Print Version
E-mail This Story
The NFL scouting combine doesn’t test football skills.
Even though college players entering the NFL draft are essentially interviewing for a job as a professional football player, the annual event evaluates skills more associated with a track star.
Because the combine is closer to a track meet than a football game, many top prospects in this year’s NFL draft have come to McKinney to workout with one of the greatest track stars of all time.
Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson has spent past the past five weeks helping a group of eight NFL prospects, including two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden, prepare for next week’s scouting combine at the Michael Johnson Performance Center at Craig Ranch.
“The combine process is similar to what I did because it’s all about the performance of the individual,” Johnson said. “We’re here to help these athletes execute in one of the biggest moments of their lives.”
Johnson and the MJPC’s Director of Performance Lance Walker have organized a six-week comprehensive training course that is preparing a small group of prospects for every aspect of the combine. The program includes preparing for the combine’s physical drills, like the bench press and 40-yard dash, and mental drills such as personality interviews and the Wunderlic test.
The eight prospects include McFadden and Felix Jones from Arkansas, Tony Hill, Derek Lokey, Nate Jones and Brandon Foster from the University of Texas, Nelson Coleman from the University of Tulsa and Joey Coleman from Texas A&M University.
While this isn’t the first time Johnson has worked with prospects preparing for the NFL draft, it is the first time he has trained them in McKinney since the opening of his facility at Craig Ranch in June.
Because the facility is so new, Johnson had to do a little bit of recruiting to bring the first group to Collin County.
“We let people know that we’re here and let people know what my experience was in helping guys prepare for the NFL combine,” Johnson said. “We told them what we’ve been able to do with others and the success we’ve that we’ve had over the years. I thought we did that and it worked out well for us in the first year.”
Johnson hopes his facility continues to bring in NFL prospects looking to train, as well as athletes from every sport. He says the success of his clients at next week’s combine will help recruit next year’s class. Having the potential first overall pick at the MJPC can only mean good things about the program’s future.
“We got the right guy [McFadden] and that’s important,” Johnson said.
The prospects involved may help Johnson establish his combine preparation course with future classes, but it was Johnson’s name that brought many of the draft entrants to McKinney.
“Michael Johnson gave this place a lot of credibility,” Coleman said. “Being able to work with Michael Johnson two times a week was something that I couldn’t pass up.”
For Lokey, the decision to train in McKinney came from the combination of Michael Johnson’s involvement and the proximity to his former campus.
“If you’re going to learn how to run a 40-yard dash, why not learn from the fastest man ever?” Lokey said. “It also helped that it was here in Texas. I’m married, and my wife is still in Austin. I wanted to be somewhere that she could still drive up and see me on the weekend.”
For Lokey, being able to train at the MJPC was a bit of a homecoming. The Longhorn defensive tackle grew up in McKinney before moving to Denton just before high school.
“I’d gotten excited when I heard this place was being built,” Lokey said. “I came to check it out and loved it. I’m sure I’ll come back here in the future for my offseason training.”
