Clients Perform Well At Cold & Wet NIKE Football Combine
One high school football combine down and one to go. Combine prep athletes from DeLuca’s tested well at the NIKE Football Combine in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, February 27th. The day started out cold and rainy with well over 1,700 athletes registered for the national combine. NIKE “hooked up” our DeLuca’s SPARQ Trainers with free shoes, shorts and outerwear.
What makes the combine so important for high school football athletes is that NIKE sends off each player’s test scores to every college football program in the country. Athletes have the option to “scratch” their scores if they’re not happy with their result, however our hard-working clients performed very well considering the poor conditions.
Notable performances came from Blaze Richardson, an 8th grade running back who will attend Bayside High School next season – he ran a 4.88 sec 40-yard dash and a 4.56 sec 20-yard pro shuttle. Vinny Smith, a sophomore quarterback from Merritt Island High School, tested well in the power events recording a vertical jump of 32″ and a 35-foot power ball toss. Austin Mcguire, a junior linebacker at Palm Bay High School, ran a solid 4.52 sec 20-yard pro shuttle after the field was wet & torn-up, plus he recorded a 31-foot power ball toss. Jake Smith, a junior quarterback from Palm Bay High School, recorded an above average 27.5″ vertical jump, but what makes his stat so incredible is that at 6′4″ he also boasts a 100″ standing reach!
Athletes will now prepare for the Schuman Underclassmen Combine in Orlando, FL on April 9th-10th where they’ll also test the broad jump, 3-cone drill and bench press.
I was at the combine…the weather was the worst you could have barring snow. The guys from Deluca’s did an excellent job despite the conditions. The combine prep paid huge dividends as they easily executed the drills while other kids struggled and did not have proper form and technique. I even saw a kid literally jump when he got near the finish line in the 40 yard dash?! I’ve watched the boys every week of the combine training and saw the improvement..AMAZING. My own son has improved tremendously since starting with Deluca’s 3 months ago he has alread increased his vertical by 3 inches! Great job boys, keep up the hard work and great job Zach for helping them reach new levels of performance.