Six Bearcats invited to NFL Combine

The six University of Cincinnati football players invited to the 2009 NFL Draft Scouting Combine will be the highest number ever to attend the annual event.

Defensive end Connor Barwin; offensive lineman Trevor Canfield; punter Kevin Huber; and defensive backs Mike Mickens, DeAngelo Smith and Brandon Underwood are all participating in this year’s event.

Draft expert and UC alumnus Jerry Jones is the author of the annual NFL Draft guide, The Drugstore List. He thinks at least five Bearcats will be drafted within the first four rounds, beginning with Mike Mickens.

“There won’t be any Bearcats taken in the first round of the draft, but I have Mickens going around the middle of the second round,” Jones said. 

The Drugstore List also predicts Connor Barwin to be selected somewhere in the second round.  Jones compared Barwin to Mike Vrabel, the New England Patriots linebacker also known for catching touchdown passes.

“[Barwin] can play tight end or defensive end.  He could work in a 3-4.  It depends on how much a team wants him to drop into coverage, but he’s got the speed to do that.  I think the Patriots would be a good fit,” Jones said.

Without naming specifics, Barwin said that teams who play a 3-4 defense have generally shown more interest than others and that teams have been intrigued by his ability to play on both sides of the ball.

“Barwin helped himself at the Senior Bowl,” said Jones. 

Barwin played both offense and defense in the college all-star game.

Also in the Senior Bowl was offensive lineman Trevor Canfield, who had mixed gradesof his performance in that game, something Jones says
isn’t unusual.

“[Canfield] is very draftable. He had some fluctuating reports of the Senior Bowl – some good, some bad – but he’ll go in the third or fourth round,” Jones said.

The NFL Draft Scouting Combine will take place at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, where players will go through drills that measure their physical attributes. Teams also conduct interviews with the players to better understand them as individuals.

“It’s mostly meetings with coaches and GM’s during the first two days,” said Barwin about the event. “A lot of teams ask the same kind of questions: What drives you? Have you been in trouble? Questions about your family life, about your coaches. Can they trust you? Do you want be there? Those kinds of things.”    

Barwin has spoken with former Bearcats defensive end Angelo Craig, who participated in last year’s combine, about what to expect from the experience. Craig’s draft stock slipped as a result of his performance at the combine, and he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round.  

“The Combine’s hard and it’s a big deal,” Barwin said. “Teams and scouts are looking for the same stuff as everybody else: how fast you are, how agile you are, what kind of athlete you are.  See your size and get to know you as a person.”

Cornerback DeAngelo Smith has concentrated the most on his position drills heading into this year’s draft. He’s talked with another former Bengal and Bearcat, cornerback Artrell Hawkins, about what to expect.  Hawkins has worked with Smith on his position drills.  

“He’s been a mentor to me,” Smith said of Hawkins.  

Speed is paramount when scouts focus on defensive backs, and Smith could help himself with a fast finish time in the 40-yard dash. He said corners need to run at least around 4.4 seconds to be considered for the NFL, and he runs very close to that time. But Jones has some concerns with Smith’s speed.

“He’s not as fast as some corners. There’s some questions of whether he’ll play corner or safety, but he’ll go no worse than the fourth round.”

While Smith said it’s too early to tell which teams might be interested in him, he thinks his punt return abilities will help his draft position.

“I think as long as I have that on film it will help me, because not everybody can return,”
Smith said.

Cornerback Brandon Underwood is another Bearcat defensive back that Jones expects to be drafted.

“Three UC defensive backs are going to get drafted this year. That’s pretty good,” Jones said.

First-Team All-American punter Kevin Huber will undergo drills in hopes of also
being drafted.

The 2009 NFL Draft Scouting Combine lasts from Feb. 18-24, and can be viewed live on NFL.com and on the NFL Network. The 2009 NFL Draft will be held April 25-26 in New York City.