By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
EVANSTON, Illinois – His nerves, Deonte Gibson says, will announce themselves at random times. So it was not that unusual when they kicked in at four o'clock on Tuesday morning, which is when he woke up and thought, "Oh. I've got to go do Pro Day today."
"But it's OK," he will say with a chuckle some seven hours later. "It's gotten better. It's gotten a lot better. It reminds me of a game. I'm nervous, but I'm excited as well."
"It's been a lot of training," Lowry will say Tuesday when describing his existence since early January. "It's been going by really fast though. I'm just trying to enjoy the process and take it a day at a time."
"It's been very busy, for sure," Vitale will add. "I'm trying to get school done, so I'm taking four classes right now, then training also. So long days, very busy. But I'm loving every second of it. This is something every guy dreams of from the second, third grade, the first time you start playing football. And it really hasn't hit me yet, how special it is that we get the opportunity to go out there and show our talents to the rest of the world, to all these scouts here. It's pretty surreal. It's very humbling."
"It's really humbling, and I can't thank anybody more than my family, my friends, everybody who supported me to this point," Gibson will echo. "It's a testament to what they helped me get to. Whether I succeed or fail today, I'm forever grateful to them."
Why is it humbling?
"As a kid," he says, "you always want the opportunity to impress pro scouts and to be able to play at the next level. To actually be at that point in your life where you have the opportunity, it's just a great feeling. In that sense it's humbling. You've just got to take it for what it is, and not get too crazy about it."
"Watching the NFL, watching those guys play growing up, it's a great opportunity and definitely humbling to be out there performing in front of NFL personnel," Lowry will later agree. "I think it's just a great experience and very gratifying."
He and Vitale, in fact, performed for NFL personnel even before Tuesday, both earning invites to the league's recent 2016 Draft Combine in Indianapolis.
"That's definitely a kind of crazy experience. It's like a meat market, to be honest," Lowry says of his time there. "A lot of guys you played against through the years. A lot of guys you watch on TV through the years. It was a great experience to meet the coaches, former competitors. It was just a really great week."
"There's a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes that people don't see on TV," adds Vitale. "You're meeting with coaches and scouts for hours each day. You don't get too much sleep. It's just very long days. You're going to doctors a lot, getting checked out head-to-toe. So it's just a lot of stuff that goes on beside the running and the drills."
He and Lowry, down in Indianapolis, killed it when it came to their running and training drills, and during that week they both improved their status in the NFL Draft. So on Tuesday they did nothing but position drills. But for Gibson and another five of last year's 'Cats, the afternoon was their chance to get recognized, to make an impression, to grab off a place in the corner of some scout's mind.
"A great group of seniors, an exciting day," Pat Fitzgerald said of them. "You dream as a little kid to get the opportunity to play college football. At some point you had a favorite player who played in the pros. He was probably your hero. And now to see this group have to opportunity to go out and try to fulfill their dreams is something that's very special. We're very proud of them. I fully expect all the guys will have fun and enjoy themselves and put their best foot forward."
Have fun. Be yourself. Enjoy the day. Encourage each other. That is exactly what Fitzgerald told them an hour before the start of their auditions, which kicked off with the 40-yard dash. They went off in alphabetical order, Gibson first, then Henry and on through receiver Garrett Kidd and Oliver and receivers Miles Shuler and Pierre Youngblood-Ary.
Around them stopwatches clicked and notations were made and judgments were passed by scouts from 31 of the league's 32 teams, and then they moved on. To cone drills. To shuttle drills. To jumping as high as possible, and as far as possible. To weightlifting. To position drills that included passing and catching. "It's stressful," Vitale will allow, and he surely knows. This is just what he did down in Indianapolis, where he shined.
But then, in the next heartbeat, he concludes, "But at the same time this is what we've been waiting for our whole lives and working for our whole lives. It's definitely something you're incredibly excited for. So the nerves go away when you realize you're this close to achieving your lifelong goal."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
EVANSTON, Illinois – His nerves, Deonte Gibson says, will announce themselves at random times. So it was not that unusual when they kicked in at four o'clock on Tuesday morning, which is when he woke up and thought, "Oh. I've got to go do Pro Day today."
"But it's OK," he will say with a chuckle some seven hours later. "It's gotten better. It's gotten a lot better. It reminds me of a game. I'm nervous, but I'm excited as well."
Chasing the dream. Step inside Trienens Hall for #B1GCats Pro Day.
