Notes from the Combine - Thursday, April 24th

it was a tough day today for slamball. as the draft approaches (saturday) many of the rookies and vets are on edge because their futures are up in the air. the coaches have done a number of mock drafts and the rosters end up differently everytime. due to a lot of this stress tempers flared in both vet practices. tommie davis (rumble) became the first veteran cut. guys in the rookie squads are playing through tight hamstrings, sore backs and tweaked ankles as a last push to show the coaches what they need to see before draft day. all in all, it's time for the combine to end and the training camp to begin. and we have one day left.

on the mob's draft board, i have a list of favorites by position that changes daily. guys that i like start leveling off at practices and other guys pass them up. some players i thought were behind are peaking at the right time and surpassing others who peaked early. it's no secret that we need a stopper. badly. in my opinion this draft is extremely stopper weak. with my freezes early, our first pick might not come until the 3rd, or 4th round. the young man we draft at stopper is going to be critical to our team's success. we also need a back-up handler. our starting handler noah ballou goes under the knife tomorrow to fix a torn meniscus. we need a guy to fill a role for us in training camp until noah gets healthy and for 5-7 minutes a game afterwards.

there is a rumor that george byrd (riders) is going to request that he not be frozen. if this is the case, i can assure you he will be the first pick in the 2008 draft. there is still some discussion as to whether or not the league will allow a player to request a change. much of this should be cleared up tomorrow.

stay tuned as the draft results from this coming saturday will be posted hours after it occurs. this will be the first site on the internet to announce the teams for 2008. the draft begins at 4pm eastern. as always, go to http://www.slamball.net/ for more information.