After months of preparation for the NFL Draft, former Ball State safeties Sean Baker and Joshua Howard will learn this weekend if their hard work has paid off.
Ball State's season ended when the team was one of two bowl eligible schools to not be selected for a bowl game. When the pair saw they wouldn't be playing in a bowl game, their attention immediately turned to preparing for the next level.
Baker and Howard went in different directions to prepare for the NFL Draft. Howard traveled to Richmond, Va., to work out with trainer and coach Kevin Allen. Howard was informed of Allen through Steve Spence, another former Ball State player, from his days at Eastern Carolina.
While in Virginia, Howard became used to an everyday routine.
"We basically started every Monday through Friday at 4:30 a.m.," Howard said. "We did pool workouts, had mandatory breakfasts. We did yoga at noon and had dinner around 4-5 p.m."
Howard said the intense workouts began after dinner, which included working on his speed and doing bench press and squats.
For Baker, he traveled to St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis to train. His workouts were similar to Howard's, but Baker focused on getting back into football shape with heavy conditioning as well.
He compared training for the draft as similar to getting ready for spring season at Ball State, but he gets more time to prepare for the draft.
"You're used to going to spring ball and you're not doing that now," Baker said. "You just have to keep focused cause it's a grind. The biggest difference is I'm used to training with a bunch of other guys and now it's training by yourself."
Both returned to Ball State in March for the school's Pro Day. From there, they learned what they needed to continue working on and went back to individual training. Baker continues to workout at the football complex on campus while Howard, because of other responsibilities, works out at his apartment complex.
When Howard returned to Muncie, he got a job working at Sallie Mae to help take care of his son.
With the NFL Draft this weekend, neither Baker nor Howard have looked into mock drafts to give themselves a hint on where they might be headed for training camp. Howard said he doesn't look at them because he doesn't want to get too confident in case he doesn't get picked this weekend.
"I just don't want to let that be a distraction," he said.
Both of them are unsure of where they will picked, or even if they will get picked. Baker said he has been receiving calls from a handful of teams while Howard had a workout with the Detroit Lions earlier this month; something he said he never thought was possible.
"All of this is still shocking," Howard said. "I don't take anything for granted. I'm blessed and I give honor to God that I'm in this situation."
Howard plans to go home to Michigan this weekend to be with his family and friends to watch the NFL Draft. He said he wants the people who helped him from day one there if he gets picked.
For Baker, he plans to stay in Muncie and stay focused for his goal in August.
"It's everyone's dream to play in the NFL," Baker said. "You have to make the most of the opportunity to make a team. I'm looking at the bigger picture and making sure I can make a team come August."
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