The MSU football team will be sending seven players to the NFL Combine, which takes place Feb. 24-29. The seven invites ties the most ever for an MSU football team, and is the most under head coach Mark Dantonio, who previously sent six players in 2012 and 2015.
Quarterback Connor Cook, wide receiver Aaron Burbridge, offensive linemen Jack Allen and Jack Conklin, and three defensive linemen, Shilique Calhoun, Lawrence Thomas and Joel Heath, all received invitations to showcase their talents in front of every NFL scout imaginable.
Overall, Dantonio has sent a total of 40 players to the NFL combine in his nine years at the helm of Spartan football. MSU was tied for ninth in the country with seven invites, and were second in the Big Ten behind Ohio State’s nation-leading 14 invites.
Of the potential draft picks for MSU, Conklin is the lone junior for MSU, and quite possibly the first Spartan taken in the NFL Draft. Cook, Calhoun, Allen and Burbridge are also expected to be taken in the draft at some point, with Calhoun and Cook being fringe first-round prospects.
For Thomas and Heath, the combine will be a chance to prove to NFL scouts that they deserve a roster spot on an NFL team. The combine, which entails seven different workouts athletes are measured in, has been a key determinant to the rise and fall of hundreds of college players looking to take their game to the highest level of competition.
Notable Spartans missing are wide receiver Macgarrett Kings Jr. and outside linebacker Darien Harris. Harris tweeted this out minutes after the whole list of athletes invited to the combine was revealed.
"March 16th" is the MSU football team’s Pro Day, when NFL scouts will have the opportunity to see all MSU prospects eligible for the draft at length.
Media interviews take place in the between February 24-26. Allen and Conklin will work out on Feb. 26, while Cook and Burbridge participate in the workouts Feb. 27. Calhoun, Thomas and Heath will work out Feb. 28.
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