— #B1GCats Football (@NUFBFamily) March 8, 2016
WATCH: https://t.co/oXk41GR7Ei
••••••
His college career ended on New Year's Day and, a week later, Deonte Gibson began working toward Tuesday at TCBOOST Sports Performance in Northbrook, where he would eventually be joined by any number of his teammates. Dean Lowry, the other defensive end, started training there as well, and that was true too of (among others) superback Dan Vitale and quarterback Zack Oliver and safety Traveon Henry."It's been a lot of training," Lowry will say Tuesday when describing his existence since early January. "It's been going by really fast though. I'm just trying to enjoy the process and take it a day at a time."
"It's been very busy, for sure," Vitale will add. "I'm trying to get school done, so I'm taking four classes right now, then training also. So long days, very busy. But I'm loving every second of it. This is something every guy dreams of from the second, third grade, the first time you start playing football. And it really hasn't hit me yet, how special it is that we get the opportunity to go out there and show our talents to the rest of the world, to all these scouts here. It's pretty surreal. It's very humbling."
Dan Vitale and @DeanLowry94 met the Chicago media after #B1GCats Pro Day.
— #B1GCats Football (@NUFBFamily) March 9, 2016
WATCH: https://t.co/QC7YMW6epO
"It's really humbling, and I can't thank anybody more than my family, my friends, everybody who supported me to this point," Gibson will echo. "It's a testament to what they helped me get to. Whether I succeed or fail today, I'm forever grateful to them."
Why is it humbling?
"As a kid," he says, "you always want the opportunity to impress pro scouts and to be able to play at the next level. To actually be at that point in your life where you have the opportunity, it's just a great feeling. In that sense it's humbling. You've just got to take it for what it is, and not get too crazy about it."
"Watching the NFL, watching those guys play growing up, it's a great opportunity and definitely humbling to be out there performing in front of NFL personnel," Lowry will later agree. "I think it's just a great experience and very gratifying."
He and Vitale, in fact, performed for NFL personnel even before Tuesday, both earning invites to the league's recent 2016 Draft Combine in Indianapolis.
"That's definitely a kind of crazy experience. It's like a meat market, to be honest," Lowry says of his time there. "A lot of guys you played against through the years. A lot of guys you watch on TV through the years. It was a great experience to meet the coaches, former competitors. It was just a really great week."
"There's a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes that people don't see on TV," adds Vitale. "You're meeting with coaches and scouts for hours each day. You don't get too much sleep. It's just very long days. You're going to doctors a lot, getting checked out head-to-toe. So it's just a lot of stuff that goes on beside the running and the drills."
He and Lowry, down in Indianapolis, killed it when it came to their running and training drills, and during that week they both improved their status in the NFL Draft. So on Tuesday they did nothing but position drills. But for Gibson and another five of last year's 'Cats, the afternoon was their chance to get recognized, to make an impression, to grab off a place in the corner of some scout's mind.
"A great group of seniors, an exciting day," Pat Fitzgerald said of them. "You dream as a little kid to get the opportunity to play college football. At some point you had a favorite player who played in the pros. He was probably your hero. And now to see this group have to opportunity to go out and try to fulfill their dreams is something that's very special. We're very proud of them. I fully expect all the guys will have fun and enjoy themselves and put their best foot forward."
.@coachfitz51 met the Chicago media at the start of #B1GCats Pro Day.
— #B1GCats Football (@NUFBFamily) March 8, 2016
WATCH: https://t.co/Bt5Ml7uQPb
Have fun. Be yourself. Enjoy the day. Encourage each other. That is exactly what Fitzgerald told them an hour before the start of their auditions, which kicked off with the 40-yard dash. They went off in alphabetical order, Gibson first, then Henry and on through receiver Garrett Kidd and Oliver and receivers Miles Shuler and Pierre Youngblood-Ary.
Around them stopwatches clicked and notations were made and judgments were passed by scouts from 31 of the league's 32 teams, and then they moved on. To cone drills. To shuttle drills. To jumping as high as possible, and as far as possible. To weightlifting. To position drills that included passing and catching. "It's stressful," Vitale will allow, and he surely knows. This is just what he did down in Indianapolis, where he shined.
But then, in the next heartbeat, he concludes, "But at the same time this is what we've been waiting for our whole lives and working for our whole lives. It's definitely something you're incredibly excited for. So the nerves go away when you realize you're this close to achieving your lifelong goal."