This Saturday at Lantz Fieldhouse Eastern football players auditioned for pro scouts for a possible NFL contract at Eastern’s Pro Day.

Scouts from the Indianapolis Colts worked out with players as they auditioned without pads, did not run any plays and hardly even used a football.

Defensive players did not showcase their tackling ability or technique in covering a receiver. Instead, they ran around cones and in short stints.

The athletes tried to jump as high as possible, run the 40-yard dash in the shortest amount of time and ran bizarre drills instead of showing off their individual talents and techniques at their respective positions.

This is how NFL scouts evaluate talent.

Sure, they look at tapes from games and a player’s stats from the season, but if you do not have the proper numbers in the 40-yard dash or you do not put up enough reps in the bench press, your draft stock will fall or you will not get drafted at all.

Athletes have taken notice of these new ways of evaluating talent and are looking for professional help in order to better themselves in the eyes of scouts.

Both senior linebacker Donald Thomas and senior wide receiver Micah Rucker went to institutions to train for events like the shuttle-run and 40-yard dash. They went, not to improve their performance on the gridiron, but to improve the techniques needed to perform well enough in the drills so the scouts would notice, and they would get a chance to play football on Sundays.

These institutions teach techniques on how to improve times by fractions of a second and propel names up NFL draft boards.

These institutions Rucker and Thomas attended both seemed to work as they each had impressive workouts and produced good times in the various events.

I understand NFL teams are making huge investments in these young players and are trying to do everything possible to evaluate the talent in the best way possible, but there has to be a point where they have to stop and look at these players’ abilities on the football field.

Teams should not just look at numbers. If they only do that, they will miss potential intangibles such as heart, playmaking ability and general football IQ.

Even though a player may not a 4.4-second 40-yard dash, it does not mean he should not be looked at or given an opportunity.

Some things in football cannot be measured with a stopwatch.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.