Deadrin Senat’s NFL Draft Blog Part 2: Post-Combine

The 2018 NFL Draft will kick off on Thursday, Apr. 26. USF defensive tackle prospect Deadrin Senat and FanSided have teamed up on an exclusive multi-part blog heading into the draft.

Editor’s note: Deadrin Senat’s post-Combine blog is told to and transcribed by FanSided senior editor Michelle Bruton. 

I felt great going into the Combine, and it was a great experience. I felt like I accomplished something when I went there, after I set those goals for myself. I set some new personal records in my workouts. I thought everything I did paid off.

The EXOS training really helped. Doing all my position work with [former NFL defensive tackle] Fred Robbins and just trusting the process really paid off. I felt like it was great for me in the end. [Editor’s note: Deadrin ran a 5.16 40-yard dash and did 35 reps in the bench press, third best among defensive linemen.]

Day 1

When you first get to the Combine, they give you a bag of gear and you fill out some paperwork. As soon as you do that, you get to your hotel, and then you go to psych testing. So less than 30 minutes after I got there, I was taking a test. It was about an hour long, and I completed five tests.

After that, you go to the train station, where you have informal meetings with all 32 teams. [Editor’s Note: These meetings take place at an actual renovated train station in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Indianapolis.] As soon as I walked in, teams were grabbing me. You walk into the room, and it’s like speed dating. Every few minutes you switch teams. I met with some defensive coordinators around the league.

As soon as I got done with that, the Under Armor suite was open, so I got a smoothie and checked everything out. Then I went back to my room to lie down around noon the first day.

Day 2

The next morning, we had to wake up at 5 a.m. for hospital testing. We went to the hospital and you spend most of your day there, until probably 1 p.m. Then you have a little bit of free time, so during that I went to the EXOS training center they had set up at the Omni Hotel, which is the hotel closest to where we stay, and got a workout in. I wanted to take care of my body to stay in good shape before I ran the 40.

That night, I had formal meetings with teams, which are one-on-one scheduled interviews. So I had a couple more personal meetings with teams in a separate room, not just in that train station where they met with everyone. They were getting a feel for me, asking me a lot of questions. They definitely wanted to know my story. I can say I met with a majority of teams around the league.

Day 3

The next day, we had drug testing. You wake up at 3 a.m. for a drug test, and after the drug test you have weigh-ins. After weigh-ins, there’s another meeting where you meet all the team doctors. That was the longest day of them all, since we met the team doctors from all 32 teams. I flew through everything pretty quickly because I never had surgery in my career. One team wanted me to do an MRI, and I was one of the first guys done with that part, which I was happy about.

I was kind of tired by then, but I went to the EXOS room at the Omni and got some more training in around 6:30 that night. I was in the training room until maybe 9:30 or so.

Day 4

On Day 4, we did Wonderlic testing and more types of testing, and then we did the bench press. It’s a lot, so you have to be patient. You have interviews and media, which was really cool and a good experience for me. It gave me a chance to tell my story.

The day before the on-field testing, you have free time, so I went to EXOS again, did more warm-ups, went in the hot tub. I went to sleep around 10:30 that night.

Day 5

I woke up around 4:30 a.m. to get ready for the on-field testing. I don’t really eat breakfast that early, so I just ate a banana and some fruit. I took some pictures and got warmed up, and then went on to the on-field testing and had a great day. It was basically filled with a lot of ways to see how patient you could be, but you have so many guys doing it so it takes a long time.

Each drill involved a different position coach, a different D-line coach. All of them explained the drills to us and told us what they wanted, and we did each one the way they wanted it. The Packers’ Jerry Montgomery did one drill, and it was great to work with him. It was going by pretty fast. We were competing with each other to see how smooth we could do it.

When I was done with the workout, I texted my agents at Sportstars. I was asking them how I did, because I’m really hard on myself, but they were saying, “You were looking good; you killed it.” But I did the best I could, so when I had some time I looked at it, and I felt like I did well, and my agents thought I did well.

Overall, it was a good day for me, and at the end of the day all the glory goes to the Lord and I was glad I finished it healthy. I was able to showcase my talents, which is what I went there to do.

Day 6

It’s Monday, and I’m back here at USF. I watched some practice today and then sat down and talked with Coach Strong about what he thinks is best for me. In a couple days, I’m gonna start cranking it back up getting ready for individual workouts. I’m gonna be here training at USF, doing treatments, keeping my body fresh. I’ll do a lot of position work, working on techniques, working on the pass-rush game.

The USF Pro Day is three weeks away. I’m going to work out hard so I can do as well as I did at the Combine.

Everybody back home is really happy about this blog and happy that I’m getting the chance to share my story, and I’m looking forward to continuing it when I have my Pro Day.

Deadrin Senat is a defensive tackle prospect out of the University of South Florida. The Immokalee, Florida, product has collected numerous accolades throughout his college career, including being named an All-Conference (AAC) first-team selection in 2017, a season in which he ranked second for the Bulls in tackles. Heading into the 2018 NFL Draft, he is ranked fourth in the nation among interior defenders in run stops. Follow Deadrin’s NFL Draft journey in Part 1: Pre-Combine.