Two Gamecock football players take a different path to train for NFL shot

For South Carolina, even in winter, it’s still pretty cold.

With the sun setting, the temperature dips below 45 and then 40 degrees, and that’s before one factors in the biting wind. The grass on this municipal field on the west side of Lexington has gone almost completely brown, and on the far side, a cluster of kids in baseball gear play catch with their fathers and run around.

The equipment is spread out, arrays of cones short and tall, tires standing. Former Gamecock football players Shon Carson and T.J. Gurley run through speed and agility drills, catching balls off a backpedal or out of a break. Their trainer, Kevin Darlington, guides them through the work, extolling them to “Take it to the house,” and run out each drill.

This is one of the last bastions of an NFL dream.

“It’s not one of those plush facilities,” Darlington says after the workout wraps up. “What we’re doing here is real and I think it trains you.”

But this isn’t the usual procedure.

The path for many draft hopefuls involves leaving school after fall semester (often dropping out in the process), and moving to Florida or Arizona to train for the minutia of pre-draft drills in an expensive, posh facility. If they’re lucky, they get a spot at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, but most have to wait until the on-campus pro day.

Carson and Gurley are not in position to jet off to warmer climates. Carson has a 7-month-old daughter and isn’t about to duck out on her for a long stretch. Gurley is still in school, working to finish up an information technology degree.

Carson connected with Darlington through his girlfriend, as her little brother did baseball training with the Ridge View coach. As Gurley was looking for some way to train while staying in town (his agent selection specifically hinged on the goal), he talked to Carson and joined.

This is how these ex-Gamecocks find themselves running through the 40-yard dashes, three-cone drills, position-specific work and anything else they can expect to run through at the pro day.

Each player has a little feel for it. Gurley’s father put him through what he called “backyard training.” Carson attended a big Under Armour combine in high school.

“I’m used to this kind of stuff and a lot of scouts being around,” Carson said. “And again, I played baseball too, so I’m used to scouts watching me do stuff.”

Darlington dabbled in this world before falling in.

A college track athlete at Charleston Southern, he began doing speed work in college. He’s been in high school coaching for 27 years and teaching nearly as long. He works at Ridge View, teaching weightlifting and working with the athletic teams.

He started doing some extra training work on the side as a favor for family friends, and it grew into the business he runs now, Speed to Compete. He’s worked with Brandon Bostick, Kamaal McIlwain, Newberry players who both hung around in the NFL for a bit.

He sets up programs that lead right up to pro days, sessions designed to mimic the drills and timing of what they’ll face at pro day. Darlington said he and clients work out a package, declining to talk prices but noting it's far less than larger performance centers where some top prospects train.

But no matter the similarities between the sessions and big day, there’s the specter staying in the game hinging on one performance. Not that the stakes bother the players too much.

“I like it,” Gurley said. “Football makes me happy and just having the opportunity to go out and show what I can do in front of scouts. I like that and I’m ready.”

For any player outside the combine level, the whole process is an exercise in being part of a very small margin. Some players are drafted without a combine trip, but the chances are considerably lower. Of the masses of players who catch on at the edges of the league, most fall off at one point or another before the season starts.

Darlington hopes the attitudes of his two pupils helps, especially on the one day they’ll need it.

“They’re go-getters,” Darlington said. “They attack this training aggressively. You’ve got to train for the pro day aggressive because if not, the NFL will eat you alive. You’ve got to be all-in to get this done.”

But the pro day is still weeks away. Carson started his training after the calendar rolled over to 2016, and he’ll be 12 weeks in when the scouts finally come to Columbia at the end of March.

Until that day, it’s putting in the preparation on the brown-grass field on the far side of Lexington, even when the elements don’t make it easy.

“Some people, they don’t see this,” Carson said. “They just think we go out there and run a 40 on that day. They don’t know what we go through to get there.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Two Gamecock football players take a different path to train for NFL shot."