FanHouse CraigStevens

In "Rough Draft," lawyer-turned-writer-turned-football-player Clay Travis recounts his experience training for the 2008 NFL draft alongside some future pros. The following is Part 6 of 10 installments (read Part 5 here) that FanHouse will roll out every weekday leading up to the 2009 NFL Draft on April 25.

None of those stresses of the guys I'm training with compares to Army's Caleb Campbell (right), a 6'2" 229 pound safety from Perryton, Texas. His future plans are extraordinarily simple: either he's drafted by an NFL team or he's likely shipped to Iraq as a 2nd Lieutenant. Campbell doesn't announce this to the rest of the guys he's training with. Instead he confides it to me one afternoon as I review his NFL Combine questionnaire. One minute we're talking about Wolf from the new American Gladiators television show, and the next moment Campbell unburdens himself. "I need this Bookman," Campbell says, "or else my ass is headed to Iraq."

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In "Rough Draft," lawyer-turned-writer-turned-football-player Clay Travis recounts his experience training for the 2008 NFL draft alongside some future pros. The following is Part 4 of 10 installments (read Part 3 here) that FanHouse will roll out every weekday leading up to the 2009 NFL Draft on April 25.

As the days dwindle for Michael Oher (right) to decide whether to leave school early or return to Ole Miss, we end another workout and gather in front of the television. The Program, the 1993 college football movie starring Omar Epps, Halle Berry, and Craig Sheffer, as quarterback Joe Cane, is on the television.

For the first time I feel old since most of these guys were in first or second grade in 1993, when the movie came out. In fact, the majority of the guys haven't ever seen the movie before. As we watch, in one scene the starting quarterback, Joe Cane, complains because his father has never come to see him play a football game. Sitting in a large red chair to the left of the television, Big Mike Oher reacts. "Never come to see him play a football game?" asks Oher, scoffing. "I've only seen my own dad about four times."

Notes on a trip to the NFL Scouting Combine.

I've now heard the name of Cal tight end Craig Stevens more times here in Indianapolis than I had all through the 2007 college football season.

There seems to be a growing consensus that if you're a team looking for a tight end who blocks first and catches passes second, Stevens is your man. He put up 27 reps on the 225-pound bench press, making him the strongest tight end at this year's Combine, and he's one of the few tight ends around who actually considers himself primarily a blocker. Coaches love tight ends who love to block.

The only question is just how high a draft pick a blocking tight end is really worth. Yes, Stevens can catch passes; he's scoring a 21-yard touchdown against UCLA in the photo. But he never caught more than three passes in any one game in his college career, and most teams think a tight end who's purely a blocker shouldn't be a first-day pick. But the team that drafts Stevens will have a guy who can step in and contribute in short yardage immediately.