An NFL combine behind-the-scenes view with WR Keon Coleman

INDIANAPOLIS — As former Florida State receiver Keon Coleman stepped off the plane in Indianapolis on Tuesday evening for the NFL scouting combine, there was one thing on his mind: Show the world that he’s the top wideout in the draft.

“I don’t feel like there’s any certain weakness in my game,” Coleman told ESPN.

Coleman believed he was ready to enter the NFL draft after finishing his junior season with 50 receptions for 658 yards and a career-high 11 touchdowns for a team with national championship aspirations.

At 6-foot-3 and 213 pounds, he is a long, muscular wideout, but the 20-year-old out of Opelousas, Louisiana, has the movement and skills of a smaller player.

When was the last time you saw a 6-3 punt returner?

“I’m a big receiver,” Coleman said. “I can play big. But I can play small. I can do it all.”

Coleman has a catalog of some of the most spectacular highlight-reel catches among the prospects in this year’s draft class.

For example, his ridiculous one-handed catch for 27 yards against Syracuse back in October. Coleman skied in the air and snatched the ball with his right hand over the defensive back to make the play.

KEON COLEMAN ONE-HANDED GRAB 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bKHEeB55xb

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 14, 2023

THE COMBINE EXPERIENCE got underway soon after Coleman arrived. He put his bags down and headed straight to a registration and orientation presentation that was prepared by the NFL for the incoming prospects.

After finishing that, Coleman kick-started an itinerary loaded with team interviews and an NFLPA meeting over the first two days of his combine experience.

It all started around 7 p.m., when Coleman had the first of 26 meetings on his list. There were six interviews the first day and 20 the second.

Teams rely on the combine meetings to get to know prospects and get a glimpse inside their thought processes. They also get to see just how much these players love football.

Coleman liked how some of the interviews required him to draw up plays he ran in college along with adjustments he had to make to different defensive looks. He relished the opportunity to show off the classroom work that goes on behind the scenes.

“They just pretty much just test your brain and your attention span,” Coleman said. “It becomes fun. At that point, you challenge each other a little bit.”

The interviews focused more on scheme and recognizing coverages, but when teams asked him to reveal his favorite play, it brought a smile to his face.

“My favorite play is any time I can run a route,” Coleman said.

The specific route he likes to run is a 12-yard stop or curl because it allows him to make a move at the top of the route.

A meeting with the Buffalo Bills stood out to Coleman because he listed Josh Allen as one of the quarterbacks he’d love to catch passes from.

“They was asking me, how would you handle not coming in and just handling the wheel because a guy like Stefon Diggs is there,” Coleman said. “I’m like, ‘That’d be great for me. I get to learn from a guy that’s been the league for a while doing it consistently.'”

Multiple teams told ESPN that Coleman interviewed well and that they liked the confident personality he exhibited during the process.

“I’m not coming in there to sell a dream,” Coleman said. “I’m authentic with it. Those organizations are going to know how high of a character person I really am because they got to talk to me. They going to know more things about me as far as my passion for the game, my why.”

Coleman ranked No. 6 for receivers on ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s positional rankings coming into the combine and was projected to be selected at No. 26 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Kiper’s latest mock draft that came out last week.

“He’s one of the most intriguing prospects at the combine,” Kiper said.

COLEMAN’S JOURNEY CONTINUED on Day 3 in Indianapolis.

Coleman’s trainers — Mo Wells, who worked specifically on footwork and agility, and wide receivers coach David Robinson — put him through a series of workouts in a designated workout area in the convention center at the hotel connected to Lucas Oil Stadium where the prospects stay.

The workout area is guarded by security and requires going through a metal detector for access. It features a turf field that has been placed over top of the concrete floor, and there’s a weightlifting area.

Much of Coleman’s on-field workout honed in on the takeoff and initial part of the 40-yard dash he would eventually run two days later.

“It’s like track practice,” Coleman said with a laugh. “You go in there and just work on the starts and get some warmup in, keep your body moving, stay fresh and stuff like that.”

The sessions were designed to shore up some of the technique Coleman was shown during workouts back in Frisco, Texas, where he also got to catch passes from NFL free agent Joshua Dobbs.

The hard surface wasn’t ideal for running routes and catching passes from a quarterback. That didn’t stop Coleman from making sure he got opportunities to keep his catching ability tuned up in the workout area.

“I don’t need the quarterback to throw me the ball while I’m working out,” Coleman said. “That’s easy part of my game. I can get some catches in just sitting down, grab a ball and get some catches in.”

Wells unexpectedly summoned Coleman for a workout Thursday in between visits to gifting suites. The session lasted about 30 minutes before Coleman was on his way to the next suite, which featured a 50-inch television showing a slideshow of images from his catch against Syracuse.

“Yeah! I like this. You guys knew exactly what to play,” Coleman said as he bobbed his head to a song by one of his favorite artists, Jdot Breezy, playing on the speakers.

The gifting suites are set up by brands in hopes of enticing prospects to sign endorsement deals.

“You trying to get me caught up,” Coleman said after his second suite. “I enjoyed both of ’em very well. The opportunity to be able to have the option of signing with either one is really unique. What they both have to offer off the field, and just opportunity wise, it’s second to nothing.”

