Getting ready for the throws.

Up through the NFL Draft, Shutdown Corner's Kristian Dyer will be training at TEST Football Academy Powered by Parisi Speed School in New Jersey along with roughly 20 players. All of these athletes are prepping for the NFL Combine, different pro days and of course, the NFL Draft in April. A former college soccer player, Kristian was a playground legend at quarterback back in middle school but never played a down of organized football. He will be writingabout the life of training for the NFL Draft and a career in the league as he lives it firsthand.

When you're at recess in elementary school, the kid who brings the football is going to be the quarterback. Thanks to some overly aggressive gift-giving from my caring parents, I had a never-ending supply of footballs ranging from anything with a Nerf stamp on it to an orange Syracuse football my dad brought back for me on a business trip.

So I was always the quarterback in what today we'd call a pro-style offense but what essentially was 11 wide receivers running down the parking lot in hopes of catching a pass. My team usually won, perhaps because I had a good draft when picking players or my ball-control offense would systematically march down the field. By the time the whistle blew for the end of recess, we usually controlled the clock.

I am a long way from recess now.

As I stood in the bubble at TEST Sports Club's 50-yard turf field in their central New Jersey location, it would appear that I am just casually tossing the ball with former New York Giants quarterback Scott Brunner. But with each throw, Brunner is watching me intently. I'm going through my tosses, the same ones I made 20 years ago on the playground, and Brunner's head must be spinning.

I learned how to throw a football from a sports magazine and never really changed my mechanics. After just a handful of throws, Brunner caught a flat pass of mine and held onto it. He didn't throw it back.

My stomach drops.

Archie Manning at the Maxwell Awards on Friday afternoon. (Clyde Griffith)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Calling him a "big boy," Archie Manning said on Friday afternoon that he anticipates that son Peyton Manning will be able to return to the NFL and play in the 2012 season, having recently seen his son throw the ball with "no setbacks."

This lines up with a recent report by Albert Breer of the NFL Network, in which it was revealed that Peyton's arm strength, at this point the most crucial part of his recovery process, is definitely improving.

Peyton, who has had four neck surgeries in the last two seasons, and missed last year due to those surgeries and the nerve impingements resulting from them, has been rehabbing for several months. Speaking from the Maxwell Awards in New Jersey on Friday afternoon, Archie Manning vowed that his son is ready to play football again.

[Related: Peyton Manning's cost may be more schematic than financial]

"What I've seen he certainly looks fine as far as throwing and velocity on the ball," he said from the Maxwell Awards press conference. "He hasn't had any setbacks throwing. He's been throwing for two months and has four or five [months] to go before the season starts.

"The good news as a parent is when the doctors cleared him. The [neck] fusion was successful and they cleared him to play. He hasn't had any setbacks and is throwing the football."

With the Colts expected to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck first overall in April's NFL draft, it's starting to look as if Indianapolis will no longer be Peyton's place. Manning is due a $28 million option bonus next week and it looks like his 14-year stay with the Colts is coming to an end - unless he and the Colts choose to extend the deadline, or they renegotiate, or the Colts simply choose to take a $28 million risk.

Archie Manning said Peyton and Colts owner Jim Irsay have a "special relationship" and he feels "they always will."

"I think Peyton is just getting through this day-to-day. I think all Peyton knows to do is work. We'll see what happens," Archie Manning said. "He understands the whole situation and I think he knows all he can do is get his health back. He wants to play some more football and be ready to play."

Jeff Saturday (r.) thinks he has the answer to the $28 million question. (Getty Images)

The future of quarterback Peyton Manning in Indianapolis may be uncertain, but according to one teammate, the Colts' all-time leading passer will be playing in the NFL next season.

Speaking on the NFL Network during their coverage of the scouting combine, Colts center Jeff Saturday was blunt and honest about Manning's future. When asked if one of the NFL's all-time elite quarterbacks will be playing next year, Saturday said "Absolutely."

"I talk to him regularly, actually. I love [Manning]. He's my guy, so I communicate with him regularly. He's doing his deal and he's getting ready," Saturday said.

"He'll be playing football, I can assure you that. I hope it's here [in Indianapolis], but he'll be playing somewhere."

The Colts currently hold the No.1 pick and are expected to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the top selection. Given the multiple neck surgeries Manning has undergone in the past year, which caused him to miss the entirety of last season, his future with the

Emil Igwenagu at the East-West Shrine Game (Getty Images)

MARTINSVILLE, N.J. — Could tight end Emil Igwenagu be the next NFL star to come from the UMass program?

