“Liam told me, just be yourself really,” Eichenberg said Tuesday. “He’s like, ‘Look man, you love football. Just be yourself and you’ll be alright.’”
While some players might not enjoy the job interview process, the typically stoic Ohio State linebacker had a surprising response when asked his impression of the combine.
“It’s awesome really,” the senior from Cleveland St. Ignatius said. “I get to come in here and talk ball with all the guys, you know, meet all the coaches and things like that. So I really enjoy it.”
Eichenberg was also happy to report he is healthy after ending last season with a dislocated elbow.
“I missed the end of the Rutgers came and missed the next two games, too,” he said. “Then I came back (against Michigan), and I was wearing a brace on it but it’s all good now.”
While Eichenberg plans to do all of the combine workouts, a former teammate said he will not.
Mike Hall Jr. said he tweaked a hamstring preparing for the combine, so he will wait until Ohio State’s Pro Day March 20 in Columbus to show NFL personnel what he can do.
The 6-foot-2 Hall impressed scouts at the Senior Bowl earlier this month, but athleticism figures to be a big selling point for the defensive lineman since he will enter the league in the low 290-pound range.
“I feel like I’m very comfortable at the weight I’ve been playing,” he said. “I weighed in recently at 293, and that is bigger than where I was in the season.”
Ohio State’s other linebacker in Indianapolis, Steele Chambers, plans to work out, but that was not the only thing on his mind.
He was also interested in picking the brains of some of the NFL brass he met with during the combine.
That included an unusual question he said he had for representatives of the Steelers.
“If you’re gonna go to war, and you had to bring four animals with you, what four animals are you choosing and why?” he said.
“They were kind of confused because I’m guessing out of all the interviews, that was the first time they’ve gotten the script flipped on them and I started asking them questions.”
For the record, Chambers said he typically chooses an elephant, a bear, a tiger and a hippopotamus.
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