Andy Alleman Article from Massillon Independent

[Johnny Utah]

On what was already one of the most stressful days of his young life, former Massillon Tiger standout Andy Alleman received a phone call from a family member saying that Andy’s mother, June Alleman, was rushed to Akron City Hospital after suffering a stroke.Alleman, who was a All-Mid American Conference guard at Akron, was in Indianapolis at the NFL’s Scouting Combine last weekend when he received the call. The combine, which has taken on a life of its own in recent years, is where potential NFL draftees can make or break their draft status. Perform well, and a player could vault up a team’s draft board, earning extra millions of dollars in the process. Perform poorly, and it’s the opposite.With all that at stake, and his mother’s condition being in the back of his mind, Alleman still went out and made a claim as being one of the top three guards in the draft. He was the No. 1-rated guard in the broad jump (8 feet, 10 inches), the No. 3 guard in the vertical leap (30 inches) and the No. 3 guard in the 40-yard dash (5.07 seconds).For Alleman, it still wasn’t quite good enough. His goal is to be one of the top five overall linemen – not just guards.“(My mother’s stroke) affected me a little bit,” said Alleman, who starred as an outside linebacker in high school and didn’t begin playing on the offensive line until his junior year at Akron. “I’m going to re-do some things (at Akron’s Pro Day) because I wasn’t happy with a couple of things. I didn’t want to tell people (about the stroke) because I didn’t want to make excuses, but it sucks that it happened. It’s been a real stressful week with everything at the combine and everything else that’s happened.”A second chanceAkron’s Pro Day on March 9 will give Alleman another shot at improving in the three areas he believed he didn’t perform to the best of his capabilities – the bench press, 3-cone drill and pro agility. Being back at home, and not having the stress that comes with the combine – where every little thing a player does is under a microscope – Alleman is confident he’ll ‘clean those areas up.’Akron head coach J.D. Brookhart, however, has already had some positive feedback from scouts he has talked to.Brookhart began his coaching career in the NFL with the Denver Broncos.“The comments that were given to me was that they loved what he did at the combine,” said Brookhart, who led Akron to its first ever MAC Championship and bowl appearance in 2005. “They all believe Andy is a coachable product with a lot of upside.”The upside report has to do with Alleman being new to his position. A linebacker in high school, he was recruited by the University of Pittsburgh as a defensive end. Alleman played that position for two years at Pitt before having a conversation with then head Massillon coach Rick Shepas on making the change to the offensive side of the ball. Alleman’s teammate Charles Spencer, who was drafted in the third round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Houston Texans, also made the change and the two hoped to line up next to each other on offense. Before that could happen, Alleman decided to transfer to Akron when Brookhart, a former Pitt offensive coordinator, replaced Lee Owens as the Zips’ head coach.“Coach Shepas talked to me after my true sophomore year and encouraged me to make the change (to offense),” Alleman said. “I approached the head coach in the spring of 2004 about making the change. I thought Charles would play tackle and I could play guard and potentially Pitt had some pretty good guys up front. But things didn’t work out and I transferred to Akron. I’m happy with everything that’s happened.”Even though Alleman is still in the process of mastering his position, he is still his own toughest critic. He’s the first to admit that he didn’t go out and blow NFL scouts away, but he also doesn’t believe he did anything to hurt his stock. Alleman considers his 27 reps of 225 pounds in the bench press as being the biggest disappointment. His goal is to do at least 30 and as many as 35 at next Friday’s Pro Day.“I just have to clean some things up,” Alleman said. “Was I happy with my broad jump? Yes. I know that’s about the best I could’ve done. Was I happy with my 40 time? Yes. Was I happy with my vertical leap? Yes. I know I did about the best that I could do in those. But I wanted to be among the top five or six players in everything. Hopefully, I can improve upon some of those things.”Currently, Alleman is projected to be drafted anywhere between round two through the end of round four. If he improves on his marks from the combine, however, he could solidify his position as a second rounder.Hectic weekendJust how hectic is the combine?Alleman describes his four days in Indianapolis as ‘non-stop running around’. One minute, a player is meeting with coaches and general managers, the next minute they are rushed to the drill area and asked to perform.“Not to make excuses, but I was the first player in group one,” he said. “That means I was the first to do everything. I don’t think people realize how hectic it really is. For example, when we were doing the bench press, our group got there at 1:52 p.m. They told us at 2 p.m., we’re starting. That gave me eight minutes to warm up and they didn’t have enough weights, but that’s another story. People watching on TV think that (the combine) is the most technical thing ever, but it really isn’t. It’s more like you are running all over the place.” And yes, there is a method for that madness. It’s a devised scheme that the NFL general managers and owners put together to see how a player performs in a less than ideal atmosphere.“No question, they know what they are doing,” Alleman said. “You don’t do the lifting until the third day and the running until the fourth day. By then, you’ve already built up a hell of a lot of stress. By the time you’re done with everything, you’ve already been on your feet for three days and then you have to go out and run your best time. It’s just nerve racking and that was without everything that was going on with my mom. It was a very stressful weekend, but a very good experience and I was happy I was there.”

[Iheartkangaroos]

Does anyone know if the Pro-Day this Friday is open to the public?

[InTheZone]

Does anyone know if the Pro-Day this Friday is open to the public?

Technically, probably not, but with so many people, including parents, standing around the fieldhouse watching and coming and going chances are you can slip in and have a peek without anyone noticing.

[danalleman]

Haha, correction, he was not "All-Conference", and after looking at the official combine stats. He is as follows...1st guard in the country in the broad jump (8'10"), tied for 5th overall offensive lineman1st guard in the country in the vertical (30"), tied for 5th overall offensive linemanTied for 1st guard in the country in the first 10-yards of the 40 (1.71 ET), tied for 3rd overall offensive lineman1st guard in the country in the 40 (5.07 ET), 6th overall offensive linemanAs for our mother, she is getting better one day at a time, thanks for the prayers!! Overall, it was a heck of an article!