Jay, here.

As a follow-up to Peter’s entry on the NFL Scouting Combines, I decided to ask Josh what he thought about the experience.

His response: it was bowling shoe ugly.

By the Power of Grayskull, here’s the first part of Josh’s experience.

Wilcox At The Combines: Bowling Shoe Ugly!
By Josh Wilcox
DSN Contributor

As a “journalist”, I have had the opportunity to talk about a lot of the good times I have had throughout my athletic journey in life.  But I guess you sometimes need to show your inner fortitude and allow some of the darker moments to come to light and talk about those, as well. What am I talking about? With the NFL Combine acting as the North Star in football junkies eyes everywhere, lets talk about the experience I had in good old Indy.

To steal a line from one of my favorite announcers, and a friend, Jim Ross from the WWE, and XFL, “It was Bowling Shoe Ugly!”

Before we start to speak about this, let’s get a few things straight, or just keep these overtones in mind when reading this. For some of you that might be difficult, but give it a shot:

• Going in to Indy, I knew that my chances at being a top round pick were slim, but a decent performance could help.

• I am not going to lie. I am not a combine type of guy because it does not play to my strengths. Some of the things that helped me in my short career you can’t teach, it comes from good jeans and good genes. Thanks, Dad. I am not bragging either. It is what it is. And the reason I actually got a chance to go to this meat market was because of my instincts, and knowing the game. I have never been called graceful. In fact, friends have told me that I was one of the most athletic un-athletic guys they have ever seen. Chew on that for a while.

• The person in this universe besides the Big Dog upstairs that is my worst critic is Josh Wilcox. Not one person ever puts more pressure on me than me. This has gotten me far in life, but what gets you to the party does not always get you the hottest chick. Sometimes you get bombed and do stupid things. Huh? Whole heartedly, this is a time when being hard on myself was not the best thing for me.

Keep in mind this was 1997 and I did not have my He-Man Trapper Keeper journal, so I can’t remember if it started on a Wednesday or not. And some of the times and numbers might be off, but will be close. Honestly, I really don’t want to remember some of this. But here it goes.

I got to the Eugene airport early in the morning. I believe we flew in on Thursday. On my flight to Denver was Derrick Barnes, an OLB on my team. I think that year it was Derrick, Paul Wiggy, Kenny and myself. Graz, who ended up getting drafted, did not get invited for some unknown dumb reason. When we got to Denver on our way to Indy, we saw James Darling from WSU, Tony Gonzales, and more. It was cool. Here I am with the best players in the country and most of them are good guys.

We arrive in Denver and waiting for our bags we were met by representatives from the teams that helped all of us get into shuttle vans and go to the hotel. I remember talking with Chad Lewis in our van, the TE from BYU. He was a great guy and later played with both Jed Weaver and my favorite Duck TE of all time, Jeff Thomason. We talked about me playing with Steve Sarkisian in the Shrine and Hula Bowls. Steve is a good dude, and is doing well at USC, but I still hate SC.

We get to the hotel and they help us check in to our rooms, with bags, bags, hats, hats, packets, shirts, shirts, hats, hats. I swear I am glad I got an extra bag with all the gear you get from the teams. I came home and gave three quarters of it to my friends and roommates. When does one have too many football shirts? Now Harley, Wrestling, and Concert shirts is a different conversation, so don’t start.

I got to the room and threw my bags down for a minute, and got my schedule. The tight ends were the last group for everything at the combine, and with a last name like Wilcox, I was not at the front of any alphabetical line.

Now here is when some of it gets blurry, a couple of tall cans blurry. We went to the hospital and got blood taken, EKG, X-Ray’s on any major injury. At that time, concussions were examined and I had no surgeries. So, it was not too bad. We got back to the hotel and went to a meeting about what to expect, and then went to bed. Jake Plummer was kind enough to put my bags in my shower. I roomed with Scott Von Der Ahe, aLB from ASU, and he slipped and told me about it at dinner. So, I didn’t have to worry about the stress. I mean, I was kind of like Cameron. I was so tight that in two weeks you could have had a diamond at the end of it. If you get that reference cool, if not watch Ferris Buller.

So they next day I think we had to get up early and take our pee test. Don’t you love to get up at 6 am Eastern time to sit in line, chug water and apple juice, and have a guy watch you take a whiz in a cup?

Morning!

Tags: Ducks, Josh Wilcox, NFL Scouting Combines, oregon