Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
The 2024 CFL Combine presented by New Era is upon us! Starting Wednesday, this year’s top draft prospects will get to work in Winnipeg looking to impress scouts and football operations departments around the league.
Combine week is one of the most significant stretches of time for a draft-eligible prospect. A good showing can vault a player up the draft board, while a poor one can do damage the other way.
The former was true for BC Lions’ linebacker Ben Hladik three years ago. Before being taken in the third round at the 2021 CFL Draft, he was a big-time standout a few weeks prior at the combine. Hladik finished second in his class with 29 bench press reps and a 4.66-second 40-yard dash; he also impressed in the broad jump, 3-cone and shuttle.
So, who better to get some Combine tips from than one of the CFL’s best linebackers and a guy who is only three years removed from going through the process?
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Prepare specifically for the Combine
Because the measurable drills at the Combine are so specialized, Hladik says it’s important to be very specific when training.
“Over and over when we’d go to the field, I’d work on my 40, work on my shuttle and 3-cone,” Hladik recalled when I spoke with him earlier this week. “At the gym we were preparing for the bench press. We were preparing for a couple months leading up.”
Because we’re talking about such specific disciplines that aren’t always 100 per cent transferable to and from game action, Hladik feels his combine-specific training was crucial to his stellar showing.
Take an all-around approach to training
It was important for Hladik to identify his strengths and weaknesses leading into the combine. But that was only the first step.
“I definitely knew I was going to excel at the bench press,” Hladik said. “I’ve always had a strong bench press and broad jump and vertical have always been my strengths.
“But I really worked on the running technique and everything, which really helped. I never had a sprint coach or anything until I started training for the combine. Just working with my sprint coach, he definitely helped me lower that number training specifically for the 40.”
But just because Hladik knew he was naturally strong in certain areas didn’t mean he neglected them in his preparation. In fact, the University of British Columbia product says it was important to make sure his training was as comprehensive as possible.
“We definitely trained everything equally because we still wanted to be well-rounded at the combine. The things I was strong at, I just wanted to be even stronger.
“When I was at my first year at my university, I could already do 20 reps on the bench press at 225. I already had like a 10-foot broad jump. I knew I’d be good at those things, but I wanted to improve them even more. And as I kept to the combine training, I just kept seeing improvements and it definitely panned out.”
Train with someone else
Ben Hladik was fortunate to have a talented brother, in UBC tight end/fullback Bradley Hladik, to workout with in 2021 (UBC Athletics)
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hladik was part of the 2021 virtual combine. That meant the time leading up to testing was a little different than it has been for others the last few years.
He wasn’t able to prepare at team facilities, which meant no competition with teammates also getting ready for the combine. That’s why Hladik turned to his younger brother, Bradley, a tight end/fullback at UBC, to help push him through those gruelling training sessions.
Bradley is taking part in this year’s combine
“It definitely mentally helped having my brother there,” Hladik admitted. “When we were running together in Vernon, we obviously wanted to beat each other with our times or bench more than the other.
“It definitely helped having him there as someone to kind of compete with, so it wasn’t always just me training. He was always there with me, kind of like you’d have in the facilities training for the Combine.”
Don’t be afraid to seek outside help
Everyone is going to have natural strengths and weaknesses when it comes to combine disciplines. But Hladik, who hired a sprint coach to help him with the 40-yard dash, says players shouldn’t be afraid to seek outside assistance to help improve the areas that need it.
“It’s a different thing running on a football field as it is doing a 40-yard dash. You’re not really ever going to run 40 yards straight down a football field unless you’re breaking away as a receiver. So as a linebacker, it definitely helped to have a sprint coach teach me how to run the 40-yard dash properly.”
Take it seriously
Perhaps the easiest piece of advice relayed by Hladik was to approach the combine seriously. After all, it’s the last stop for players prior to draft day and the last chance to leave a lasting impression.
“Especially with not playing my fourth year (at UBC), I took the combine really seriously because it was kind of my chance to prove that I was still in shape and ready to play football. This year I’d definitely take it seriously doing those drills. If you’re not taking it seriously, someone else is going to come for you when you’re on the field and you won’t be on the good side of that.”
