Harnish ready to shine at shrine
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Goodbye spread offense, hello pro-style attack.
Former NFL coaches Brad Childress and Bobby Ross have a good understanding of what it takes for college prospects to succeed on the next level.
They are showing players in Saturday’s East-West Shrine all-star game some things that will help them showcase their skills for scouts and others evaluating their potential.
While many of the players likely to be drafted early in the NFL draft are headed to Mobile, Ala., for next week’s Senior Bowl, the standouts that Childress and Ross have worked with over the past week are getting an opportunity to impress teams that might consider selecting them in later rounds.
Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish is here.
So are Northwestern’s Dan Persa and Florida’s John Brantley.
They’re hoping to show where they stack up in a draft class that’s almost certain to be led in April by likely No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck. Harnish was named a captain and will start for the West team.
Harnish and Brantley, who’s playing for the East, likened the experience of learning a new offense and preparing for the game at Tropicana Field to a week-long interview for a job.
“It’s a cram session. There are whole new concepts we have to learn and a whole new set of terminology. We’re getting together with new guys and trying to get down our timing. We’ve got to learn to step around and deal with an NFL-style pass rush. This is huge for us,” Harnish told the Associated Press.
“At the beginning, everybody was still a little confused, but then everybody picked up on it easier,” Brantley said. “You can learn a bunch. You’ve learned so much in the past, but there’s always more. You’re never perfect. You never know it all. The more you can pick up here, the better.”
Receivers B.J. Cunningham of Michigan State and Greg Childs of Arkansas, Boise State defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford, TCU linebacker Tank Carder and cornerback Justin Bethel of tiny Presbyterian College are among those trying to bolster their stock as well.
“This is a huge game for me. I can show that even though I went to a little school, I’m capable of competing at the highest level,” Bethel said. “This is a week to make my name, this and the (NFL) combine. I feel like I’m on a level playing field. It doesn’t matter what school you’re from out there. If you make a play, people are going to notice.”
That’s what Childress and Ross have in mind. Although spread offenses have become very popular in the college game, pro teams are interested in finding out more about how players might fit into schemes they’re likely to be asked to learn when they wind up in NFL or even Canadian Football League training camps.
“Some of these guys have worked in offenses that don’t necessarily translate to what they’ll be doing in the NFL. ... I’m a coach who believes in the players making the system, not the system making the player. The talent is going to shine through,” Ross said.
“Nobody’s paying attention right now to any one particular person. For the guys who were the big guys on their team, this is a little bit of a different deal. It’s a little more like what they’ll be seeing when they get in a camp. The talent level goes up. ... Our job is to put in a base operation, then let them perform. Let these scouts evaluate them. They don’t want a spread offense. They want a pro offense.”
Childress, who recently interviewed the head coaching vacancy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, agreed.
“This also is a great place to see who can take in a lot of new information and transfer it quickly to the field. That’s one quality everyone is watching,” the former Minnesota Vikings coach said. “We’re limited by formation, but we’re not limited by volume. So you throw it all at them and see what sticks.”
Persa and Harnish, who’ll play for the West, are eager to get on the field.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to work in a pro-style offense after working so much in a spread. I’m looking forward to improving,” Persa said.
“This is a crazy week. It’s about seeing something, walking through something, then having to execute it pretty quickly. You’ve just got to go play. You can’t be looking around, worrying about what they think about you. Most of what you’ve done is on film. This is a chance to refine the process and let them get to know you a little more.”
Huskies getting a showcase: Harnish isn’t the only NIU player in a showcase game this weekend.
Offensive tackle Trevor Olson, linebacker Pat Schiller and center Scott Wedige, will be playing in the AstroTurf NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Los Angeles, Calif. Wedige and Schiller will be teammates for at least one more game as they will play for the American team, while Olson will play for the National squad.
Linebacker Jordan Delegal will play for the North team in the Battle of Florida. The game features players that are draft eligible and have either been born in Florida or have played high school or college football in Florida.
