A.J. Cann draft diary: Starting his journey to the NFL

A.J. Cann earned his degree from South Carolina in 2013, so when the Independence Bowl ended on the evening of Dec. 27, 2014, his business in college was complete.

The former Gamecocks offensive lineman signed with Atlanta-based Element Sports Group that night in the South Carolina team hotel in Shreveport, La., and immediately began life as a professional football player.

What that has meant for Cann the past six weeks is training for the NFL Combine, which begins Wednesday in Indianapolis, Ind. Cann will be one of five former Gamecocks in Indianapolis for the Combine next week, and he’s expected to be the highest draft pick among them. Several mock drafts have Cann listed as late first-round selection.

Cann, who started the second-most games in South Carolina history (51) and was named an All-American his senior year, has agreed to provide The State with a draft diary at regular intervals as he prepares for the draft in May. This is the first of those entries:

As told to The State’s Josh Kendall:

Selecting an agent is kind of like the recruiting process coming through high school. A lot of guys call you, trying to get you interested in them. I asked USC compliance and a couple people what they thought about a couple names I threw at them, and I have known (Michael Perrett) this guy for a long time. He’s a great guy, and he also was Marcus (Lattimore’s) agent. We had a good relationship. I trusted him, and when the time came, I thought, ‘What better agent could I choose than him?’ He’s been there for me for a while.

The agency starts introducing facilities to me, asking me where I would like to train. They keep me updated on what teams think of me and how can I get better and things like that. I am training down in Pensacola, Fla., at EXOS. The reason I picked this place is there are a lot of former athletes who came through the EXOS facility, and they put up good Combine numbers and are high draft picks. From former teammates, I knew this was a great place; they have a great strength coach, a great speed coach, even a nutritionist. If you follow what they do and do what they ask you to do, you gain strides in whatever you are trying to improve. That’s why I picked to come here. They are some of the best of the best. Why wouldn’t I want to come here and train?

I wake up about 6 a.m. Breakfast is from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. It’s about a 15-minute drive over to the facility from where I am staying. At 8, that’s when the first workout starts. You start off with strength and then there’s speed and then you go to lunch. Then we start back up at 1 p.m. and do the same thing over again. It’s pretty much a whole day jammed with speed and strength, working on all kinds of things to help you improve. Some days we squeeze position drills in there. I am there from at least 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. William Roberts is my position coach. He played 11 years with Giants, two with the Patriots and one with the Jets.

I plan to participate in everything at the Combine. As a big guy, I just want to impress people by them seeing how athletic I am as a guard. I am not sure what I will run as far as my numbers or lift as far as my strength, but when I run and when I lift, I want them to say, ‘Wow, this is an athletic dude for a guard.’ I want to turn heads by them looking at me and being wowed by how athletic I am.

My agent does a good job of putting me in touch with people who talk to me about certain situations, like how to handle interviews, helping with the Wonderlic testing and things like that. They help us with the whole process, not just with the training, how to talk and things like that.

I try not to pay much attention to (the mock drafts) because I don’t want to get distracted by what’s going on out there. I try to keep my focus for training and the Combine, but when I hear it I’m just blessed to be mentioned with all these other great players in college football. For my name to be mentioned in the top round is unbelievable. As a kid, you just dream of going to the NFL. I have been playing this game since I was 6 years old, and for my name to be mentioned in the first round, I can’t explain it. That day, whenever it happens, whether it’s in the first or in the seventh or as a free agent, I might break down, tears of joy.

This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 10:36 PM.