College Coaches To Receive Combine Results

Through our national partners, all results from this week's VYPE South Regional Combine will be sent to every football-playing college in the nation. Last year's event was the largest of its kind in Arkansas, drawing more than 300 participants. In the current economic climate, opportunities for spending $50 to save $50,000 are about as easy to find as a winning lottery ticket. But if you or your son happens to be a college football hopeful, such an opportunity exists next month at the VYPE South Regional Combine for Football in Springdale. The combine will be April 25 from noon to 4 p.m. For $50, participants will learn techniques to improve in standard combine drills such as the 40-yard dash, shuttle, vertical leap and bench press. They also will be tested in all of the events to obtain their Nike SPARQ rating by a certified SPARQ trainer. "We don't just test, we teach athletes what they need to do to improve their times prior to the Vype Combine and future combines," said Athlete Plus' Adam Taylor, a former University of Arkansas strength coach who will lead the combine testing. AthletePlus also will offer a Combine Prep Camp to prepare for all of the events, with prices ranging from $300 to $500. Athletes are screened by Chris Cothern, a physical therapist and state director of the National Strength & Conditioning Association, to assess any differences in right and left lower extremities that could contribute to injuries or keep an athlete from becoming a playmaker. Prep Campers also will receive one-on-one training from Taylor, who has trained thousands of college athletes and more than 40 All-Americans. "An athletic scholarship can be worth up to $50,000 a year," Cothern said. "Competition is intense and athletes must get noticed in recruiting and most must train properly during the offseason to even have a chance at these scholarships. The Vype South Regional Combine is one tool to utilize in this difficult quest." Failure to get noticed is the No. 1 reason many prospects fly under college recruiters' radars. Maybe a player plays at a small school or is on a losing team that never makes the playoffs. Maybe they had an off night the game a college coach was in attendance or maybe their full potential doesn't show on a scratchy game film. Whatever the reason, not getting noticed is not a high school coach's fault, although several improve their players' college chances by sending highlights to schools, it's the player's fault. You cannot sit around waiting on colleges to find you. You must go find the college and, most importantly, provide the coaching staff with every piece of information needed to ensure a scholarship offer has your name on it. Most coaches won't offer a scholarship until they've checked and crosschecked everything from grades to 40-yard-dash times. For academics, they check with counselors. For 40 times, they check combine results. Slowly disappearing are the days of thousands of recruits reporting 4.4 second 40s, often timed by quick-triggered high school coaches or someone else with a hand-held stopwatch. Nowadays, college coaches rely heavily on the accuracy of radar times for 40s and SPARQ ratings, two things participants in the VYPE South Regional Combine will receive for only $50. "This is a great event for kids and that's why VYPE got involved," said VYPE editor Mike Capshaw. "This is the fourth year AthletePlus has had the event and last year's combine was the biggest in the state with more than 300 participants. "The results will be sent dozens of colleges - big and small - all over the country, so every participant will get maximum exposure."