The final gifting suite Coleman stopped at also had a barber, so he was able to get his hair lined up for the media sessions the next day. Coleman then got back to his hotel just in time to get his favorite food, a Subway sandwich.

It’s the same order every time: teriyaki chicken on the flatbread, sometimes with a slice of bacon, along with cheddar cheese and a slice of pepper jack. Coleman is very specific with how he has the sub prepared.

It’s a part of his personality, and preparation is something he took seriously coming into and during the combine.

Coleman was a dual-sport athlete who played one season of basketball and excelled in football at Michigan State for two seasons before transferring to Florida State. To prepare for his only season with the Seminoles, Coleman worked out with his cousin, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

After finishing his meal, Coleman spent some free time relaxing in his room before going to bed ahead of an early morning.

“It was all a dream until now because now I’m living that dream,” Coleman said.

AN EARLY MORNING wake-up call kicked off Day 4. The general medical exams went smoothly, allowing Coleman to be back at the convention center slightly before media availability began at 8 a.m.

The media session gave the NFL world a chance to see Coleman’s personality. He strolled to the podium after shuffling between three sets of one-on-one interviews with different television networks.

Some of the questions made him think. One example is when he was asked if birds are real; Coleman stopped to think about it and responded, “Some of them.”

“That was a crazy question,” Coleman said later that night. “I wasn’t about to let [it] get me, though.”

He knew the reporter was trying to get him to give an opinion on the theory that pigeons aren’t real animals but are instead surveillance drones.

“Pigeons don’t be in Louisiana,” Coleman added.

Louisiana is a special place to Coleman, and he wears his roots on his sleeves. He and his agent, Paul DeRousselle, are from a small pocket of southwest Louisiana.

“Just cause we’re local doesn’t mean that we can’t be global,” DeRousselle said.

Although Coleman isn’t global yet, his popularity was clear as he walked around Indianapolis. Autograph seekers gathered near the entrance of the convention center scrambled for memorabilia when they saw Coleman walking toward them.

Some of them even had Coleman sign pictures of his one-handed catch against Syracuse.

While Coleman was going through his media session at the combine, two of his teammates were simultaneously going through their own, and when they were asked about Coleman’s highlight catch, they were far less impressed.

play

Keon Coleman only needs 1 hand for the TD catch

Jordan Travis lobs one into the end zone to Keon Coleman, who makes a one-handed touchdown catch.

“I saw stuff way crazier than that in practice [from Coleman],” former defensive back Jarrian Jones said. “So, when he did that, we were like, ‘It’s pretty regular.'”

“I was just like, ‘That’s normal,'” tight end Jaheim Bell added. “I saw that in practice almost every other day.”

Jones recalled the first time he met Coleman at a team dinner at FSU coach Mike Norvell’s house before last season. The players were playing basketball.

The first thing Coleman said to his new teammates was, “Let me see that ball.” Jones said Coleman smoothly proceeded to throw it off the backboard and hammer down a between-the-legs, windmill dunk in jeans and a pair of Jordan IV Retro shoes.

“I said, ‘Oh we got something,'” Jones said with a laugh as he looked back on the moment.

Coleman wanted to make a similar first impression on the NFL personnel people when he tested at the combine on Day 5.

AS TESTING DAY at the combine arrived, Coleman woke up to a text message from his grandmother, Paula Savoy. Savoy played a big role in his upbringing, especially spiritually.

She sends him daily scriptures, and this day’s (Proverbs 22:29) was special to him. It focused on being given the opportunity to stand before kings.

“God will show up, and that boy will show out,” Savoy said of her grandson.

Coleman then got another surprise when his mom, Raven Savoy, flew in from Opelousas to surprise him. After spending some time with his mom and older brother, Kaylon (who arrived late Friday afternoon), it was time to go to work.

Coleman made his way to the stadium just a little before 11 a.m. The first thing he did was get in the hot tub to relax his muscles. He then got stretched out a couple of hours before he took the field for measurements and drills.

Keon Coleman reached a top speed of 20.36 mph during the gauntlet drill, the fastest speed by any receiver over the last two seasons.

Isaiah Williams reached a top speed of 19.04 mph during the gauntlet (5th-fastest), despite running the slowest forty at his position (4.63s). pic.twitter.com/kdw5lyEeCx

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) March 3, 2024

Coleman ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash. Although it wasn’t the time Coleman hoped to run, according to Next Gen Stats, Coleman’s 20.3 mph speed during the gauntlet drill was the fastest by any receiver over the past two seasons. The gauntlet drill tests how well receivers catch multiple passes and maintain speed while running in a straight line.

“I understand the process that they’re going to be trying to critique things and try to see what they about to invest in,” Coleman said of the scouts at the combine.

The smooth route running and sticky pass-catching ability that Coleman exhibited left scouts with some things to think about, despite his lack of speed in the 40 — which he will have a chance to improve on at Florida State’s pro day.

“I’m just chasing my dreams,” Coleman said. “All of the trials and tribulations, the hard work, it’s paying off. But I’m not done yet.”