Football

• NCAA ban aside, football coaches may want to think twice before selecting Dez Bryant [Bryant comes with a caveat emptor tag].
• Mike Ornstein vs. Bill Henkel [Wilson: Marketing reps confirm altercation at combine].
• Yes, the NFL has to follow state laws when they are applicable [The Star Caps Saga Continues].
• Please read what Head Coach Marvin Lewis had to say about the NFL Combine [Inconsistent Measureables].
• Some will over spend, some will go the cheap route, others will pretend there is still a cap [NFL free agency begins Friday without cap].

Baseball

• Never seen Garrett Broshuis pitch, but I am sad to see him leave the game [Suitcase Chronicles: Not Crash Davis].
• Some love for Arn Tellem as a baseball agent [Hideki Matsui in Anaheim: "Man, I feel comfortable here"].

Soccer

• So now that Major League Soccer and its players’ association is not bound by a collective bargaining agreement… [McCarthy’s Musings: The Friday Five Explains The Demise Of The MLS CBA].

Neil Stratton

Neil will also have a brief presentation by businesses worth partnering with. This presentation is aimed specifically at agencies and agents certified less than three years, or recruiters/young agents considering starting their own firms.

If you are out in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine, this is an event you probably want to check out.

Football

• Looks like the Bills won’t be looking RB on day 1 of the draft [Rhodes joins Bills with two-year deal].
• A Division II DE hoping for a chance after the draft [Kees hopes to get deal with NFL].
• This was definitely kept from the media for a while [Shockey fires, but may rehire, Drew Rosenhaus].
• The NFL Combine is not only about 40 times and reps on the bench [NFL teams examine minds as well as bodies of potential draft picks].
• Will he be the first Mauian ever drafted into the NFL? [Maiava nears end of waiting game]
• Ian Greengross thinks C.J. Spillman will go 3rd or 4th round [Agent touts Spillman's chances in NFL Draft].

Baseball

• Apparently baseball fans like to shave [MLB and Gillette: Continuing to make sponsorship history].

Basketball

• B.J. Armstrong must love representing this guy [Rose's calm doesn't diminish following huge playoff debut].
• The NY Times seems to think the two are a match made in heaven [Bulls Rookie Has an Agent Who Knows What He’s Going Through].

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National Sports Agency

Besides Knox, National Sports Agency has three other 2009 NFL Draft prospects at the Combine.  They are: Pannel Egboh (Stanford), Paul Fanaika (Arizona St.), and Lardarius Webb (Nicholls St.).

So now, NFL execs will have the important task of putting together their draft boards.  224 players will be drafted.  There were more than 224 players invited to the combine.  And you better believe that there will be plenty of players selected in the draft who were not invited to the combine and end up putting together impressive Pro Days and private team workouts.  So just because your client performed at the combine, there is no resting now.

For a list of the top performers at this year’s NFL Combine, click here.

McGuire and his company, MS World, also represent Orlando Pace, who like Holt, is looking to restructure his contract.  I assume that a lot of discussions will go down starting this week at the NFL Combine.

The NFL has realeased its official 2009 NFL Scouting Combine Schedule and List of Players invited.  Rulon is in Group 7, which does not officially report until February 20th.  Kevin was left out of a very small pool of invited linebackers.  Only 27 linebackers, total, were invited.  Of those 27 LBs, a mere 13 of them are ILBs like Grant.  Many of the men invited as ILBs have no chance of replicating or beating the numbers Grant is going to put up at his Pro Day.

If you want to apply for Media Credentials for the Combine, click here.  I won’t be at the show, but there is always next year!  Who do you think will be the Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie of this year’s combine?

All participants in the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine presented by Under Armour will be wearing Under Armour performance apparel designed specifically for the Combine, slated for February 18 – 24, 2009 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. In addition, there will be extensive Under Armour branding throughout Lucas Oil Stadium during the event.  Under Armour also will sponsor coverage of the Combine across multiple NFL platforms, including NFL Network, NFL.com and NFL.com Wireless.

Under Armour will sponsor NFL Network’s extensive combine coverage. Last year, NFL Network provided 26 hours of coverage that incorporated the use of a record 12 cameras, an on-screen graphics panel highlighting workout results, and interviews with participants following drills. Under Armour also will present the following features:

• NFL.com Combine Live, which will provide approximately three hours of live Combine coverage during each workout day on NFL.com to complement the coverage on NFL Network.

• NFL Network Video On Demand, which will be made available for download through select digital cable providers prior to the 2009 NFL Draft to give users a more in-depth look at the participants. NFL Network Video on Demand will feature 100 participant bios including exclusive Combine footage, providing fans better insight to the Draft.

In addition, Under Armour will have a presence at this year’s NFL Experience at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay. Under Armour will replicate some of the drills from the Combine at NFL Experience, including the “Run to Daylight” where fans will have a chance to run the 40-yard dash against video footage of a life-size NFL player.

I must say that I continue to love every move made by this entrepreneurial and innovative company.  It is definitely hard to take on a giant (in Nike and other established brands like Reebok and adidas), but in a short amount of time, Under Armour has already left an imprint on football (high school and college), baseball, and is now getting into basketball and professional football.  While its stock may fluctuate by the day (which stock is not volatile in this market?), I like its business plan and believe that the Under Armour brand is as strong as ever.  This is just one more step in the right direction.

That being said, there was one story that stuck out among the plethora of combine write-ups. It was published by Nancy Gay in the San Francisco Chronicle. She wrote about a guy named Jason Dillon Dillard, who runs his company Signature Sports Reps, LLC out of Sacramento, California. Jason has a beautifully decorated website, but that has not yet translated into him gaining any big name clients. That may soon change once players start to notice his drive and innovative thinking. Instead of just hanging in the background, hoping that a team somehow finds out about his clients who were not invited to this year’s NFL combine, Jason showed up to the RCA dome and handed out shirts that said, “MISSING: Roy Lewis – Univ. of Washington; Mil’von James – UNLV; Damon Jenkins – Fresno St.; Clifton Smith – Fresno St.”, the names of his clients who received no combine love.

Now he has his his clients highlighted in a nationally respected newspaper:

Jenkins is a De La Salle product who had a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown against Boise St. in 2006. Lewis transferred from San Jose State, started 25 consecutive Pac 10 games and became a team captain for the Huskies. Smith was a premier punt returner in the WAC. James is a solid free safety.

If any of the four guys get selected in this year’s draft, it will surely be due to their agent’s push to get them extra publicity. Well done, sir.