Just two years removed from his collegiate career at UMass, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz is enjoying a stellar start to his NFL career. An injury limited Cruz to just three games and no catches in his rookie season, but he rebounded to lead the Giants in catches and receiving touchdowns this past year, including the first touchdown of their Super Bowl win. But the success of Cruz in the NFL, along with that of New England Patriots linebacker James Ihedigbo and New York Jets offensive lineman Vlad Ducasse,  means that the Minutemen have formed a small pipeline to the league.

Igwenagu is the next in line to possibly taste that success.

"There was a bit more buzz about the team — I'd say there was a bit more of the buzz. I definitely think the success of Victor and the other guys — those guys made a statement for UMass — it definitely helps with perception, with how [NFL] teams look at us," Igwenagu told Yahoo! Sports. "The whole thing with those guys got more exposure, them making it big on the big stage was a good thing for us looking at the NFL."

Much like bigger programs from BCS programs that have a legitimate standing in the eyes of NFL teams, UMass is certainly gaining respect on draft boards. One NFC scout told Yahoo! Sports that the program is now viewed differently than in years past.

"When you look at the number of guys they've placed in the league, UMass is now a program that is sending players into the NFL regularly," the scout said. "And they're guys making an impact, guys starting and contributing. You have to look at these players now."

Igwenagu should get some long looks from teams in the middle rounds of the draft. He's got good size at 6-1 and 245 pounds, and he has shown outstanding mobility; his invitation to the NFL combine is a testament to just how far the UMass program has come in just a few short years. His time in the 40 is expected to be in the 4.68-4.71 range and he looks to put north of 20 repetitions on the 225 pound bench press.

He will be running with the tight ends at the combine.

Two years ago, it was a bit of a shock when Ducasse was invited to the combine before eventually being taken in the second round of the draft. Now, it's almost commonplace that Igwenagu would get a nod, especially given his strong track record in the FCS.

"I wouldn't say I expected it at all, not a lot of people get invited to the combine. But it's definitely exciting and means a lot to me. Do I expect the success of the others from the program who have gotten drafted? No, not really. It is different people, different skill sets and that is what matters the most — so their success doesn't mean my success," Igwenagu said. "But it definitely shows me that there is a way to the league from UMass."

Try not to breathe...

Up through the NFL draft, Shutdown Corner's Kristian Dyer will be training at TEST Football Academy Powered by Parisi Speed School in New Jersey along with roughly 20 players. All of these athletes are prepping for the NFL combine, different pro days and of course, the NFL draft in April. A former college soccer player, Kristian was a playground legend at quarterback back in middle school but never played a down of organized football. He will be blogging about the life of training for the NFL draft and a career in the league as he lives it firsthand.

MARTINSVILLE, N.J. — Last week, after being tested at the one-month point of the training process and showing progress, shedding nearly two-tenths of a second off my 40-yard dash and adding three inches to my vertical jump, I was feeling ready to take the next step in my draft preparation process. I was ready to begin positional work.

I was going to start training like a quarterback.

For nearly four weeks, I had been pleased with my results at TEST Sports Clubs' Football Academy, where I was working with draft prospects under the watchful eye of trainers Skip Fuller and Geir Gudmundsen. I was also working out at Parisi Speed Schools, where Terrence Fabor was putting me through workouts to help lower my 40 time. Everything, Fabor told me, "was geared towards the combine and being explosive."

All I knew was that the 90-minute circuit workouts with the 20 or so NFL draft prospects had my body ready to explode and not always feeling "explosive" like Fabor said. Surely working with the quarterbacks was going to be easier; after all, on upper body workouts they were separated from the linemen and the rest of the "big boys" for the bench press segment of the routine.

After the kickers, it is the quarterback position that is most often the butt of jokes in the football locker room. They are often the pretty boys of the team and rarely as big or as cut as many of their teammates. Let's be honest, those fluorescent colored "Don't Hit Me" jerseys in practice don't help either. And now as I got ready to bench press with the quarterbacks, I figured it'd be a lot easier than two weeks before when I benched with the running backs where it was a lot of heavy weights and maximum lifts.

But as Dan DiLella, a quarterback out of Albany, told me "the quarterbacks are where the real strength is." That's because their routine isn't based on heavy weights and maximum bench presses. It is a test of sustained strength.

