Snap Countdown for Bentley's Bernadeau
By Scott Souza/Daily News staff
While most NFL draft prospects will be glued to their television
sets for the first day of the two-day proceedings Saturday,
Mackenzy Bernadeau will be sitting in a Bentley College classroom.
While the remainder of the second-day hopefuls will spend the next
afternoon pacing their living rooms and sweating up a storm, the
former Waltham High star lineman claims he'll be enjoying a family
dinner just like he does most every Sunday.
``I am going to treat it as a pretty normal day,'' he vowed shortly
after a workout in the Bentley weight room yesterday. ``I am going
to try not to make it into a big thing. I want it to be a regular
Sunday.''
While Bernadeau stressed that he is not going into the weekend with
any expectations of where - or even if - he will be drafted, it
will still likely be anything but a regular Sunday for the
potential second-day selection hoping to become the first football
player ever drafted out of Bentley.
Over the past few months, he has traveled to nine different NFL
cities and has met with many coaches and personnel men, including
several at the Boston College Pro Day. All the while, he has been
trying to find time to study and do homework so he can graduate on
time next month.
``It has been unreal,'' said the 2004 Waltham High graduate. ``The
travel schedule was unbelievably crazy. Fortunately, I had teachers
who were willing to work with me and help me out.''
Bernadeau said the draft countdown has actually been busier than
expected. While he anticipated a lot of excitement with a few local
workouts, an all-star game appearance and many hours in the weight
room leading up to the draft, he said he didn't figure on this much
travel while still trying to finish school.
``A lot of the kids I have met up with are Division I guys who were
done (with college) in December because they are fifth-year guys,''
he said. ``But I was still in school. Now I am back and it's crunch
time.''
Crunch time includes a seven-hour class on Saturday with an exam
that should get going right around the time NFL commissioner Roger
Goodell starts reading off names of the top picks.
``I have a final to take so I won't really be able to pick up the
phone,'' he said of his ability to following the opening round of
the draft. ``I will be a little anxious to see where everyone else
is going, how many of the top lineman and guards are taken. Maybe I
will have the phone on vibrate just in case anything happens.''
Bernadeau doesn't expect anything to happen until Day 2 starts on
Sunday morning at the earliest. Whatever happens, he said he is
hoping to go somewhere that provides the best chance for him to
develop and fight for a job.
``I want to go to a team where there is a great staff,'' he said.
``I know I am going to have to be coached coming from a different
level (Division II).''
With a 6-foot-4, 300-pound frame, the Division II All-America at
guard could prove a tempting prospect that Bentley coach Peter
Yetten believes will eventually produce great dividends.
``He has the size and he has what it takes,'' Yetten determined.
``He just needs to get into a program and have some of those old
NFL coaches teach him some new tricks.
``If he can get a roster spot, and get time with a coaching staff
willing to develop him, then he can stick around (in the NFL) for a
while,'' he added. ``I think a lot of people in Waltham are going
to be surprised with what he is able to do.''
Bernadeau said he has tried to stay away from the myriad Web sites
that break down every conceivable pick and try to forecast when
he'll be drafted and where he'll go.
``My friends look at them and try to tell me about them more than
anything else,'' he claimed. ``You definitely get curious, but I
don't want to know what they say, really. The whole draft is so
unpredictable. I don't think anyone knows what's going to
happen.''
Among the features on those sites - more than one of which has
listed Bernadeau as a potential late-round sleeper - are a player's
strengths and weaknesses.
After dominating the Northeast-10 Conference as a four-year
starter, he is used to folks telling him about his strengths. If
anything, he said he is more interested in what are his perceived
weaknesses.
``In every visit, and every coach I talk to, I ask what they think
is my biggest weakness,'' he said. ``That way I can work on it and
come mini-camp I will be better.''
Bernadeau declined to reveal exactly what weaknesses he's been
specifically addressing other than to say that he has been doing a
lot of strength and conditioning work in recent weeks.
As well as schoolwork. With all the scouts gone from the Bentley
campus, and the last of the pre-draft traveling done, he has been
using some of those studies to keep his mind off what should be the
biggest weekend of his football career.
At least, the biggest weekend so far.