Griz players try to awe NFL scouts

If you looked past Louisiana State’s Glenn Dorsey at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, then beyond Arkansas’ Darren McFadden, and past the more than 300 other collegians in attendance, you might have spotted a pair of Grizzlies.

Kroy Biermann and Lex Hilliard, two players who concluded their University of Montana football careers at the end of last fall’s 11-1 season, participated in the annual showcase last week in Indianapolis, hoping to catch the eyes of NFL scouts.

“All I’ve got to do is impress one and make one team like me,” Hilliard said Tuesday, after returning from the combine.

The combine officially stretched from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26, but each player spent roughly three days being examined and tested before they had one day to try to impress on the football field.

Hilliard wrapped up his Griz career after compiling 4,016 rushing yards, the second-highest total for any Montana running back.

In December, Biermann won the Buck Buchanan Award presented annually to the top defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. He recorded 16 sacks in 2007, second most in the nation. He also led the Big Sky Conference with five forced fumbles, as the Griz registered the second-best scoring defense in the country.

Biermann, who spent the last two months training in Indianapolis, said he was “pretty pleased” with his performance, but that his timed 40-meter run could have been faster. He said his time was around 4.8 seconds, but that he typically clocks a 4.5 or a 4.6. A 4.6 would have put him in the top five for defensive linemen.

“I just didn’t feel it that day,” Biermann said. “Their thing there is to definitely break you down.”

At the combine, athletes are shuttled between stations where they are examined for various health issues, tested on things like vertical jump and bench press, as well as other measures of agility and strength.

“It was like nothing I’ve seen in my life,” Hilliard said.

Biermann agreed, saying, “It’s a four-day interview selling yourself to teams.”

Neither Biermann nor Hilliard are considered top prospects for the NFL Draft, which is scheduled for April 26 and 27 in New York, but both could be selected in the later rounds of the seven-round, 255-pick selection process. If players aren’t drafted, they then try to catch on with a team as a free agent.

“There’s a lot of factors,” Biermann said. “I’m not a first or second-round draft pick, we know that.”

Hilliard, who said his 40-meter time was around 4.61 seconds at the combine, doesn’t know if he’ll get drafted, but said he thinks he has a lot to offer teams.

“There’s some good running backs there (at the combine),” the Kalispell native said. “I think I’ve got a combination of power and speed. That’s something I can utilize against them.”

Part of the combine was interacting with other players, and Hilliard said he got to chat a bit with McFadden, the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up, about the 40.

“He ran a fast time and he offered to let me use his cleats,” Hilliard said, adding that he ultimately used his own.

Hilliard – who said NFL scouts expressed interest in using him as a “tweener,” a combination of both a halfback and fullback – missed the 2006 season with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon and played most of last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder. He said that scouts seemed impressed with his toughness and rehabilitation.

Montana coaches said that they see both Hilliard and Biermann as potential pros.

“Here’s what I know about him (Biermann),” defensive coordinator Kraig Paulson said. “He’s a hard worker who pays attention to detail, he’s a good learner. The big issue for football players is: Can they think on their feet while they’re out on the field? He’s got that.

“I’ve never been in the NFL, but I think those qualities are what they’re looking for.”

UM running backs coach Mike Hudson coached against Hilliard in 2004 while defensive coordinator at Sam Houston State, when the Griz and Bearkats faced off twice.

“They had Justin Green and Lex Hilliard,” Hudson said. “I think Justin Green was a fantastic back and he’s made it in the NFL. Coaching against them, I don’t see much difference between them.”

Green was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fifth round in 2005 and has been a contributor in each of his three seasons.

While the latest crop of Grizzlies gunning for the NFL would like to supplant Green as the last Montana player to get drafted, Hilliard said that isn’t the ultimate goal.

“To me it’s not about whether you get drafted, or what not, there’s guys all the time, I mean, (New England Patriots quarterback) Tom Brady, sixth round,” he said. “It’s not where you get drafted, it’s how long you hang around the league.”