By Michael Kelley ’14
Photo Courtesy of Kevin Doty ’12
After six weeks of training at the Test Training Football Academy and attending multiple pro days, Kevin Doty is hoping to receive the call of a lifetime.
The call that the tight end and long snapper is dreaming of would be from an NFL team. However, it is not during the NFL draft that Doty is hoping for a call, but after.
When the draft concludes tomorrow afternoon, the “craziness starts” when teams begin calling prospects to invite them to their mini-camp and training camp.
New to the NFL this year, teams are permitted to invite 90 players to join their rosters for training camp, up 10 from last year. Cuts are made throughout the preseason as teams whittle down their rosters to the final 53.
The process has been strenuous. He has attended four major workouts and pro-days. He started with the three-day long Beyond Sports Network Collegiate Showcase in Akron, Ohio. From there, he attended California University of Pennsylvania’s pro-day, which had scouts from 22 NFL teams. A week after that, he traveled over to the familiar site of Lehigh for their pro day. To conclude the process in an exciting way, Doty was invited by the New York Giants for a workout, one he thought he performed “pretty well in.”
Aside from that, Doty described the process as quiet and frustrating. His agent is not surprised with the lack of buzz and has told Doty that “quiet” is how the process sometimes works. “He said a lot of things are behind the scenes and quiet,” Doty said.
If the phone call never comes, Doty has to begin weighing other options, one being coming back to Lafayette next fall to finish his degree in mechanical engineering.
“Come Monday (4/30), if I don’t hear anything, I’ll sit down with my agent and ask, where do we go from here?” Doty said.
When asked what NFL team he would most love to play for, Doty said, “the team I have the best shot of making but aside from that, I’d probably want to play for the Eagles, Giants, or Jets, teams that are real local.”
The following days will be some of the most nerve-wracking days in Doty’s life and for now, he is only considering one option: playing in the NFL. Any alternative is something, “he doesn’t want to think about.”
