While senior quarterbacks Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo spent this week trying to impress scouts at the Reese's Senior Bowl, Teddy Bridgewater moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Florida to begin workouts in an effort to impress scouts over the next three months.
Bridgewater, a junior at Louisville who is bypassing his senior season, now is living on the grounds of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. At IMG, he will be further tutored in the art of quarterbacking by a staff that includes former NFL quarterback/Heisman winner Chris Weinke; he also will work with nutritionists and trainers to get in even better shape.
"I can't control what's in the future and what's down the road," Bridgewater told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "But what I can do is prepare myself for when that time comes."
For much of the season, Bridgewater was considered the most pro-ready of the nation's quarterbacks. Lately, though, concerns have been raised about Bridgewater, with many of them focused on his frame; he was listed at 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds by Louisville. Still, he remains in play to be the overall No. 1 pick and seems a lock to go somewhere in the top 10.
Weinke, for one, seems to be impressed with Bridgewater's release.
"The ball gets out of your hand so freaking quick, Teddy," the Courier-Journal quoted Weinke as telling him. "They're going to love you, man."
"They" refers to NFL decision-makers.
Bridgewater told the Courier-Journal he knew he would leave after his junior season, though there were reports in December he was mulling remaining in college. Bridgewater graduated in December after just three years of college, and that was part of his plan all along, he told the newspaper.
His goal now, he said, is "to prove that I can compete at a high level with consistency and show that I have no flaws."
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
