Rams like do-it-all prospect Scherff
By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/rams-like-do-it-all-prospect-scherff/article_71bc41f5-0c88-510c-b5f4-c48cd6ce1f80.html
INDIANAPOLIS • He once was a 290-pound quarterback who liked to sneak it on second-and-5. (Just try and tackle him.)
He played three spring sports in high school. (Including tennis.)
The video of his 433-pound hang clean went viral among the lifting set. (He did it three times in a row.)
In college, he played a game just four days after undergoing knee surgery. (Torn meniscus.)
When you consder all that, if Dos Equis had an ad campaign based on NFL draft prospects, Iowa’s Brandon Scherff would be the most interesting lineman in the world.
Those feats are well beyond the norm, but Scherff doesn’t have to be superhuman in the NFL. Great will suffice.
He’s regarded as the best offensive lineman in the draft this year — a tackle who some think could be even better at guard at the next level.
And yes, the Rams — who need a starting guard and have the No. 10 pick in the first round — are all over him. They had a visit with Scherff at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The 10 spot could be just about right for Scherff, although some have him going higher, some lower.
Scherff is a tough, physical player who excels at run-blocking — which sounds like a good fit for coach Jeff Fisher and the Rams. After running a 5.05 time in the 40, which was fourth-best among the 52 offensive linemen invited to Indy, Scherff’s Combine was finished.
He reportedly suffered a hamstring injury and did no more workouts. He also managed only a modest 23 reps in the 225-pound bench press. But neither development is expected to affect his draft status.
Scherff, 6 feet 5, 319 pounds, grew up in small-town Iowa, attending Denison High. That’s where he played QB, at 290 pounds, before switching to the line.
“It was different,” Scherff said of his days under center. “My center was like 190 pounds.”
That made those quarterback sneaks problematic. Scherff didn’t want to just fall on someone who weighed 100 less than him — that might be painful for the center.
“I told him to go left, and I’d go right,” Scherff said. “Or vice versa.”
As a freshman, he played football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball, tennis, and participated in track in the spring.
Even as a high school freshman, Scherff might have been the largest tennis player in the state; he was No. 4 singles on the varsity squad. He said he had an effective finesse serve.
“I tried to spin it,” he said. “They never expected it.”
He dropped tennis after his freshman season because there were just too many conflicts between all those spring sports. It probably was a good decision, because he was an all-state player in baseball and won the Iowa state championship in the shot put as a sophomore.
In college, Scherff ended his Iowa career with a flourish as the Outland Trophy winner, a consensus 2014 All-American and winner of the Rimington-Pace Award as the top blocker in the Big 10 Conference. (That award is named in part for former Rams and Ohio State great Orlando Pace.)
Now he’s trying to join the long line of Iowa Hawkeyes offensive linemen, particularly under current coach Kirk Ferentz, to make their mark in the NFL.
The group includes Ross Verba, Robert Gallery, Bryan Bulaga, Ben Nelson, Erich Steinbach, Marshal Yanda and Riley Reiff.
Scherff’s toughness is unquestioned, as indicated by that right knee injury last season. It was a torn meniscus, which usually is a month-long injury. After missing a series, Scherff returned to action later in that game, against Ball State, in September.
He underwent an MRI that Monday, had the knee ’scoped on Tuesday, and after practicing Wednesday and Thursday played the next Saturday against state rival Iowa State.
How is that possible?
“I love the game; I’d do anything to play,” he said. “You know, I owe something to my team. If I was able to play, I was going to play.”
Iowa’s success at cranking out offensive linemen shows he has the pedigree, and if anything, that helps his draft status.
“I think it speaks for Coach Ferentz and the coaching staff that he has there,” Scherff said. “I learned from Riley Reiff. He’s the Detroit left tackle right now and he’s taught me everything … (I’m) just trying to carry on that tradition.”
Scherff enters the NFL with a degree in sports studies, a major he chose because he wants to get into coaching when his playing days are done. Obviously, all the teams that talked to him over the weekend — Rams included — hope his coaching career is 10-15 years into the future.
That playing career very well could be at guard. That’s a position at which NFL draft analyst Mike Mayock recently said Scherff has all-Pro potential.
The Rams feel Scherff would be an upgrade over Davin Joseph, once a two-time Pro Bowler but now near the end of his career. Joseph is an unrestricted free agent and isn’t expected back.
Just about every team Scherff met with has asked him about the possibility of playing guard.
“I said I’m pretty versatile,” Scherff said. “I feel like I can play guard and tackle, but whatever they need.
“I don’t think (guard) would be a challenge. I like run blocking. It would be a little closer (to the opponent). You’re getting a little help from the center also. I think it’d be a smooth move for me.”
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