Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Jared Crick, DT, 6-6, 285 lbs.: Arrives Friday; on-field workouts Monday
Lavonte David, LB, 6-1, 225 lbs.: Arrives Friday; on-field workouts Monday
Alfonzo Dennard, CB, 5-10, 205 lbs.: Arrives Saturday; on-field workouts Tuesday
The NFL Combine runs from Wednesday through Tuesday at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.
LINCOLN — The trainers had just finished tending to Alfonzo Dennard on the third day of Senior Bowl practice when the former Husker cornerback found out through social media that he'd be going home early.
Dennard felt "something pull" in his hip during a punt drill a day earlier — lined up as a gunner, he was grabbed as he tried to maneuver his way off the line.
But he'd already been practicing with the hip flexor injury, and he planned to keep fighting through the pain for the rest of the week.
Event organizers disagreed, apparently. Dennard logged on Twitter and saw the news. His agent soon called to inform him.
"I went in to get treatment and people on Twitter were saying that I dropped out," Dennard said. "It just caught me by surprise. I wanted to play, but they didn't want me to get hurt. I understand why they did it. But I'm a competitive guy. I was ready to compete with the best of them."
Instead, Dennard left Mobile, Ala., last month with a sore hip and a somewhat tarnished NFL draft stock, at least according to most pundits' published assessments.
Dennard's still widely considered to be a late first-round or early second-round selection in the April draft, but he'll be monitored closely by analysts and scouts at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis this weekend.
The weeklong scouting event begins Wednesday when offensive linemen, tight ends and place kickers report. Offensive tackle Marcel Jones, linebacker Lavonte David and defensive tackle Jared Crick are the three other ex-Huskers who have Combine invitations.
For Dennard, who arrives in Indianapolis on Saturday, it will serve as a chance to answer a few questions that have surfaced over the past two months.
He expects the Capital One Bowl ejection to come up first.
That's how it went during interviews with NFL team representatives at the Senior Bowl. They wanted to know why he threw a punch in the direction of South Carolina receiver Alshon Jeffery during the third quarter — both were kicked out of the game.
"I told them that I just got frustrated," Dennard said. "We, as a team, lost our focus. The game just got out of hand. ... I take that blame. I'm not that type of person. I think (the NFL teams) know that."
But there are on-field concerns, too.
Dennard was the Big Ten's defensive back of the year in 2011, most effective in press coverage when he could react quickly to short throws and use his strength and tenacity to knock opposing receivers off their game.
He rarely was asked in the NU scheme to position himself nine yards off the receiver, shading to protect the sideline — but that is what Senior Bowl coaches had him doing last month. Dennard had never played the nickel back spot either, before he started lining up against slot receivers during those three days of practice in Mobile.
And Dennard got beat often enough for draft analysts to start interpreting the in-practice failures as an indication that the 5-foot-10 cornerback had been a tad overhyped.
Recent mock drafts from FoxSports.com's Peter Schrager and CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco both still had Dennard going in the first round. But Dennard's not included in a list of the 32 best prospects, according to Scout.com. He's No. 45, according to Sports Illustrated's Tony Pauline. NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock doesn't consider Dennard a top-five cornerback anymore. National Football Post ranks Dennard ninth among draft-eligible corners.
"I've heard it, but I don't care about none of that," Dennard said. "What they were asking me to do at the Senior Bowl ... it was something new."
More unfamiliar situations are coming this weekend.
College football players don't run 40-yard dashes. They don't have to take the Wonderlic test. Their non-contact drills aren't normally televised.
But Dennard's been training and preparing in California for this event since January.
"I've seen lots of good results," he said. "I'm ready to go. I just feel blessed to be able to compete with the best again."
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