Walking with giants

There are more than 300 players at the NFL Scouting Combine. Some from big schools. Some from small ones. Some that stay under the radar. And others that have names any casual observer of college football would recognize.

One of those big names-and equally big bodies-is a potential top-five selection. His name is Jake Long, an offensive tackle out of the University of Michigan.

One of the big men for the Aggies last year, offensive guard Shawn Murphy, was in Long’s group at the Combine.

“Jake Long is a physical specimen,” Murphy said. “He’s kind of beastly, I guess you’d say.”

At 6-foot-7, 310 pounds, the description of Long certainly fits in with his vitals. But players like Long and Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden are often bigger than that in the minds of college football fans.

Having watched a lot of college football, Murphy said he almost couldn’t help seeing stars at the Combine.

“It’s hard to not be star-struck, almost,” he said. “It’s weird, because they’re kids just like us. I was sitting in the hospital, sitting there watching ‘Spiderman 3’ in the waiting room, and I look over and Jake Long is sitting there next to me. It’s hard not to be like, ‘Wow.’ But at the same time, you can’t get star-struck. I was texting my friends, ‘Should I get Darren McFadden’s autograph?’, just joking around.”

Murphy said he got over that feeling after a while and realized that football is football, no matter whether it’s played at the University of Southern California on ESPN or at USU on KJZZ-TV.

Kevin Robinson never really had the same star-struck feelings. He said the other players at the Combine were all just regular people.

“They wanted it to be over just as much as I did,” Robinson said.

Although Robinson and Murphy may not have been out looking for autographs, that doesn’t mean they didn’t see some impressive performances.

For Murphy, Long’s combination of size and athleticism was the most impressive thing he saw. Robinson said he was most impressed with Eddie Royal, a wide receiver from Virginia Tech that was in his group.

Murphy, Robinson and NFL fans everywhere will see which teams were impressed by which players on April 26-27, when the NFL holds its rookie draft.

-da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu