Kent Ridley
CFL.ca
TORONTO — It was the beginning of the testing cycle and scouts and football personnel saw all of the invited players to the 2010 Evaluation Camp presented by Reebok get put through a semester’s worth of tests. Everything from how large your hand is to how far you can reach behind your back while laying on your stomach was measured and recorded.
Players filed in following their medical clearance to perform in front of a room full of people. One of the most nerve wrecking moments of the combine for the players was getting on the bench and showing the crowd, sitting in a semi-circle three deep, how many times you can press 225 pounds.
It was amazing to see just how the combine buzz works. A top prospect would walk into the room and like a wave on Lake Ontario, the attentive heads would start turning one by one. There were several of those moments during the morning session and perhaps the highlight of that was Mike Montoya’s record of 40 reps on the bench. The E-Camp record had been tied earlier that morning following 33 reps by both Eddie Steele and Joash Gesse.
During the afternoon there was a constant parade of athletes into the room to stand straight against the wall. Each athlete was weighed, had their height measured and then led to jump around (both vertical and broad).
In the jumping section of the combine, the competitiveness of these guys showed up again. Nobody wanted to be out jumped in either the broad jump or the vertical leap. Guys were lining up to get another shot at the leader. In the end the magical 10 foot mark was passed by six guys with Steven Turner and Cory Greenwood leading the charge at 10′ 4.5”.
Going straight up it was Steven Turner again up at the top with a 43.5” vertical leap. Check with the results page for more details, but things were outstanding all day long!
