Before the one-on-ones, participants in the CFL’s national combine will have to go one-on-more.
The invitees to the combine are to meet representatives of the nine CFL teams Thursday night at Mosaic Stadium. The 15-minute interviews are as much a part of the combine as the 40-yard dash, the bench press and the one-on-one drills each player will face over the next two days.
John Murphy, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ assistant vice-president of football operations and personnel, is entering his 13th season as a CFL talent evaluator.
He has sat in on numerous interviews over the years and will do so again Thursday night when the Roughriders contingent — Murphy, assistant vice-president of football operations and administration Jeremy O’Day, vice-president of football operations/head coach/GM Chris Jones and various assistant coaches — grills the prospects.
The Saskatchewan brass also will be in the Credit Union EventPlex on Friday and Saturday for the on-field aspect of the combine as the hopefuls try to impress prospective employers.
Murphy sat down with Riderville.com to discuss the Roughriders’ approach to the combine in advance of the May 7 CFL draft. The conversation has been edited for length.
What do you look for at the combine?
“For the coaches, I think they’re going to see all the things Jeremy and I and maybe Chris have been able to see. We’ve been able to watch these guys more, so we’re looking more from the inside out and the coaches are now looking from the outside in in the sense of, ‘I want to get to know the guy. I want to see how he’s interacting. I want to get a vibe for who this person is that we might be bringing into our building.’
“We’re all going to watch the film together, we’re all going to spend time seeing their results, but getting a first-hand account of what kind of guy this is, what kind of leader he is, how does he deal with pressure — because this is a pressure-packed scenario for these kids — they’ve got three days to make a big impression.”
So in your mind, is the interview the biggest part of the combine?
“It’s a very big aspect because this is your first chance to really get to meet this kid and see what he’s about. The film is already there. There’s documentation from last year about what he ran in the 40 or jumped. But getting to know who this guy is and how he’s going to represent himself and your team, this could be a first and last shot for these guys to do that.”
Is the interview a make-or-break thing for the players?
“I think it’s a little bit of both. If you already have a context for what a coach has had to say about him or what his teammates have thought about him, that’s the information you could dig up on your own. When a guy sits down in front of you, he’s either going to prove that correct or he’s going to raise some new questions.
“If you’re a player, what you want to do is stay active. Don’t let us come to a decision on what your grade is or who you are until as close to May 7 as humanly possible.”
During the interview, does a 21-year-old prospect get a pass if he stumbles because he’s nervous?
“If a kid is stumbling, I’d rather have him stumble because it’s not a prepared statement. It’s not something a coach or an agent or a former teammate has told him to say because it’s what we want to hear. Just be honest. Tell us the truth. If you really do get up every day and do those things, terrific. But don’t give me the Hulk Hogan ‘I say my prayers and eat my vitamins’ because it’ll play out.
“More times than not, we already know the answer to the question we’re asking. It’s a loaded question to begin with, so if you’re not brutally honest with us, you may never know that we knew what was behind Door No. 2. With so many people in the room, if you give us a phony or made-up answer, it’s going to come out in one of those nine team rooms because you won’t be able to keep to that same answer if it’s not the truth or it’s not what you really feel.”
Do you ask them weird questions like “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”
“No, nothing like that (laughs). If you play in the trenches, you’re going to get hit with, ‘When was the last time you were in a fight?’ If they’ve come from a winning team, how would they deal with tough times?
“If they’ve been a team captain or played a skill position, we’re going to say, ‘Hey, see (special-teams co-ordinator) Craig Dickenson there? He doesn’t care about all that. He wants to know if you’re willing to go make a tackle. Can you go from being a guy who has the ball in his hand — and that’s how he was making a living in college — to doing the dirty work and getting thrown around? Can you go from being an East Coast kid who has played in front of everybody to practising five days a week and nobody even knows you’re on the team and you’re on a practice roster in Regina in October? Are you going to have the same pleasant attitude that you have right now, telling me it’s the greatest thing ever?’ There’s a tell there.’’
Most of the players have done testing before at the East-West Game or college pro days. What aspect of scouting them weighs the most?
“You always have to go back to the film. If something stands out here (at the combine) dramatically — better or worse than in the past — hopefully you’ve asked the right question as to why that has happened. Was it an injury or is that just how they performed under pressure on this specific weekend?
“You can always double back to see what a guy has done since last spring when he trained for the East-West. How has he prepared in the last eight months? How has he prepared in the last four to six weeks, knowing that this was his big opportunity? If a guy is a lot better, it maybe shows what kind of work ethic he has. If he’s not as good or if he passes on doing something here, that maybe shows a lack of competitive fire in a guy.
“It’s always going to be the film. If he runs a lot faster or a lot slower, the film’s going to show you what kind of football player and what kind of football speed the guy has.”
What on-field aspect of the combine do you consider the most important?
“The one-on-one part can give you a better chance to see what you already thought of the guy. He’s going to put an exclamation point on it, pro or con. Guys can be good athletes but maybe not good testers. Other guys can be good straight-line 40 guys but their other categories maybe aren’t so good.
“For each individual position, there’s a drill or a certain category that you’re looking for. There aren’t too many offensive linemen running 40 or 60 yards downfield. If they are, it’s normally not a positive play. For receivers and DBs, the one-on-ones start to break it open a little bit. You can look at their testing scores and go to their film, but now when you’re putting them all in a competitive environment, it gives you a chance to start narrowing down the process.”
