No Combine invitation, no let-up for NFL hopeful Ben Lamaak of Cedar Rapids Kennedy/Iowa State

For 329 players who just finished their college football careers, this is NFL Combine Week.

For Ben Lamaak of Cedar Rapids, it's a week to stay in Ames and keep working toward the same goal as those 329 invited to Indianapolis. Included are former Iowa State teammate David Sims and nine players off the 2010 University of Iowa team.

“I'm really using it as motivation to work harder,” offensive lineman Lamaak said of the Combine snub, for lack of a better word. “It gives me more time to prepare for our Pro Day here on March 22nd.”

Virtually all FBS and FCS programs have Pro Days, when NFL scouts, coaches and player-personnel people come to campuses to observe draft-eligible players in various workout drills. Here is a link to most of the Pro Days around the country.

But a spot in the Combine doesn't guarantee you a spot in April's NFL Draft, nor does exclusion from the Combine end your hope of being drafted.

“(Former Iowa State offensive lineman) Reggie Stephens didn't go the Combine last year,” Lamaak noted, “and he was still drafted in the seventh round by the Cincinnati Bengals.”

The first part of the process for wannabe pros is to hire an agent.

“I had eight or 10 make contact with me,” Lamaak said. “I interviewed three, and felt comfortable with Brian Hamilton of Plan B Sports in Cincinnati.”

Cincinnati has become a meaningful city to the former Kennedy all-state tight end. He spent five weeks this winter working out at a Cincinnati training facility before returning to Ames to work out with Iowa State's strength coaches.

This is what draft prospects do now. They go somewhere with a full-service training facility used by many others in the same boat, and they train. And train.

Former Hawkeye Adrian Clayborn has spent a lot of time training in Phoenix since the Insight Bowl. Iowa's Tyler Sash has been based in San Diego.

Lamaak went to Ignition Athletic Peformance Group in Cincinnati for five weeks, where he said he was joined by over a dozen other draft-hopefuls, only one of whom got a Combine invitation.

“It was Monday through Saturday,” he said. “You worked out from 9 a.m. to noon, had lunch, then worked out for three more hours in the afternoon.

“It was a lot of different stuff, specific drills you'll do at Pro Day. Agility drills, vertical jumps, bench-presses.”

The idea was to improve in speed, quickness and power, reaction times and core strength. Serious business. Even a nutritionist was on hand.

Lamaak was a four-sport standout at Kennedy High. He was first-team all-state in football and boys' basketball as a senior, and was The Gazette's 2006 Male Athlete of the Year.

He ranks fifth on the school's all-time scoring list in boys' basketball. He was an all-state tight end as a senior, but played the final six games of that season at quarterback.

Lamaak was a 4-year starter at Iowa State who was the Big 12 coaches' choice for second-team all-league center last season. He went from a 250-pound freshman to a 320-pound fifth-year senior. This sports stuff is in his DNA.

“I've dreamed since I was a kid of being a professional athlete,” he said. “I'm blessed to be in this position, and I'll keep striving to work hard.”