
Safeties Mike Mitchell and Marcus McClinton after a tough workout at Ignition.
Ignition Draft Prospects “show off” for Bengals
Nine Draft Prospects that trained at Ignition this winter worked out at the annual Bengals Local Day on Tuesday April 14th for coaches, scouts, and management. Take a look at how some of the guys performed by reading the article below written by Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com
Even Clif Marshall, the head of Ignition Gym in Blue Ash, Ohio who has trained Wood and several other players that showed Tuesday, is trying to guess along. He knows the Bengals like his prized pupil, UC tight end/defensive end/SAM linebacker backer/WILL linebacker backer Connor Barwin, but enough to take him in the second round at No. 38? "And I'm not sure which position they'd take him at," Marshall said.
And how many centers will go in the first two rounds? While Kiper has Wood coming off the board first, some have California's Alex Mack going first and others have Oregon's Max Unger going first. "I think it all depends on when the first center goes, whether it's Max or Alex or me," Wood said. "If it's late in the first round, then I think we'll all go pretty quickly. I hope I go to a tough team like Cincinnati. Actually, I think any team in the AFC North would be a good fit."
At 6-3, 310 pounds, Wood has flashed that he's got plenty of muscle to duel with 3-4 nose tackles, but he also showed in the Senior Bowl for the first time in his life that he can play guard. So did, for that matter, Mack and Unger, two guys that actually played for the Bengals coaches in Mobile. "I tell teams," Wood said, "if you don't think of me as the No. 1 center, then think of me as the No. 1 guard."
Kiper could be playing the Pittsburgh hunch because Steelers offensive line coach Larry Zierlein visited Wood at Louisville. Wood is just waiting. "You know how that goes. Would they take an interior lineman 32nd? I don't know," he said.
He certainly was comfortable Tuesday. "Everywhere I turned, I knew somebody," Wood said.
There was Bengals linebacker Brandon Johnson, a former Louisville teammate. There was Bengals quarterback Jordan Palmer, who shares the same agents. There was Mickens, the former state playoff for. "That guy cracks me up," Wood said. "He's a funny guy." The guy cracking everybody up is Barwin, projected by Kiper to be the second pick in the second round to New England. OURLADS Scouting Services sends Barwin to the Eagles at No. 28 in the first round. What Marshall knows is he's putting Barwin on the cover of next year's brochure. The guy on this year's cover, Purdue linebacker Stanford Keglar, came out of nowhere to dominate the combine drills and ended up going from a possible free agent to a fourth-round pick of the Titans. Under Marshall’s guidance, Keglar concentrated on six drills: the 225-pound bench press, the 40-yard dash, the 20-yard shuttle, the L cone, vertical jump and broad jump. Marshall says Keglar led five of the six categories, just like Barwin did. But Barwin already had the scouts buzzing at the Senior Bowl with his athleticism and versatility a month before the combine. "I don't think they go off the drills," Marshall said of the pro scouts. "But I think the drills make them go back and look at you on film." Marshall thinks a perfect example of that is another one of his guys that showed Tuesday. Ohio University safety Mike Mitchell, out of Fort Thomas, Ky., didn't get invited to the combine but he covered the six drills so well at his Pro Day that he's making a Keglar-like climb. Maybe he didn't get invited to Indianapolis in February, but the Colts brought him to Indy to check him out, as did the Bears, and the Raiders are next. This is a guy Kiper rated as the 73rd safety.
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