Legwold: CU later in the NFL? Ex-Buffs hope so

Published January 27, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Sports Columns & Blogs

More stories »

MOBILE, Ala. - Ah, it's a week of fun in the sun on the Gulf Coast.

But spring break it ain't.

For former Colorado fullback Lawrence Vickers, it's a business trip, a seven-day job interview with almost every football boss in the NFL looking on.

"I just want to be in the NFL," Vickers said. "I want to be drafted, to make a roster. I just want to be in the league. This is where you do that."

Vickers is among a quartet of former University of Colorado players - it's a list that includes tight end Joe Klopfenstein, linebacker Brian Iwuh and punter John Torp - who will have spent a week at workouts for the Senior Bowl on Saturday. There are several all-star games, but when it comes to NFL scouts, coaches and pro personnel executives, the Senior Bowl is the granddaddy of them all.

The NFL descends each year on this city along Mobile Bay to look at the best collection of draft-eligible prospects on the same field at the same time; slam-dunk first-round picks such as Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway, Virginia tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Alabama linebacker DeMeco Ryans.

It is a week filled with quality matchups, one scouts simply can't duplicate anywhere else before the draft, one where offensive linemen such as Ferguson go one-on-one with some of the best pass rushers in the country, including Boston College's Mathias Kiwanuka.

It is here Vickers hopes to show he can do a little of this, a little of that and a lot of everything.

"It helps I got a chance to show a little bit of my versatility at practice," Vickers said. "I had a couple breakout runs, my blocking's picked up a little bit - people got to see me attack people out there - and they got to see me catch the ball a little bit.

"Just all the things I got a chance to do at Colorado, people got to see me do here. You've got a chance to show coaches how you do things."

And traditionally in an NFL draft, few positions are more difficult to get noticed at than fullback.

Teams can always seem to find something else to do with the picks when their turns roll around. Just five fullbacks were selected in seven rounds in April's draft and only two - Baltimore's Justin Green and Tampa Bay's Rick Razzano - finished the season on a team's 53-man roster.

So it is those who can do a little more than block, who can do a little more than catch, who do a little more than the others in the group, who make themselves a spot.

"I'm trying to show them I'm not only just a fullback, I can be somebody's third tailback," Vickers said. "They can get a two-for-one deal with Lawrence Vickers. Two-for- one."

Vickers, who was listed at 235 pounds last season with the Buffaloes, weighed in this week at 240 pounds and said he'd like to be between 240 and 245 pounds for the league's scouting combine in Indianapolis next month.

He's one of 10 players in CU history with at least 500 receiving yards and 500 rushing yards in his career. He scored 11 touchdowns last season.

"This is the perfect place for me to be this week," Vickers said. "When you block, you're blocking against the best linebackers in the country. When you run, you have the best people in the country chasing you. That's what a lot of people want to see."

The rundown, from several scouts in Mobile this week, on the other CU players:

• Klopfenstein, who still is taking classes toward his sociology degree this semester, certainly has a good feel for what the NFL's eyes wanted to see from him.

"They know I can catch and can run," Klopfenstein said. "I think they want to see me block, see how aggressive I am, how tough I am. It's something I've been trying to show this week."

And that's exactly the question mark scouts have about the Aurora native. They love his hands, his speed and his route running, but they wanted to see how he would fare locking on a defender.

It's why, at the moment, many teams see him as an H-back who would play off the line of scrimmage.

• Iwuh also has impressed scouts with his movement skills, but the professional nitpickers get a little nervous when a linebacker measures less than 6-feet tall, which Iwuh did in Mobile.

The concern is he can't see over the blocks to see which way to shed the blocker and chase the play. But in the open field, Iwuh showed quality closing speed.

• Torp, a Louisville native, has shown a powerful leg in basically sea-level conditions in Mobile.

As with any young punter in an all-star environment, he wasn't always consistent playing behind several different long snappers and with so many scouts looking on.

Early risers

Of the 48 players who will enter the NFL draft early this year, defensive backs lead the way:

Position Number

Defensive back 11

Receiver 8

Running back 7

Defensive end 4

Quarterback 4

Defensive tackle 3

Linebacker 3

Offensive tackle 3

Tight end 3