At the start of the college scouting year, reports and grades are handed out by scouts for the National Football Scouting and BLESTO combines in the spring before a player’s senior year.
In 2019, Illinois State running back James Robinson received a 5.4 grade from NFS and Jeremy Chinn, a safety from Southern Illinois, got a 5.2.
Advertisement
In 2020, another player from Illinois State, safety Christian Uphoff, was given a 5.5.
Robinson, a 1,000-yard rusher last season after signing as a free agent for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chinn, the Carolina Panthers’ second-round draft choice, both made the All-Rookie team.
Like Robinson, Uphoff wasn’t drafted, and on Saturday night he agreed to a free-agent contract with the Green Bay Packers. If Uphoff’s impact can in any way approximate those of his Missouri Valley Conference brethren, the Packers would be ecstatic.
“I’m trying to be like Jeremy Chinn,” Uphoff said late Saturday from his parents’ home in Washington, Ill. “I look up to that guy a lot. He’s a great player. Obviously, we come from the same conference. That’s who I am really trying to be like.”
Neither Chinn nor Uphoff had any stars attached to his recruiting resume. Chinn wasn’t all that highly regarded until the combine in February 2020 when, at 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds, he ran a blistering 4.40 40 to go with a 41-inch vertical jump and a broad jump of 11-6. Carolina drafted Chinn with the final pick of the second round.
Uphoff (6-foot-2, 210) never had a combine. He also didn’t have a senior season. The Missouri Valley postponed its fall campaign until spring, but when Uphoff was invited to the Senior Bowl, he declared for the draft.
There were strong indications that Uphoff would be drafted. In the last month, an NFC scout predicted his landing spot would be the fourth or fifth round, an AFC scout guessed sixth or seventh round, and another AFC evaluator said simply on Day 3. Another NFC personnel man saw Uphoff as a free agent.
Uphoff took his cellphone to the golf course Saturday, not ready to watch his fate play out on live TV. His phone never rang until late, and that was from his agent informing him that 10 teams hoped to procure his services as a free agent.
Advertisement
It was a thin year at safety. Discounting the four safeties that were drafted as linebackers, just 17 pure safeties were selected.
Uphoff made a solid impression as an FCS player at the Senior Bowl. He was chosen as the top safety on the National team for the entire week, besting Virginia Tech’s Divine Deablo, Pittsburgh’s Damar Hamlin and Oklahoma’s Tre Norwood.
Those three players all were drafted, in the third, sixth and seventh rounds, respectively.
So why wasn’t Uphoff, who had that substantial grade from NFS the last time he played?
“I just didn’t have my senior-year tape,” Uphoff said. “If I would have had that, I would have been fine.”
Packers UDFA safety Christian Uphoff had a quietly impressive pro day.
Surprised he fell all the way out of the draft. A tough, tough year for FCS prospects. pic.twitter.com/0QRr6k5hso
— Daire Carragher (@DaireCarragher) May 1, 2021
Uphoff probably still would have heard his name called if his pro day in Normal, Ill., an event on March 17 attended by representatives of 23 NFL teams, hadn’t been so detrimental to his chances.
After the Senior Bowl, Uphoff was training at EXOS facility in Frisco, Texas, when he pulled his hamstring running a 40-yard dash during a simulated combine. That was three weeks before his pro day.
“I couldn’t even run for two weeks,” he said. “They were, like, ‘Take it easy, take it easy.’ I was, like, ‘I need to do something.’ The last week before pro day, I would jog. I would practice drills, but I couldn’t go full speed until pro day.”
The weather that day was 35 degrees, it was raining and the winds swirled at 15 to 20 mph. On a less-than-ideal surface, he clocked 4.65 on the first 40 and 4.63 on the second.
“That’s horrible,” Uphoff said. “Before I pulled my hamstring, I was running like 4.4s consistently. It was just a shit show.”
Advertisement
His other testing results were equally unimpressive. Said an AFC scout: “After the 4.64, I’ll forget the guy.”
Pro football can be a cruel endeavor.
“It happened,” Uphoff said. “If I would have had better numbers, I’m sure I would have been drafted. You’ve got to deal with it.”
Last year, safety Daniel Thomas of Auburn received a signing bonus of $317,116 from the Jaguars after being selected in the middle of the fifth round. Uphoff’s signing bonus from Green Bay was $310,116 less than Thomas’.
“It’s going to give me more motivation to come in there and kick somebody’s ass,” Uphoff said. “I’m telling you, I’m fast. My hamstring is 100 percent now. I can’t wait to get there and show these guys.”
According to collegiate websites and various media outlets, the Packers have agreed to terms with five other rookie free agents. Nothing is official until a player passes a physical examination and actually signs.
Coy Cronk, C/G, Iowa: 6-4, 318, no 40 time
Jon Dietzen, G, Wisconsin: 6-foot-4 1/2, 312 pounds, no 40 time
Bailey Gaither, WR, San Jose State: 6-foot, 188, 4.47
Jack Heflin, DL, Iowa: 6-3, 304, 5.32
Carlo Kemp, DL, Michigan: 6-foot-2 1/2, 281, 5.06
(Photo of Uphoff: Don Juan Moore / Getty Images)