In the pile of information Hampton University has available to prospective students, there is an item that offers the school "is a place that values scholarship, talents and achievement."

Well, the NFL would certainly agree.

Because five of the university's roughly 5,700 students were invited to the NFL's scouting combine last weekend. Five players from Hampton's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship team were roaming the halls of the RCA Dome with college football's elite.

That was more players invited from one school than Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Southern California, Syracuse, UCLA, Virginia, Washington, Washington State, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

In fact, it is believed to be the most players any Division I-AA program has had invited to the same combine.

"Guess the rating system is still kind of messed up," Hampton linebacker Justin Durant said. "I take a whole lot of pride in it. . . . We just wanted to come and show there's a reason there's a lot of Hampton guys."

Durant, cornerback Travarous Bain, running back Alonzo Coleman, receiver Onrea Jones and receiver Marquay McDaniel were the Pirates' fab five in Indianapolis.

Durant, who played the middle for the Pirates and projects to be a middle linebacker in the NFL, might be the most intriguing prospect in the group. A bright, hard-nosed player with plenty of speed (he ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash in Indianapolis), Durant is also tough-minded.

This is, after all, a player who had no Division I-A offers when he came out of Wilson High School in Florence, S.C., and found himself exchanging tales with "all the guys I watched on TV" this past week.

"I think there were . . . three of us that didn't have any (Division I-A) offers coming out, so we had no choice but to go where we went," Durant said. "Ultimately we ended up here. . . . We had to roll with the punches. I don't know if we necessarily made it easier for other guys. But I think we opened some eyes."

Coleman, who ran 4.49 seconds in the 40, had four 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Pirates. He was a player Durant said was "probably the best running back I faced in college," and Bain was a transfer from the University of Miami, where he played sparingly for one season.

Bain said he believed the other four Hampton players also could have played for the Hurricanes.

Fast lane

For years, agents and players lamented the "slow" track in the RCA Dome and advised roughly 15 years worth of clients not to run there.

But the old artificial turf is long gone and the FieldTurf surface works just fine. So much so that many scouts believed the 2006 combine was one of the fastest, on the whole, they could remember. And this year, the players kept the pedal to the metal.

Position groups are split up into smaller groups during the combine and, in one of the running back groups alone, Coleman, Arizona's Chris Henry, Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson, Ohio State's Antonio Pittman, Auburn's Kenny Irons, Florida State's Lorenzo Booker, California's Marshawn Lynch and Florida's DeShawn Wynn ran 40s that were clocked in the 4.4s.

Yes, in one position group of 32 players, eight of them ran in the 4.4s.

Several longtime scouts also emerged from the linebacker workouts lauding the speed of the group, led by New Mexico's Quincy Black, who ran 4.42, and Florida International's Antwan Barnes, who was clocked at 4.43.

Then there was Miami tight end Greg Olsen. Olsen ran 4.51 - two-tenths of a second faster than the next quickest player at the position - to launch himself up the draft boards after many around him had advised him not to run until the Hurricanes' pro day Saturday.

Big show

Randall Wendling, the principal of Rock Springs High School in Rock Springs, Wyo., said he intended to stay home from school Tuesday just to watch a little TV.

No one would fault the longtime educator for that, however, given the fact he was tuning in to his son's workout at the combine.

And Wyoming safety John Wendling didn't disappoint anyone who wanted to see what he could do.

Wendling, one of the biggest safeties in the draft at 6-foot-1 1/4, 222 pounds, ran 4.48 seconds in the 40, had a vertical leap of 38 1/2 inches and benched 225 pounds 22 times. All big- time numbers.

Teams are certainly interested. Just how fast they step up to take Wendling in the draft will be determined by how quickly they believe Wendling can come in and play in a defense. "The combine is just about showing what you can do, showing what kind of athleticism you have," Wendling said. "So when you go there, you go with that in mind, to show them some things."

Consider it done.

Passport to a career?

The Broncos allocated five players to NFL Europe rosters for the upcoming season.

Name Pos. NFL Europe team

Greg Eslinger* C Cologne Centurions

Teyo Johnson TE Hamburg Sea Devils

Kevin McAlmont G Frankfurt Galaxy

Doug Nienhuis T Frankfurt Galaxy

Lamont Reid CB Hamburg Sea Devils* Broncos Draft Pick

legwoldj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2359

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