"We need to be careful with our quarterbacks because they are going to make their money off of their arms and shoulders. We do not want to risk injury or affect their shoulder mobility by lifting too heavy," said Parisi Speed School powered by TEST Sports Clubs' program director Mike Baker. "We do not bench the quarterbacks, but we do a lot of single arm movements with them to increase mobility and flexibility in the arms and shoulders. We also do a lot of internal and external rotational exercises to strengthen the rotator cuffs."

Getting the reps in.

Up through the NFL Draft, Shutdown Corner'sKristian Dyer will be training at TEST Football Academy Powered by Parisi Speed School in New Jersey along with roughly 20 players. All of these athletes are prepping for the NFL Combine, different pro days and of course, the NFL Draft in April. A former college soccer player, Kristian was a playground legend at quarterback back in middle school, but never played a down of organized football. He will be blogging about the life of training for the NFL Draft and a career in the league as he lives it firsthand.

MARTINSVILLE, N.J. — It has been a month now that I have been training at TEST Sports Clubs and Parisi Speed Schools alongside roughly two dozen NFL Draft prospects, all of whom are getting ready for next week's NFL Combine and upcoming pro days at their schools. The workouts I've been in have been the same as theirs, I've been following a diet and now it was time to see if the gains were legit or if I was walking around with my chest puffed out on a fitness placebo.

It was time to get tested again — and I was nervous. I felt stronger and the workouts were getting a bit easier. One moment sticks out. Two weeks ago I was partnered with Sharrif Harris, a running back out of Southern Illinois. We were in the middle of our upper body circuit and were doing crunches. We lock feet and one person tossed the medicine ball at their partner, who did a crunch then tossed it back.

There's no doubt this exercise was tough and painful. But midway through Harris crunched up and tossed the ball at me and yelled "You got it in you?" There's been no looking back at that point for either of us. Harris has clearly gotten stronger and now, it was time to see if I was too.

I was easily the slowest "athlete" there, my sportswriter self running a 5.95 time in the 40 a month ago, nearly a second slower than even the biggest, most lumbering lineman.

Ray Wegrzynek, one of the top five long snappers in the country and a standout at Division III Kean, encouraged me after my initial testing left me gasping for breath. "Don't worry about it, we're all coming off long seasons and we're in peak shape right now. Give it a month," he said.

Well, nervously now as I stand in the end zone of the TEST facility, fidgeting as I get ready to run my 40, that time has arrived. I have now given it a month.

The athlete at rest.

Several guys had stayed to watch me; a testament to what I hoped was their appreciation for my work ethic this past month. Truth be told, it was probably just morbid curiosity. I was 10 years removed from playing a competitive sport in college and a train wreck compared to these machines.

Britton Banowsky

Presidents of 16 universities are set to challenge the Big East's geographically diverse conference with a potential conference that would span five time zones, including Hawaii.

This past Sunday, independent of either conference, the 16 university presidents from the teams in Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference met in Dallas and discussed what will now be an all-sport merger for the schools involved. Hawaii will be the only football-only school.

In October, university presidents from both conferences announced their intentions to form a new football-only conference in an effort to keep the Big East and other likeminded conferences from nabbing their programs.

"We think this is an exciting proposition and after this past Sunday, it took a very positive turn with everybody in the room showing a 100 percent commitment," Dr. Neal Smatresk, president of UNLV, told Yahoo! Sports. "I'm very confident this will be done soon and there's lots of paperwork and legal stuff and conference agreements still to be done."

One suspects that Mr. Tebow was awaiting a more attractive proposal than this. (AP)

Two years ago, Tim Tebow was in full training for the NFL Draft, eventually being taken in the first round by the Denver Broncos. Now after leading the Broncos to the AFC West title and the playoffs, Tebow is ready to be drafted again.

But this time, it is Uncle Sam that wants him.

Well, maybe not Uncle…

Airman Jamie Walden, an active-duty member of the military based in Shreveport, LA goes on YouTube to ask if the Broncos quarterback will be her date to the upcoming Military Ball. In the opening seconds of the video, Walden wastes little time and in prompt military fashion, flat-out makes her request.

"Tim Tebow, will you be my date to the 2012 Military Ball, my first Military Ball here in Shreveport?" Walden asks as she stares into the camera.

The video includes Walden's mother Patti making a plea for Tebow to be her daughter's date. it also includes similar outreaches from many of the brave fighting men and women on Walden's base, encouraging Tebow to "Say yes, Tim."