For half a day Saturday, 100 high school football players from across the state were treated like professionals at the Broncos’ Dove Valley headquarters.
The treatment did not come with such luxuries as steak dinners or a Jacuzzi and rubdown, but instead involved NFL-style testing that included the 40-yard dash, bench-press reps and the three-cone drill.
For Mike Greenwald and his son Sam, who will be a senior defensive end and tight end at Central (Grand Junction) High School in the fall, the four-hour trip and $55 cost could prove just as beneficial as the usual two- or three-day football camp.
“Sam was invited to Nike camps originally, and that was going to be expensive and time-consuming during finals week to go out to California,” Mike Greenwald said. “I talked to one of the coaches at (Colorado State) and asked him what he thought about these combines … and he said going to this one was as good as anything. All the college coaches get the information from this combine.”
In coordination with the Colorado High School Coaches Association, the National Athletic Testing System was launched in six states this year and provides a standardized, comprehensive database that athletes, coaches and recruiters can tap into.
“The biggest benefit for the kids is to be part of a national system of information, so when they get their scores, they mean something,” said Stephen Austin, president and vice chairman of the testing system’s board of review. “It gives players a tremendous reference as to what extent they are progressing and if they are tracking to play college football.”
Austin said coaches looking for certain characteristics – for instance, someone at least 6-feet tall who runs a 4.6-second 40 or faster – can punch in the numbers, and the program will deliver a list of every athlete who meets the criteria.
On the flip side, athletes and parents can get a sense of what size school would make the best fit, from Division I-A on down the line.
Created by the American Football Coaches Association, the National Athletic Testing System has the full support of the football community, Austin said, from the Broncos to University of Washington coach Tyrone Willingham.
What is possibly better than that, however, is an opportunity for athletes such as Harrison’s Sean Casper to run around on the Broncos’ practice fields.
“It was a good experience. It was tough doing all those drills, but you get to come out here and show everybody what you’ve got. Usually you don’t get that exposure unless you have actual coaches come out and see you play,” said Casper, an offensive and defensive lineman who is ranked third in the nation in his powerlifting classification.
Adding awe at the end of the day was a tour of the Broncos’ facilities, including the locker rooms. But the greatest benefit, according to CHSCA director Jack Meehan, is that the system is designed for consistency.
“Our society nowadays is so test-related. The reason why we chose to come into this particular system is because it is going to be a standardized thing all over the nation,” Meehan said.
Austin emphasized that the NATS is not selling anything or trying to build a brand. There were no shoes for sale – or anything for sale, for that matter – and the sole focus was on the process.
“It’s about one thing and one thing only, and that is usable, standardized, uniform data,” Austin said.
