World Footy News

The USAFL today released the names of the 26 athletes that will take part in the inaugural Australian Football US Combine.

The Combine will test 21 student athletes with basketball backgrounds, four with football backgrounds and one USAFL player Tyler Mounce from the Orange County Bombers.

The Combine will be held in Redondo Beach, Los Angeles over the next three days from Monday the 27th of August. The pilot program will mirror the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Combine testing. Similar to the NFL Combine, AFL Combine testing includes standing and vertical jumps, sprinting, agility and endurance.

Attending from the AFL will be Tony Woods, Tadhg Kennelly, Mick Ablett, James Hepner and Amy Hattam.   Attending from the USAFL will be Doren James (Operations Manager), Andy Vanica (President), Matt Bishop (Revolution Head Coach) and Dan Sarbacker  (Development Team Head Coach).  Sports clothing and accessories company Under Armour will be providing the testing gear for the athletes.

The full list of athletes is as follows:

 

First Name	Surname	From	Background	Height	Weight (lbs)	DOB
Emmanuel	Moody	Florida Gators	Football	6’0”	205	02/27/1987
Draylen	Ross	North Texas	Football	6’3”	282	03/21/1988
Derrel	Acrey	Boise State	Football	6’1	242	05/31/1988
Spencer	Perrin	Eastern Kentucky	Basketball	6’5”	Not Available	08/14/1988
Patrick	Hazel	Boston U	Basketball	6’6”	Not Available	8/05/1988
Yannick	Crowder	Florida A&M	Basketball	6’8”	Not Available	06/26/1990
Ron	Burks	VMI	Basketball	6’5”	Not Available	05/18/1990
B.J.	Shearry	UC Riverside	Basketball	6’7”	Not Available	04/22/1990
Will	Taylor	Cal Poly	Basketball	6’8”	Not Available	03/20/1989
Matt	Sauey	North Florida	Basketball	6’7”	Not Available	10/04/1990
Jabari	Edwards	George Washington	Basketball	6’10”	Not Available	9/07/1988
Frank	Ben-Eze	Davidson	Basketball	6’10”	Not Available	08/26/1989
Scottie	Farrington	Louisiana Lafayette	Basketball	6’8”	Not Available	12/08/1988
Malcolm	White	LSU	Basketball	6’9”	Not Available	8/11/1988
Cliff	Ederaine	Eastern Washington	Basketball	6’7”	Not Available	6/05/1990
Hakim	McCullar	Delaware	Basketball	6’8”	Not Available	06/16/1989
Christian Bibi	Ndongo	Louisiana Monroe	Basketball	6’9”	Not Available	12/08/1988
Keith	Thompson	Utah Valley State	Basketball	6’6”	Not Available	01/18/1990
Mike	McLaughlin	Western Oregon	Basketball	6’7”	Not Available	9/07/1987
Eric	Wallace	Seattle University	Basketball	6’6”	Not Available	12/13/1988
Ronald	Douglas	South Alabama	Basketball	6’7”	Not Available	09/15/1987
Chano	Rashiduddin	Clark Atlanta	Basketball	6’10”	260	08/29/1988
Bennie	Rhodes	Fresno State	Basketball	6’6	190	04/14/1990
Waylon	Jones	SE Missouri State	Basketball	6’9”	220	6/10/1989
Tyler	Mounce	Orange County Bombers	USAFL	6’3”	200	11/2/1988
Quinn Purnell	Porter	St Louis Rams	Football	6'	200	2/2/1986

The schedule for the three days of the Combine will be,

 DAY 1 Monday, August 27, 2012

Afternoon: Athletes arrive & check-in to hotel, Double Tree, Carson, CA.

6pm: Welcome and Dinner, Sierra room

7pm: Presentation - USA Combine and the AFL Opportunity and Professional Pathway

8pm - 10pm: 2011 AFL Grand Final Match and AFL Highlights

 

DAY 2 Tuesday, August 28, 2012

6:30am: Wake-up Call

7am - 9am: Breakfast

10am - 11am: Presentation on AFL and introduction to basic skills (Visual), Sierra Room

11.15am: Travel to Velocity Sports

11.45 am: Lunch at Velocity Sports

12.45pm Testing Commences: Body Composition (Height, Weight & Arm Length etc.)

1.30pm: 3 x group rotation:

1. Vertical Jump Tests including Standing + Running

2. 20m Sprint Test with times recorded over 5m, 10m & 20m

3. AFL Agility Test

3.15pm: 30 m repeat sprint test

4.00pm: Afternoon refreshments including fruit & drinks

- Opportunity to conduct some informal interviews

4.45pm: Light skills session 5.30pm Depart Velocity for recovery at beach/hotel pool 6.45pm: Dinner at Hotel, Sierra room

8.00pm: 5min taped Interviews / Personality Profile

 

 

DAY 3 Wednesday, August 29, 2012

6.30am: Wake-up Call

7 - 8am: Breakfast at the Hotel 9.00am: Athletes & staff check-out of hotel & depart for Velocity Sports

9.30am: Warm-up for 20m Shuttle (Beep) Test 10.00am: 20m Shuttle (Beep) Test

10.50am: Depart for Manhattan Village Field

11.25am Basic Skill Session

12.00 pm: Lunch

1pm - 2.15pm: Opportunity to conduct some competitive/marking drills or other testing

- Also athlete’s individual pieces captured on camera

2.30pm: Conclusion and Wrap Up

3.30pm: Athletes depart

 

AFL International Development Manager Tony Woods said the historic testing session is the first genuine attempt to identify American athletes.
 
“This is the first step in establishing a series of annual Combines to be held in the US and will create a new pathway for athletes from the US to play at a professional level in the AFL.
 
“The AFL recognizes this is a new pitch into the US market. We need to relate to a certain type of athlete, sell the opportunity of a professional career in Australia and demonstrate that players can transition into another code successfully.
 
“We are deliberately targeting taller, elite athletes who play as centers or power forwards in basketball. We feel these athletes have the best chance to transition into our game. In addition we have identified athletes with a football background who have exceptional skills.
 
“We know that Australian Football is a challenging and unique game, however if you can test equal to or better than Australian players, and you have the desire, you give yourself every chance of succeeding,” he said.

For the first time 10 positions will be available for international athletes to test at the AFL National Draft Combine which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, between October 2-5. Two athletes from the US Combine will be selected to attend.