Thursday night (11/15). My family was there, the game was played on
ESPN for the whole country to see, and my team played great. I had one
of my best performances as a Wildcat that night, returning an
interception (42 yards) and punt return (56 yards) both for touchdowns
in the second quarter, and felt I performed well in all phases, ending
the game with seven tackles and five pass breakups.
Overall, playing in the Pac-10 was a valuable experience for me. What I
love the most about football is the competition, and facing quality
receivers like Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith from USC, DeSean Jackson
of Cal and Michael Bumpus from Washington State every week in the Pac-10
helped me elevate my game every year. And in practice, my receiver
teammates Michael Thomas and Syndric Steptoe kept me sharp and made sure
I worked just as hard during the week.
The agent selection process was tough. There were many quality agents
calling me, but in the end, the comfort level that I felt with Ron
Slavin of BTI Sports Advisors was the deciding factor for me. Ron’s
approach and the way he conducted himself throughout the process
impressed both me and my family, and separated him from the competition.
The Scouting Combine in Indianapolis is only a week away and I’m excited
to go there and compete. I have spent the last couple of months
training in Fort Lauderdale, FL at Perfect Competition. My approach to
training is to make every day count, get better every time out. My
trainers at Perfect Competition have had me working on every detail of
what will be expected of me at the Combine. I ran track at Arizona
(4x100, 4x400 and the 200 meters) and I enjoyed the additional knowledge
I gained here regarding my starts, running form and concentration- and
feel much improved in every aspect.
The diet adjustment wasn’t that tough for me. Chicken, fish, fruit,
broccoli and veggies are the main staples of what I eat now, with no
fried or fast-food allowed. I feel the difference in how my body feels
and intend to stick with this diet moving forward.
I’m really looking forward to the Combine. I plan on being myself
throughout the process and doing what I have to do to succeed. That’s
how I’ve always approached the game and it has worked for me.
Take care and I’ll be back in touch with you soon.