UCF’s Shaquem Griffin has yet to get NFL Combine invite

Shaquem Griffin is certainly a good football player, so it’s inexplicable he has yet to be invited to the NFL Combine.

Over his final two seasons at UCF, Shaquem Griffin had 18.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for loss. He won AAC Defensive Player of the Year for his work this past season, and he was also a second-team All-American for the undefeated Knights.

Griffin is what NFL scouts would call a tweener, at 6-foot-2, 222 pounds. Not big enough to be an outside linebacker at the next level, and not fast enough to make a seamless transition to safety. On that note he lined up as an edge rusher, as a linebacker and at safety during Senior Bowl practice this week for South head coach (and Houston Texans head coach) Bill O’Brien.

But Griffin was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which eventually led to the amputation of his left hand at age 4. Griffin may not be a first-round pick in April, but he seems sure to be drafted. He has not been invited to the NFL Combine, and Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports offered the criteria for such an invite from the combine’s website.

"All 32 NFL teams are invited to provide input on draft-eligible players which is used by the Player Selection Committee to select each year’s participants. The Directors of both National and BLESTO scouting services, which combined represent 28 NFL teams, are joined by members of various NFL player personnel departments to form the committee. The participating NFL executives can rotate on a yearly basis, and remain anonymous. ALL eligible players are reviewed and voted on by the committee members. Each athlete receiving the necessary number of votes, by position, is then extended an invitation. While it is not a perfect science, the goal of the committee is to invite every player that will be drafted in the ensuing NFL Draft."

Griffin had a big game on a big stage to end his college career, with 12 tackles (3.5 for loss) while playing all 90 snaps in UCF’s Peach Bowl win over Auburn.

So tell me, does this look like a potential NFL player?

https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/status/956007172806029312

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It takes more than a relentless motor and great belief in yourself to make it in the NFL, but Griffin has it both those areas as a starting point to his pro career. It’s a shame he’s waiting for an invite to the combine, but it should come soon after the Senior Bowl is in the books.