INDIANAPOLIS -- As defensive backs close the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday with 40-yard dashes that will, in some cases, help them move up draft boards, Aaron Colvin will have to sit and hope they don't move above him.
The former Oklahoma cornerback is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered during the Reese's Senior Bowl practice week, and he is on hand for the combine only for interviews, measurements and, of course, physical examinations. But with an opportunity to use his combine appearance as a platform to question the wisdom of accepting a Senior Bowl invitation, Colvin did just the opposite.
Asked how he'd respond to former teammates from Oklahoma wondering whether they should play in the annual all-star game next year, Colvin said: "I'll tell them, 'Yeah, it's your choice. If you have any doubt, don't do it. Get your head right if you are going to do it. If you want to go there with the best competition and prove yourself that you are the best player, I feel like you should. If I could do it all over again, I'd do the same thing."
Even with the injury, Colvin doesn't lack for confidence.
"I felt like I was a first-round corner, I'll tell you that," he said. "I still feel like I'm a first-round corner."
According to Colvin, team doctors at the combine have told him he should be ready for training camp in the preseason. If he instead has to sit out the season, he said he'd be "worth the wait" for a team that drafts him and holds back his NFL debut until 2015.
That one-year wait would strike some clubs as a longer wait than others.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
