Hello from Mobile and the beginning of Draft Prep.
When the Fiesta Bowl ended, Izzy and I flew straight to Alabama so I could begin my draft prep training with David Morris at QB Country. I’ve lived a lot of places in my life (eight different area codes), but the south and Alabama in particular has felt like home. It was good to be back.
Draft prep is an intense few months of training and preparing to showcase what you can do at the next level. There are a few phases of the process: the actual day-to-day training (throwing sessions, board work, film review, strength, mobility and movement 5x per week), all-star games (in my case, the Senior Bowl in Mobile), the NFL Combine (a full week of interviews and testing in Indianapolis in front of NFL coaches) and Pro Day (a day of showcasing your skills with your college teammates in front of NFL personnel). In between, there are more meetings and calls with teams, workouts for coaches, and doing everything in your power to do a little more every day. Basically, it’s three months of the biggest job interview of your life.
One of the highlights has been training with and becoming close friends with Drake Maye and Carter Bradley. I was with these guys pretty much every day for the last eight weeks in Mobile, and now I feel like I’ve known them my entire life. We pushed each other, learned a lot from each other and did everything from having our Super Bowl watch party together to arguing over who has the best home state. Drake has a surprisingly good knowledge of all the famous businesses and people from North Carolina and I have to give credit where it’s due – Michael Jordan and Krispy Kreme are a tough combo to beat.
A huge shout out to David Morris and Josh Hampton from QB Country and the physical therapists at Encore in Mobile. There couldn’t have been a better team to work with for draft prep. I learned so much and got so much better. David is a technician, a master of the quarterback position and he made training tough, but fun and productive – just how I like it. It didn’t hurt that David set up zooms with Eli and Peyton and on-field sessions with legends like Philip Rivers, either. Josh has so much experience on the performance side, he’s trained three Heisman winners and multiple first-round picks. I was in great hands and feel like we really maximized our time together.
Now it’s on to the Combine and Pro Day and putting the finishing touches on this process.
