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For players like Derek Wolfe and Isaiah Pead, among other UC seniors, dealing with the pressure of knowing this is their final chance to make an NFL impression makes preparation for this season more difficult.
CINCINNATI- Derek Wolfe doesn't use Twitter. He doesn't bother with Facebook. The only time you'll see him check in is at the dorms of Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center.
That would leave him in the minority among his UC teammates and probably make him the last to know the latest pop culture news nugget.
This all comes by design, of course.
In a college football culture suffocated by pundits pumping praise and predictions of wealth into the heads of impressionable students, Wolfe chooses to stay blissfully ignorant.
He doesn't search "Derek Wolfe+NFL" on Google. If he did, he'd find himself listed as the top NFL prospect on the Bearcats according to ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper as far back as last year. He'd see Kiper calling him the No. 5 DT prospect for the 2012 draft. Or that he's currently on the Bronco Nagurski and Outland Trophy Watch Lists. Or that he's projected to be a mid-round selection in next year's NFL Draft, depending on what you read.
Never has Wolfe's philosophy been more important than this year. This year is different. Wolfe is a senior. He arrived knowing this was the last time for a first practice. This was the beginning of his final audition for the NFL and fulfilling a lifelong dream. One great season can be worth thousands -- even millions - of dollars. There is no hiding that fact. Just don't expect Wolfe to pay attention to it.
"If you do you are going to worry about everything you do," Wolfe said. "Same thing with the NFL, I don't think about the NFL. Even at practice, I don't think about the end of practice, I think about the next play."
Much like blocking the Bearcats defensive line stalwart, wearing the professional blinders has become much more difficult than it used to be.
"Yeah, because you have people trying to blow your head up," he said.
Wolfe is certainly not alone. A core of seniors owning two Big East championship rings approach a final chance to make a life-changing impression on NFL scouts and complete a trilogy of Cincinnati football success.
Of course, not all of them handle the pressure with the same concept of Wolfe. Not surprisingly to anyone with a Twitter account, @iPead would fall into that category.
Yes, you will find Isaiah Pead on Twitter. You can read any of his 14,554 tweets. You will find him reading what people say about him. You will find him thinking about a possible NFL career from time to time.
It's an inevitable pressure when you are 12 games away from proving you belong in the same league as the best athletes in the country. Right now, Kiper places Pead as the No. 3 rated running back in the 2012 draft. Just add it to the lists of accolades and attention being placed upon his senior season.
Putting professional thoughts out of mind sounds nice in interviews. Doing so in reality is harder than catching Pead in a footrace.
"It is (hard)," Pead said of thinking about the NFL. "I would be lying if I say sometimes walking to practice that doesn't slip your mind. That is at stake. But you have to be humble and start from ground zero. Why do I do this? And why am I dong this?
Pead sounds the same as he did last year and the year before. With the highest of individual accolades at his fingertips, he remains focused on the team and betterment of the program. He's always been about winning."And let the rest take care of itself," he said.
Once it does, expect Pead to tweet about it. And expect Wolfe not to. Just expect both to use their own methods to discard pressure and be ready for the most important season of their lives.
"I live by the saying if you be the best person you can be then you are the best," Pead said. "That's my big thing. One, be the best player I can be."