National Football League scouts saw Marrow improve all his times. Mitch Marrow's quest to improve his draft status continues. Yesterday, the Penn defensive lineman showed NFL scouts what he's made of in a series of workouts. The afternoon event took place in Hollenback Annex, where Marrow -- along with several other pro prospects -- repeated combine trials for many NFL team scouts. In the Indianapolis combines, Marrow blew away the competition, coming first with a 39" vertical jump and a 10'11" broad jump. Yesterday, the former All-Ivy defensive lineman improved on these numbers, with a 42" vertical jump and broad jumping 11'5". "I improved in everything because it was under better conditions. It was more comfortable," Marrow said. Indeed he did. The fifth-year senior clocked an impressive 4.10 second shuttle, shaving off his second-place combine time of 4.39 seconds. In addition, his previous 40 yard dash time of 4.7 seconds was cut to 4.5 in yesterday's workouts. Marrow, however, feels no pressure, considering the hardest part is over. "The Senior Bowl was definitely the hardest part," Marrow said. "It was everyone in full pads hitting at you everyday and 600 hundred scouts watching you do your drills. Now it's just a waiting game until the drafts." Yesterday's event was witnessed by considerably less scouts, but those that attended work for the NFL elite. Defensive line scouts from Washington, Green Bay and Kansas City were all spectators, as well as scouts from the Eagles, Bengals, Ravens and New York Giants. "I would like to see him go to Green Bay at the end of the first round," said Marrow's agent, Jim Ulrich. "But whichever team takes him the highest is where we'll go." As Marrow attempted to raise his draft status to first round pick, players from other schools joined him as well. The competitors included members of Temple, Villanova, Boston College, Syracuse and Millersville. The senior came in first at the Indianapolis combines with 35 repetitions of a 225-lb. benchpress. However, he was not asked to press yesterday and will do so for a different set of scouts next week. While the numbers were impressive, this more intimate setting gave scouts the opportunity to witness qualities not readily available in the official combines. "My goal is to find out whether a guy is comfortable with a certain technique, whether he's an inside or outside guy. We get all the measurables from the combine," said a defensive line scout who asked that his name be withheld. "I was having a problem, in my mind, with whether Mitch was an outside or inside guy, in other words, an end or a tackle. I was able to work with him on drills and, I think, now I've answered that question." The pressure will now ease on Marrow as his last workout -- next week's bench press reps -- approaches. Now that the trial portion of his journey is over, Marrow awaits April's draft to find out the results of his hard work.
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