Combining hope, angst

NU's Mandeville aiming for NFL

Prepping for the NFL Combine was no drag for Northeastern's Brian Mandeville, nor was this run vs. Delaware. (file/Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

Brian Mandeville left his home in Walpole shortly after Christmas and arrived in Southern California to prepare for what has to be one of the most extended job interviews in the world.

Each morning had a comfortable familiarity to it for the 6-foot-6-inch, 248-pound Mandeville, who until December was a tight end for Rocky Hager's Northeastern football team. Breakfast around 7, followed by extended workouts designed to increase his strength and stamina as he worked toward his goal of playing in the National Football League next fall.

The idea for prospects is to strut their stuff at the NFL Combine - which begins this week in Indianapolis - for coaches, general managers, and personnel directors.

For a player with big-time skills, it is just part of the process.

For a player such as Mandeville, whose skills are still being refined, it is a reminder of his days at Walpole High School, where he was an All-State offensive and defensive lineman with ambitions of playing college football.

He knows he must sell himself, sell what he can do. The best way to do that, he felt, was to go to Carlsbad, Calif., just north of San Diego, to the Nike-sponsored Velocity Sports Performance Center, where as owner and former NFL defensive back Charles Dimry proudly claims on his website, "We will prepare you to show each and every team that you have the physical, social, and intellectual attributes to be a success in 'The League.' "

For those athletes projected as high draft choices, the only uncertainty is which team will choose them.

For Mandeville, it is tougher than that.

For weeks, he literally and figuratively sweated out the situation as he wondered whether he would even get an invitation to the combine. He started out on a waiting list.

"The way it works is that they give so many slots to seniors, wait until they see which underclassmen declare for the draft, and then they'll have a handful of slots open," said Mandeville.

He indeed received an invitation to go to Indianapolis, where he will be tested and tested again.

"It couldn't have worked out better," he said.

An invitation guarantees nothing, however, and Mandeville says that Plan B is to continue training in California until the end of March, then return to Boston to participate in the annual Pro Day held at Boston College for prospects in the New England area.

"You hope to get drafted, but there is always signing as a free agent if that doesn't happen," said Mandeville.

Right now, Mandeville is listed between No. 15 and No. 20 among tight end prospects, as a late sixth- or early seventh-round choice, which for the draft means second-day anxiety, waiting for the phone to ring.

Mandeville is fine with that. Right now, he has more anticipation than angst. He knows the odds are against him. He played at a Football Championship Subdivision school that didn't have a winning season in Mandeville's five years and is coming off a 2-10 campaign last fall that caused rumblings of discontent within the program.

He is also coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for four games last fall.

"It was a tough year in a lot of ways," said Mandeville, choosing his words carefully. "It was frustrating."

But Mandeville, who caught 63 passes for 863 yards and seven touchdowns in three seasons, showed enough to merit some interest. He was the starting tight end for the East in the East-West Shrine Game in Houston in January, which also gave him his first extended exposure to NFL personnel.

"The week before the game was amazing," said Mandeville. "So many people, looking at what you do, asking you questions. It was amazing."

Mandeville knows he is coming to a crossroads with his football career. He feels he has done the right things - hired a trainer and an agent to guide him through the process - and said the right things as he chases both a dream and a job.

Where it takes him remains unclear. But this much is certain: In this era of all-encompassing information, he will not fall through the cracks if he has what the NFL feels is the right stuff.

He won't be a $72 million first-round draft pick like former BC quarterback Matt Ryan, who followed the same path as Mandeville last year - hiring an agent, working out at a training center in Arizona in preparation for the combine and Pro Day at BC. But Ryan was a known entity, a success story, and he became the third pick in the draft and the 2008 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year with the Atlanta Falcons.

But as Northeastern director of athletics Peter Roby pointed out, Mandeville is "a terrific kid with plenty of natural ability."

Hager echoed the sentiment.

"There are so many good things about him that if I listed them all, you would say this kid is unbelievable," said Hager. "And he is. From a leadership role, from his ability to do his job, to just being able to focus on the task at hand, he is just an outstanding person."

In the sometimes harsh world of the NFL, the measurables on the stopwatches and in the weight room count for as much as those qualities.

And as he goes through the process, he knows there are no guarantees.

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.