Everyone knows that Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine are the most popular opportunities for NFL hopefuls to premiere their talents, but major bowl games and pro days are not the only ticket onto one of the NFL’s 32 teams. With the 2012 NFL Draft around the corner, Pro Player Insiders caught up with NFL prospect Matt Singletary to learn about how he has been prepping for his entrance into the professional football league.
“I’m down in Atlanta at CES, Competitive Edge Sports. Really, I’ve been blessed to just hang out everyday with Pete Jenkins. He was with every team in the SEC and with the Eagles, and he’s still kind of on-call in the NFL and in college just to come in and teach. I got really spoiled because I have him everyday for 5 weeks. That was a blessing because I had never really had coaching like that before. So just learning the fundamentals of the position that I play. [CES] has a great staff, so I’ve just been listening and learning everyday.”
What’s an average training day for the 253-pound defensive end? It’s six hours of hardcore football training. This, however, is no problem to Singletary, as he views training as one of his many methods to master his craft.
“8-10am we do film, 10-12p we have running, and 12-2p we have lifting. [I’m] working on explosion; getting bigger, faster, stronger, while getting the core fundamentals down,” he says.
When it comes to making sure NFL scouts are familiar with his name, the former Cal Poly Mustang says that everyday presents an opportunity to be seen and treats every training day as if it were a performance.
“I am doing the regional combine in Atlanta at the Falcons Training Facility on March 10th… Really, just any chance of exposure, I’m just hopping on it. Making sure everyday I come to work and put in the best position; you never know if anyone’s going to call or come in. It’s just really exciting to be your best all the time,” says Singletary.
The NFLPA Bowl participant also believes that obtaining success in pursuit of the NFL requires more than just physical skill; it requires one to have patience, confidence and a strong sense of faith.
“[I didn’t] really have drawbacks, anything other than mental; It’s so easy to get stuck into the ‘oh I didn’t get this invite or that invite, I went to a small school.’ There’s so many guys that do that and sometimes it’s just rough, but with prayer and the [right] guys around you, [that mental aspect] is no longer a problem.”
