Sports
National Football League Comes To Tolland
NFL scouts, agents, college coaches, trainers, supporters, and eight hopeful college football players converged at Star Hill Family Athletic Center for an NFL Pro Day Workout.
The 2011 National Football League draft is quickly approaching. Pro football teams are now refining their searches for that 'special player' by visiting what are called NFL Pro Day Workouts - invitation-only sessions where college football players can show off their speed, strength and agility to NFL scouts.
Scouts visiting a Pro Day in Connecticut are almost always headed to the University of Connecticut. The reason? UConn is one of the only places in the area with the indoor facilities required to hold such an event. That fact has left aspiring college football players from other Connecticut schools without many options when it comes to being invited to an NFL Pro Day event.
Not anymore.
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Early Wednesday morning NFL scouts from the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, and Seattle Seahawks could be found at the in Tolland.
Planning and coordination of the NFL Pro Day event in Tolland is owed to Jeff McInerney, head coach of the Central Connecticut State University football team, and Jack Maloney from Star Hill. The unique features of the Tolland athletic facility made the location attractive to the NFL and to the agents of the players involved.
Find out what's happening in Tollandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"A wonderful day for Connecticut. I'm proud that we had the cooperation of the people from the NFL and Jack Maloney allowing us to have this great facility, " McInerney said. "It's a great deal for the kids, for everybody out in the community and the state."
Eight players were invited to attend the workout. Three were from CCSU, two from Sacred Heart University, two from Yale, and one from Florida International University in Florida.
When asked about how the event seemed to go, McInerney beamed. "It went fantastic. They've never had anything like this, there's no inside facility in the state that can do what we just did here, for our kids, besides UConn. And the kids are locked out of UConn...they only let the kids from UConn in. So we did a service today for a lot of people."
The CCSU coach was referring to the athletes playing football at Connecticut colleges that do not have indoor facilities, like those at Star Hill.
CCSU defensive back Alondre Rush was asked to share any goals and dreams he had for the future. Rush replied, "To get a chance to be on a level playing field with everyone else."
In one special highlight of the day, Josue Paul, wide receiver from CCSU, set the all-time NFL Pro Day workout record by a wide receiver for benchpress, 225 lb. repetitions. Paul managed 28 reps, breaking the old record of 24 by a wide receiver. Watch the video of his incredible achievement here. Congratulations, Josue.
The players who participated included:
CCSU
Josue Paul - wide receiver
Alondre Rush - defensive back
Everette Benjamin - running back
SACRED HEART
Dale Fink - quarterback
Bill O'Brien - outside linebacker
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Dudley Laporte - tight end
