Temple's Reddick ready for double duty if needed at combine
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Temple's Haason Reddick is ready for any test at this weekend's NFL scouting combine. He has prepared answers for awkward interview questions and has trained for two workouts.
After his long, winding football journey, this should be a breeze. The guy who switched from defensive back to defensive end in college will now try to show he can take the next step up into the NFL.
''It doesn't matter who they put in front of me, I'm going to do it the best I can,'' Reddick said Saturday at the league's annual scouting combine. ''That was my approach at the Senior Bowl and I did very well with it.'' Sunday is Reddick's day to show his stuff -at two positions if necessary.
Scouts, coaches and general managers all see Reddick as a pro pass rusher. The upcoming workouts will help determine whether the 6-foot-1\\, 237-pound Reddick would be better suited at defensive end or linebacker.
Reddick's ability to adapt is one the biggest reasons he's gone from college walk-on to a potential first-round draft choice.
Two injuries to his right knee cost him most of his junior and senior high school seasons and scared off recruiters. Reddick, from Camden, New Jersey, applied to Rutgers and Temple. He earned a spot on the football team as a walk-on and eventually won a starting job before receiving a scholarship. He had a huge senior season, leading the nation in tackles for loss and then impressed scouts by playing linebacker at the Senior Bowl.
His draft stock is soaring, but considering where Reddick has come from he is still one of the most unlikely invitees in Indianapolis.
All he has to do now is impress the toughest crowd he's ever faced that he has talent and measurable skills to emulate the player he's been studying, Von Miller.
''I think I can get a 4.5 (Sunday),'' Reddick said , referring to his time in the 40-yard dash. ''I have bigger goals for myself but I'd like to keep those private right now. But I think I can get 4.5. I'm not making any promises.''
The league's decision-makers are looking for more than mere numbers.
They will scrub every detail from Reddick's past injuries to past legal trouble, a grueling grind that has sometimes resulted in prospects not performing well here.
But Reddick aced his first big test Thursday - the medical check. Now he'll face a series team interviews that sometimes run late into the night, early morning wake-up calls and the possibility of two rounds of workouts on the field, something most of the other roughly 330 prospects won't.
Reddick seems unfazed by it all thanks largely to his training regimen at EXOS in Phoenix.
And although Reddick isn't sure he'll be asked to do double duty Sunday, it's an opportunity he embraces.
''It's a long process,'' he said. ''But it comes with it, especially when you're considered a high prospect, and I'd rather be doing this than anything else.''
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