link

ads

Friday, February 22, 2013

Dreams of the NFL Combine


     The NFL combine! A place that every college player wants to go and perform in front of NFL scouts and personnel.  Travel to Indianapolis, get interviewed by NFL teams, get tons of free gear, and most of all the opportunity to prove yourself in front of NFL personnel on national TV.  Well like myself, not everybody gets this opportunity.  After not hearing from the combine in early January players get to call in to check on their status.  I of course continued to hope that they didn't have the right contact info or the invite got lost in the clutter.  But the phone call confirmed that I was not invited which was a disappointing and it felt like a slap in the face when I heard it.  I was not discouraged, but even more determined to prove myself as I was getting overlooked and underestimated.  I am not new to this notion as the same happened to me coming out of high school.  But every athlete has to deal with critics even from their own school.  I use this as fuel and work to prove them wrong.  Trying to figure out a way to get my numbers out there early, I was advised to do a regional combine.  Regional combines are open to anyone who registers and not very many scouts would be in attendance, but I knew I could get reliably timed by NFL personnel on a good turf surface.  I registered for the Houston Regional Combine on Sunday February 17th.

     I drove down to Houston that Saturday and stayed with a friend awaiting my first big testing day.  I woke up bright and early and headed to Methodist Training Center which is the Houston Texans indoor practice facility.  Defense had to go at 7 in the morning so I ended up waking up around 5 with little sleep because of the nerves.  After checking in we were showed to the field, warmed up, and put straight to work!  I was well prepared with my training from Geared4Speed but this was now the real thing.  We were broken into groups and rotated between the stations for testing.  The defensive backs started at the vertical then went through to short shuttle, 40, broad jump, and finally height and weight.  It didn't take long for the NFL personnel and players to notice how I was doing.  The national director of regional combines and multiple other personnel and scouts took notice and began to talk to me and inquire about me.  I was being put on the spot to see how I reacted under pressure and I would have to say I responded.  At the end of testing we proceeded to do defensive back drills.  These were various types but basically included back peddle, break, and catch the ball.  The national director kept telling the QBs to drill it and bomb it when I was up.  I never dropped a ball and only had one go out of my reach on one of the "bombs."  I put up great numbers and impressed the crew there at the Houston Regional Combine.  The official results were a 4.37 40, 37" vertical, 4.07 short shuttle, and a 10'6" broad jump.  Hopefully I proved my speed and grabbed some attention.  But either way I will continue to work to try and surprise doubters and prove myself even further. Next up is Texas Tech pro day on March 6th... yet another opportunity that God has blessed me with.


-Student of the Game
#WreckEm

Monday, February 18, 2013

NFL Draft Bible Radio Interview


     I recently had a chance to be on the NFL Draft Bible Player Spotlight Show, its a podcast on Blog Talk Radio that features NFL Draft prospects. To listen click play below or click here:


"All-BIG 12 standout Cody Davis has left his mark as one of the most decorated Red Raiders players in school history as a four-year starter, accumulating 362 career tackles, numerous big play interceptions, 22 pass deflections and 14.5 tackles for a loss during his Texas Tech career. He joins host Ric Serritella in this edition of the NFL Draft Bible Player Spotlight Show to discuss his success on the field and in the classroom in addition to his pro day workout preparation and NFL Regional Combine workout February 17 in Houston." 

-NFL Draft Bible

     Be sure and check out NFL Draft Bible radio show on  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nfldraftbibleradio ,Facebook: /nfldraftbible, and Twitter: @nfldraftbible

-Student of the Game

Friday, February 15, 2013

NFL Draft Zone Exlusive Interview


     NFL Draft Zone's Shaun DePasquale caught up with me earlier this week and had an opportunity for an interview.  Click here to check out the full interview.

"Texas Tech safety Cody Davis wrapped up his career in tremendous fashion, with 84 solo tackles and notching First-Team Academic and Second-Team All-Big 12 honors. A big, rangy safety prospect, Davis was invited, along with his QB Seth Doege, to the East/West Shrine All-Star game in recognition of his accomplishments. A productive, hard-working player, Davis is primed to make an impact on defense or special teams in the NFL. I had the pleasure of interviewing him for NFL Draft Zone."
-NFL Draft Zone

     Thanks to NFL Draft Zone for the interview.  Be sure to check out their coverage of the draft on their Website: nfldraftzone.com ,Facebook: /NFLDraftZone , and Twitter: @nfldraftzone

-Student of the Game

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Training for the NFL


     The NFL... this has always been a dream of mine since I was a kid.  Now here I am finished with my college career and this is my shot.  The process started this past summer when the agents, financial managers, and training facilities started to contact me.  I made sure to be in line with compliance rules and started to talk to them and try and figure out a good fit for me.  At first I didn't know the exact rules and sent them through the Compliance Office as I was told to do.  This actually scared some agents away, they said compliance was trying to get them to jump through hoops and even spend money by registration to gain access to me.  Compliance said they were not registered and didn't meet the rules.  I will never know which one it was... the school could have been protecting me or they could have been protecting themselves. (I will touch on this in an upcoming post about social media).  Either way, I continued to narrow down my choices and began to think about where I wanted to train.  It was important to research and have in my head what I wanted to do because I only had two weeks after the season before the East West Shrine all star game.  After several months and numerous interviews I decided to stay local and go with options that teammates have had success with.  I moved out of my Lubbock house, won my last college football game, and the next day moved to Dallas to make it official.  

     I signed with Jerry Marlatt of 1st Team Sports Group and started training that Monday in Dallas at Geared4Speed that was run by Melvin and Jerry Bullitt.  My agent Jerry Marlatt is based out of Texas and has clients and former teammates Bront Bird and Lyle Leong gave him positive reviews.  He impressed me with his ability to get things done and be up front and honest with me.  I knew Geared4Speed through Terrance Bullitt because his brother, Melvin, runs the training facility.  Melvin has been in the NFL since 2007 and has multiple starting seasons at safety with the Indianapolis Colts.  I felt it would be a good opportunity to train with him and get insight and tips on succeeding at the next level.  Also, I have seen Geared4Speed results as numerous teammates in the past have trained with him and had great results.  I am already more than a month into it and I know I made the best choices for me.  My life now consists of working out, eating on a diet, and sleeping.  Lol alright it's a little more than that, but for the most part that keeps me busy and worn out.  Like the name suggests this training has been geared toward speed and explosiveness.  We work in the weight room for strength, on the field for footwork, and on indoor turf for all the pro day drills.  My diet is getting a lot of good calories and protein in me and avoiding bad foods.  I could go into detail but let's just say my meals consists of a lot of chicken with salmon and sirloin steak mixed in between.  Everything is going great and I continue to make progress each and every day toward my goal.  I am training hard and ready to impress scouts with my speed and agility.  Next up is the Regional Combine in Houston this weekend... any predictions on my 40 time?

-Student of the Game

Friday, February 1, 2013

Cody Davis #16 East West Shrine Game Cutup

*Screenshot of the game on NFL Network*

Check out my East West Shrine Game Cutup on YouTube: