The NFL Scouting Combine got underway on Saturday and as always in the scouting process, some made presumably substantial financial gains with their performances and contrastingly some could feel their wallets getting lighter as well. Saturday’s testing session featured tight ends, offensive linemen, and specialists showing off their respective skills to interested NFL scouts.

On the winning side of things, the biggest literal and figurative winner of them all was Maryland Terrapins offensive tackle Bruce Campbell. At 6’6” 314lbs., Campbell hoisted 34 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press and ran an out of this world 4.85 official time in the 40 yard dash. Some reports believe that Campbell actually ran a 4.78 in his first effort unofficially. As if that wasn’t enough, Campbell’s athleticism showed further when he produced a 32 inch vertical leap in other testing. Maryland players have a history of producing lights out workouts as former Terps Vernon Davis and Darrius Heyward-Bey can attest to both vaulting themselves into the draft’s top ten with their outstanding Combine performances.

Contrastingly, Oklahoma tight end Jermaine Gresham already knew his bankroll would be a bit slimmer after passing on the draft last year when he was a sure fire top 20 selection and after Saturday’s showing he has to feel even worse. The Sooner didn’t play all of 2009 with a torn up knee and back at full strength the Combine was an opportunity for him to show scouts that he hadn’t lost a step. Unfortunately for Gresham his 4.73 in the 40 was very uninspiring from a guy 6’5” 261lbs. Although he scouts have plenty of game tape of Gresham tearing up Big XII defenses from 2008, health concerns may hamper his stock a bit and put him into a tussle to be the first tight end selected in April.

The Combine is not an exact science, but arguably its best attribute is the availability of the players to scouts who can pick their brains and find out what makes a player tick. These workouts won’t be the only determining factor in where players are selected, but a lot can be done in a short period of time to either greatly enhance someone’s stock or significantly detract from their overall attractiveness as an option come draft day.

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