TechSideline.com is pleased to once again bring you a "Rookie Diary" series covering one VT football player's efforts to make the NFL. This year's Rookie Diary subject is Bryan Randall, the 2004 ACC Player of the Year and Virginia Tech's all-time total offense leader. Randall is currently in Georgia preparing for the NFL Combine, which starts on February 23rd in Indianapolis.

Last year, we covered Nathaniel Adibi's experience. Adibi spent the 2004 season on Jacksonville's practice squad and just recently was signed to a contract with the Indianapolis Colts. We'll get in touch with Adibi soon to close out his Rookie Diary, ask about his experiences with the Jags, and get up to speed on his situation with the Colts.

Despite being ACC Player of the Year, Bryan Randall faces an uphill battle to make the NFL. In his ESPN Draft Tracker profile, Scouts Inc. praises Randall's strengths (quickness, elusiveness, pocket presence, and toughness), gives a rundown of his weaknesses (needs to work on mechanics, doesn't have ideal arm strength, and is erratic and mistake-prone), and concludes matter-of-factly, "If he can improve his accuracy and become a better game manager, he has the potential to develop into an adequate backup. He is a long way away from that point now, though, and will need time on [a] practice squad or in an NFL Europe type situation to continue to work on all of his inconsistencies and technical weakness." ESPN notes that Randall's upside makes him a worth an NFL team spending a second-day draft pick on him.

We caught up with Randall as he prepares for the Combine just a week away. The Combine begins February 23rd, but quarterbacks aren't slated to work out until Friday, February 25th. After that, Randall will work out in at least one Pro Day session at Virginia Tech in March. Be sure to listen to the TSL Audio bonus clips above, which contain interview material not included in this text diary.

I’m down in Marietta, Georgia at a place called Main Event. I’m down here with a couple other players. It was recommended to me through my agent Terry Bolar. He sends a lot of his guys to work down here pre-Combine, pre-Pro Day, pre-Draft, and right now I’ve been down here two weeks, since coming back from the Hula Bowl, working out three times a day.

In the morning, I’m dealing with a lot of running, speed, agility, and flexibility every morning at 9 o’clock Monday through Friday. Then I come back in the afternoon at one o’clock dealing with upper body strength.

Right now we’re living in a hotel suite at this place called the Sierra Suites. There’s a lot of players living here. Each suite has one bedroom, a little kitchen area, with a refrigerator. Basically its good enough for one person. Its just enough for me to get by and be comfortable.

All the players that have signed with my agent are staying in the Sierra Suites, but there are some other players also. There’s probably about 8 or 9 other players that are here working out at Main Event Gym, which is just about a mile up the street. Dennis Haley, the linebacker from UVa is here.

As far as the two workouts go, I would say that they are more specified towards speed. In the morning, we train more specifically on speed, flexibility, agility, a lot of treadmill work, working on starts, stuff that’s going to get you fast and also get you ready for the Combine, like 10 yard run drills and shuttle drills. The things we did every other day in the summer [at Virginia Tech], like maybe two times a week with the speed and agility, we’re doing it every day here.

I feel that it's good to do something different. After you’ve been at Tech for a while, you kinda get sort of routine. Sometimes its good to kind of step out of the ordinary, to get in the mood of doing something different. Your body has to adapt to it, but at the same time it's exciting because you’re doing something different.

Main Event is the name of the gym, but the company we are working with is called Extreme Sports Enhancements, and it's led by a guy named Tony Boselli. It used to be the Chris Carter Speed Camp, but it switched names. He’s worked with guys like Jamal Lewis. Right now, we’ve got with us right now Travis Taylor. He plays for the Baltimore Ravens, and he’s out of Florida, a first round draft pick. T.J. Jackson, who used to go to Tech, he works out down there. The guy has a history of working with the big names, Daunte Culpepper, some of those guys. He’s worked with some guys that are pretty successful. Some times those guys come in there and you get to see them, and its kind of weird to see those guys who have been successful come through there and work out. Just on the guy’s track record, I put my trust in him.

I feel pretty good. I’ve been blessed not to have any serious injuries while at Tech, and really I don’t have any nagging injuries since I’ve left. You know, I’ve taken some hits in the course of the season that beats up your body, but I’ve been able to recover. Pretty much the only thing now is I’ve had some hip flexor problems with my left hip, but it's nothing that has kept me from running. A couple of stretches that I do, it kind of bothers me, but it's nothing serious.

Right now, they’ve told me I’m looking at anything from fourth or fifth round to free agency, which is pretty loose. It’s kind of early right now.

When I was younger, the NFL was never on my mind – the NBA was. I really wasn’t thinking of playing football professionally, I was thinking basketball. When I did start playing football in middle school, and then in high school, that’s when it started to dawn on me that football would be great, I think that might be my ticket.

Having success during my senior year didn’t really change my perception of me, but I think it changed a lot of other people’s, which is a good thing. You’re going to need to gain people’s respect to get to that next level. You have to turn heads, you have to be an exceptional player and sometimes do things over the top to make it to the next level, especially when you’re a quarterback who’s not that tall. Some people say height is a factor, but I’ve been throwing over people that are 6-6, 6-5 now, so getting there has never been a question for me and I’ve never really thought about the height problem.

I guess it was just wanting to prove something to everybody else, because I knew what I was capable of, it was just a matter or putting it all together and God willing, it came together for me this year.

I guess you could say we were just executing better. My confidence has always been there. I felt like given the opportunity and the chances to throw the ball enough times, that I would get better. The only way you are going to get better is to get out there and do it more and more. Over time, I’ve thrown a lot of passes in my career. As that goes on, you see a lot of defenses, you see a lot of different reads, and your decision making gets better over time. So as long as you are improving, your touchdown to interception ratio should improve also and that comes with being more comfortable with the system and making better decisions.

To be a good NFL quarterback, I’ve just got to get the speed of the game. I feel like I possess all the tools to be successful as a quarterback. The thing is getting your mind mentally coming along with the physical. And that’s just like in college coming out of high school, the speed of the game is going to change, but when your mental catches up with your physical, I feel like you can have something good. I feel like at the next level it's going to be even harder for your mental to catch up with your physical, but I do possess intangibles that you need as a quarterback, and also the physical tools, but coming along mentally will help me a great deal.

I always felt like that I am capable of throwing the ball anywhere on the field, when given enough time to operate. When things do break down your legs do become a factor, not necessarily running down field, but as far as moving around in the pocket and buying time. That’s when your legs become a factor in the NFL, being able to move to avoid the rush, keeping your head downfield and make plays. In the NFL, making the 50 yard runs or the 30 yard runs are things you don’t necessarily always need, but those extra yards of buying yourself a little more time can sometimes be the difference between a three- or five-yard loss and a seven-yard gain.

I’ve very satisfied with the way my Tech career went. I think that definitely there has been some ups and downs, and maybe as a whole I wasn’t as successful every year as I wanted to be coming up to my senior year, but I do feel I have improved each year. From my freshman year to my sophomore year to my junior year and to my senior year, I feel like I’ve gotten better each year, and I feel like I’m still going to get better. So that’s the thing that I’m very happy with.

I was never content, and I never got worse. I feel like I’ve always moved forward and gotten better. And I’ve overcome adversity in a lot of ways when my back was up against the wall, so I’m very happy with the way my career went and I’m very happy with the way my career ended, going to a BCS Bowl, which was my goal coming into college. For all the hard work put in, I feel like I’ve reaped a lot of rewards for that and there’s not really anything that I would change about my college career, except maybe winning the national championship. But other than that I was very pleased.

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