Solid On The Line
February 24, 2014
Auburn offensive tackle Greg Robinson granted Sports on Earth exclusive access to his NFL scouting combine experience.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL scouting combine may be the most important test of a 21-year-old's life. Certainly, it is the most intimidating. Agents invest tens of thousands of dollars so their athletes can reach a peak physically and mentally.
Getting to that peak was a challenge for Greg Robinson. The week before the combine, the Auburn offensive tackle caught a head cold. It settled in his nose and throat, and it hung on. He took a decongestant the whole week and quietly went about his business. Every night in Indianapolis, before bed he went through a light workout to try to "sweat it out." No one ever asked if he needed a Kleenex.
Discomfort is relative. Going with the flow can become a survival method. When Robinson was 11, Hurricane Katrina forced his family to evacuate their home in Houma, La. When they arrived in Houston, mom announced they were going to stay there awhile. Robinson didn't go home for two years. "When we got back, some of our things had been destroyed," he said. "But we packed just about everything we had. I didn't have much."
His first night in Indy, staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Robinson slept on a double bed in a room with Cal tight end Richard Rodgers. The next day, he was diagnosed with pinkeye. He was given eye drops and a new room with no roommate and a king size bed. He would not be spending much time in that bed though.
On Wednesday, Robinson was up before the sun rose for medical exams. There was orientation, a blood test ("They took about a gallon of blood, filled up six tubes," he said), a kidney test, heart test and more. Many different doctors from different teams wanted to get their own hands on Robinson, and they did. Much pulling, bending and twisting ensued. They wanted to know about past injuries. Robinson, who is as transparent as he is big, volunteered to doctors that he hurt his ankle last February when he fell off a golf cart and the cart rolled on his leg. "It was something I wanted them to know about so they could see it didn't affect anything," he said. "I said, 'Check it out.'"
They wanted to know if he ever had surgery. He told them he did, on his right lateral meniscus. They ordered an MRI of both knees, and another on his spine. Putting the massive Robinson in a closed MRI tube was a little like fitting a watermelon into a mini-fridge. They told him to make his frame as narrow as possible in order to slide him in. Once he was crammed in, he listened to relaxing music and dozed off. The MRI on his spine took 45 minutes. The left knee MRI took 65 minutes. The right knee MRI took 70 minutes. All told, the MRI process took more than four hours.
That meant no time for dinner. It also meant...
-02-24-2014, 07:06 PM
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