The Difference Between a Mack Truck and a Lamborghini
Chase Kline, Brian Dooley, and Steve Bird all gear up for big Pro Day tests next week.
These past couple of months have been a grind Chase Kline has been anticipating. Ever since he began his college career started in East Lansing with Michigan State in 2018, Kline’s been trying to show what he was capable of on the field.
Everything’s been leading up to this moment and how’s he spending this time?
Running.
Running fast, lifting fast. Unweighted, explosive plyometrics to heavy, killer lifts.
Then running some more.
“Getting skinny,” as he puts it.
From morning to afternoon, five days a week — Kline’s back home in Westlake, Ohio doing what all aspiring pro athletes do this time of year, especially in his area. He heads to Speed Strength Systems, which was founded by Tim Robertson Jr. like any Ohio-born future pro athlete ought to.
For over 20 years, guys like Ted Ginn Jr., LeBron James, and Julian Edelman have gone to this Cleveland-area strength training gym to excel at their respective sports, in their respective positions.
“We have helped guys doing it the old-fashioned way.” Robertson told The Ypsilanti Eleven in a phone interview. “We’re sort of like a Rocky Balboa get-after-it type of training method, and it works… We get the job done with what we have and we’re very confident that our education supports what we’re doing.”
It’s a tough sell, he’ll say, being in Chesterland, Ohio and not somewhere much warmer this time of year. Like an Arizona or Florida.
Robertson is also the top strength and conditioning coach at John Carroll University.
Like many strength coaches across America, Robertson wants to make sure Kline’s moving the bar fast. Absolute strength is great and all, but NFL scouts need to see how dynamic of an athlete he can be. It doesn’t matter if a team likes him more as a defensive end or a linebacker.
But that’s not actually what the market looks like.
See, scouts just want to know, first and foremost, if a prospect can be compared to a world-class, Italian sports car.
“I like to use an analogy with our athletes,” Robertson said. “Would you rather be a Mack truck? Which has a very powerful engine, a very powerful device. Or would you rather be a Porsche or a Lamborghini? The Porsche and the Lamborghini are what the NFL wants. They want fast, powerful guys. They both have powerful engines, but the Lamborghini and Porsche move much faster…. We want the guys to be strong and durable, but they have to move.”
A former Mark Dantonio recruit for Michigan State before he transferred to Eastern Michigan, Kline was able to get on the field and make a variety of plays. The very first play he made in college was a sack off the edge. If you watch enough of his early tape, you’ll see that he was able to break up a deep, play-action pass as a linebacker.
If scouts like what they see, Kline has Robertson to thank — they trained together during Kline’s high school days at Chardon. Now, of course, there’s much more film to show off after playing more in 2020, then was a two-year captain and starting linebacker for EMU’s defense across two defensive coordinators.
The film, for every incoming NFL hopeful gearing up for their big Pro Day this time of year, should speak for itself. That’s the theory at least. Whether scouts have watched the film or not, Eastern Michigan’s recent graduates have been working tirelessly for next week’s test on Thursday, March 14.
How fast can he run a 40?
How many times can he bench 225?
Vertical jump?
Broad jump?
What about their position work?
The Pro Day is a great time to stand out and make heads turn. It’s a great time to, even if they’re not impressed by their performances in real-time next Thursday, give them numbers to be happy to read back-on later. Kline and his strength coach are confident that he’ll have the straight-line 40-time that’ll keep conversations going between him and NFL teams.
Kline’s already been interviewed by the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars. He says they all like his 6’3” frame, the “Pennsylvania shoulders” his grandfather says he has, and, if his hips are NFL-ready, there’s bound to be a spot for him at the next level.
“(The scouts) like my size inside and outside, they like my frame, and they love seeing me roam all around the field and tackle sideline-to-sideline at Eastern Michigan,” Kline said. “For my pro day, they’ve all given me tips that they're really looking for me to be able to open my hips fluidly, run well, and come in shape. And I've been sacrificing for the past two months straight to get ready to show them that.”
Ironman of EMU Football Wants to Stand Tests of Time
It was a goal of Brian Dooley’s to have his name carved into Eastern Michigan’s history books.
That was 2018. Now, nobody has played more football at Eastern Michigan than he has.
Nobody.
Last year, that record was held by the outgoing offensive lineman who graduated into an NFL Draft pick and starting guard for the New England Patriots — Sidy Sow.
Then Dooley had a year for the ages. As expected, Dooley started every game of the 2023 season at right tackle and passed Sow on the all-time lists. Sow had 55 starts in 57 games. Dooley made 60 starts over 62 games played.
“It's just like, something I look forward to,” Dooley said. “Because like, that's what people look at. What is this guy doing the play for so long? Like, how did he do it? What’s he doing to take care of his body?”
Before the season began, he was a Good Morning America star for his selfless decision to give his teammate, Zack Conti, his athletic scholarship for the year.
Before he became the kind of teammate everybody wanted to have, he was a freshman at EMU. He knew Maxx Crosby before he blew up with the Raiders. Before Sidy Sow graduated as the team’s all-time Ironman.
Before Dooley found himself training with Dan Mozes at Ethos Human Performance over these last couple of months, Dooley was mostly limited to the resources available to him at college. He said he’s looking forward to the more-even playing field with resources galore ahead.
Resources, and no spring ball.
Not only will he have more chances to stay healthy and be on the field, but the chance to learn from the current-day greats is something he plans will be a large part of how his first couple years in the NFL will be.
