HBCU Combine for NFL draft hopefuls mixes Black culture and opportunity for often overlooked players

MOBILE, Ala. — As Keyshawn James approached a dummy bag in front of a swath of NFL scouts on Saturday, he broke into a little dance.

The Fayetteville State defensive lineman wasn’t trying to stay warm, although it was an unseasonably cold day in South Alabama’s open-air indoor facility as wind gusts ripped through the large doorways. He wasn’t trying to shake off jitters, either, although the draft prospect was working out in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams.

He just heard the marching band and couldn’t help himself.

The band from a local high school was situated a stone’s throw from the field James and 38 other NFL draft prospects from historically Black colleges and universities took earlier that day, but the beat reverberating off the facility’s walls was only part of the commotion. Roughly 10 tents covered the borders of the nearby parking lot, each with either an HBCU or local business printed on the front. Smoke billowed out from the lot as a handful of attendees grilled burgers and hot dogs for a crowd.

When the band wasn’t going, there was a DJ and a group of men stomping, clapping, and dancing in a step line for a crowd of 40-50 people.

The group in the parking lot, called an HBCU Village, was there to celebrate the first-ever HBCU Combine, an event created to help players from those schools, who are almost exclusively Black, get additional exposure as they pursue NFL careers this draft cycle.

“We come together and promote HBCU activities,” said Derrick Turner, one of the event organizers and a Tuskegee University alum. “We want to let people know that there’s an alternative to Division I schools. It’s a great alternative.”

The objective of the band, the stepping, the food, and the brotherhood was to inject some HBCU culture into the event, which was held in partnership with the Senior Bowl. Without it, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said, the historic day wouldn’t have meant as much.

“We would have been remiss to have all these HBCU players here and do nothing around it,” Nagy said. “If we were just bringing these players here to do vertical jumps and run 40-yard dashes, for me, we would be missing the mark.”

At least for James, the drumline that is synonymous with HBCU football had the intended effect.

“It’s one of those feelings that you can’t describe,” James said. “You get pumped up when you’re dog-tired on the field and it’s like, the band just gets you going. It was kind of one of those at-home deals.”

The day-long workout held at the University of South Alabama resembled the NFL scouting combine. It started with offensive players on the bench press before going through position drills, the 40-yard dash, broad jump, and the rest of the traditional testing drills. Defensive players did the same routine in the afternoon.

Most of the players participating in Saturday’s combine will either be late-round picks or undrafted free agents trying to stick in the league. Last year, there were no HBCU players drafted and only a handful of undrafted free agents signed in the days after. The combine is part of the league’s efforts to make progress in that area, giving otherwise overlooked players a chance to work out for and meet with scouts from every team.

The Eagles had two scouts in attendance, one of which oversaw a few of the drills and the weigh-ins.

Arguably the biggest riser from the day was Virginia State safety Will Adams. He had 21 reps on the bench press and a 40.5-inch vertical jump, according to Nagy. His 6.88 seconds in the three-cone drill generated one of the biggest reactions from scouts nearby, though, with a group of scouts stirring when he finished the drill, comparing times on their stopwatches.

Without the combine, a player like Adams would have likely needed to work out at a different school’s pro day or hope his school holds one for him. Regardless, neither workout would have the amount of scouts present, nor the attention given that Saturday’s event did.

Greg Moore, a former HBCU wide receiver at Lane University and one of the staff members helping with position drills, said opportunities like this will be pivotal to reviving HBCU representation in the league.

“It means everything, man,” Moore said. “Depending on what your team has, you may or may not see 32 teams. At least here, whether people like it or not, you’re in front of almost every team, if not every single team. So it’s an excellent opportunity.”

Off the field, each player went through interviews with interested teams as well. For Nagy, that was the most important part of the weekend.

“This was a great opportunity for these guys to connect,” Nagy said. “It’s one thing to watch these guys on tape and know what they are as players, but if you’re going to be a late-round guy or a free agent, which is the level these guys are, you’ve got to be built different, man.”

“Teams want to hold onto those higher draft picks, so you really, as a scout, have to know if these guys are wired right,” Nagy added. “That football makeup, that competitive nature, that resiliency, overcoming stuff, you won’t know that, there’s no way to know that unless you sit across from a guy, hear his story, and know where he came from. To me, that’s as beneficial as the workout stuff.”

The energy brought by the village to the event was also a major component of the weekend, Nagy said.

“I can’t wait till this is over so I can go down there,” Nagy added. “It’s just a celebration of the culture. It’s just a really cool day.”