“Not every not every single person plays the game the same way,” Dooley said. “I mean as you can see, like, me and Maxx's game is so much different from anybody else's. And that's why he is who he is. That's what separates him… I feel like I'm like that too. My game is different from a lot of other people. And that's why I feel like I can stand out from some of these other high-end tackles.”
Dooley won’t feel like he’s “made it” in the league until he reaches his fifth season. Spending 10 years in the league is closer to what he wants to accomplish.
“For right now, I'm right now I'm good with practice squad. That's just kind of my mindset because being an NFL O-lineman, it's hard. There's guys in the league right now who are set on having those guys start,” Dooley said.
A scout asked him if he’d be upset about sitting behind some All-Pro linemen even if that meant not being able to play regularly on Sundays for 3-4 years.
Dooley’s response was simple: Of course I’d be happy with still making a team and learning from the best. I’ll be ready when you need me to be.
“I'd be fine with backing them up and learning from them. Until maybe they think it's their time is done or they get hurt,” Dooley said. “Hopefully, they don't. But let's say they get hurt. But yeah, like I'll go in. But for a couple years, if I'm sitting behind them, learning from them, and still able to help the team out however I can then yeah, I'm totally fine with that… I do want to play in the league for at least 10 years.”
Dooley’s spent a lot of time since coming to Eastern Michigan in 2018 from Toledo (St. John’s Jesuit HS) asking as many questions as he could to every coach that’s come through the program.
With each added question asked and game played, Dooley saw improvements in his game. His footwork and hand placement are what scouts tell him they like the most. You don’t get better at those things by getting stronger on the sidelines.
“Being at Eastern for this long, you pick up a lot of things, and you meet a lot of different people,” Dooley said. “Just to be able to pick a lot of those guys’ brains, learn from them, it just adds to my game. The moves that they've taught me that I’ve put it in my toolbox, to me, is awesome.”
The Road Least-Traveled
The specialist’s life isn’t for everybody.
As Steve Bird’s agent tells him, he’s auditioning for one of the hardest jobs in the world. NFL coaches are largely uninterested in long snappers until they need one. These Pro Day workouts: are they even important for guys like him?
Maybe scouts will spend more than 10 minutes comparing 40-yard dash times with other long snappers fresh out of college.
Maybe they won’t.
As Bird looks at his situation, it’s better to go out and put his workout numbers on paper than to let teams assume the worst of him. It’s always good to have good numbers. Specialists aren’t required to run, but Bird’s been working with current and former professional long snappers back home in Phoneix, Arizona.
Just like anybody else, it’s been five days a week of finding work any way he can.
“When I looked at it, I said ‘I need to be able to be snapping all the time’, which was the normal schedule that I did in high school, which was snapping Monday through Thursday,” Bird said. He’ll snap 75-100 times a day with Ben Bernard and other long snappers in the area, college and pro. “Lifting… I was able to work that into the schedule by doing Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.”
With running, it’s a lot of solo work on his end, but he says he goes to the same speed coach he’s been seeing since high school. That’s 3-4 times a week.
“So when I’m doing this stuff, I’m training like a linebacker,” Bird said. “I’m doing that as much as I can with my speed coach. He’s training me like a linebacker as you are supposed to be like a linebacker after you snap the football. That’s been most of the speed training that I do, and it’s a lot of making sure you’re explosive and that you have some quickness – a little bit of twitch.”
Over the last two months, Bird’s competed at Kohl’s and Zaunder’s long snapping camps and said that he finished tied for first at the Kohl’s camp.
Will his camp work be good enough?
Can he impress enough at the Pro Day?
In all likelihood, he won’t know that until after the Draft wraps up next month. His form of validation could come as a late phone call as the Nth rookie mini-camp invite. But an invite is an invite, and he’d be invited to play for one of only 32 positions in the world that exist: the sometimes forgotten-about long-snapper on an NFL roster.
“Specialists’ lifestyles are a little unique, but that’s part of it. You go in knowing that it’s going to be hard, you have to embrace the grind that’s going to come ahead, and you have to be willing to put your head down and go. I’m going to be with my family (during the Draft) and hope for the best.
“I’ll let the numbers at Pro Day as well as the other two camps that I went to, let those talk. And God willing the phone will ring.”
Tough Choices Were Made Along the Way
Chase Kline’s journey to the NFL started a long time ago. One could argue that it might’ve began before he decided to see Robertson the first time back in high school.
Not in January when the two linked up again, or in December when Kline made the decision to skip the team’s 68 Ventures Bowl against South Alabama — which Dooley and Bird both played in. There’s a lot riding on these few, short months of the winter and spring to get their final, lasting impressions in for pro scouts to see.
It’s not something new to see these days, but it’s still a heavy decision any senior might feel the need to make to end their college careers.
“It's a very hard decision, especially being a captain the past two years, you know, you don't want to let your teammates down. That was the hardest part for me, just not being there with my guys not being able to be on the sideline, not being able to support them and be with them all throughout that time period,” Kline said. “But, it was a strictly business decision. I think I've done a lot of things throughout college to show NFL talent so that I can help a team in many different ways, whether that's special teams, outside linebacker, inside linebacker, or defensive end. I think I've definitely cemented myself, tape-wise.
“But after discussing it with my family, after discussing it with my mentors, and people who are close to me, everybody said, ‘We don't want you to risk the rest of your career for this bowl game,’ and so I made it with a very heavy heart.”