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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: All-Star Game, Combine Invites
2/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Two former University of Minnesota football players will get a chance to impress National Football League brass this weekend. Linebackers Simoni Lawrence and Nate Triplett will both be taking part in the annual Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Challenge Saturday.
This is the fourth year for the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Challenge. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. CT and will be played at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Gopher fans who would like to see Lawrence and Triplett play in the game can tune in to CBS College Sports, which can be found on Channel 613 on DirecTV, Channel 274 on Comcast in the Twin Cities and Channel 152 on Dish Network.
The game pits a team of players who hail from the State of Texas or played their college football in the State of Texas against a team made up of players from the other 49 states. Following last year's game, 93 percent (111-of-119) of the players in the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Challenge went on to sign NFL contracts.
For more information on Texas vs. The Nation, click here.
Texas vs. The Nation won't be the final chance to impress NFL scouts, coaches and front office personnel. Triplett and Lawrence will be among four members of last year's Gopher senior class who have been invited to take part in the NFL Scouting Combine.
Lee Campbell, the other member of the Gophers' starting linebacker corps from last season, has now been selected to take part in the Combine as well. Wide receiver Eric Decker has also been invited to take part.
The NFL Combine is a job fair of sorts for potential National Football League players. For six days (Feb. 24-March 2) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, players are put through a series of drills, tests and interviews with more than 600 NFL personnel including head coaches, general managers and scouts.
In other Gopher football news, don't forget National Signing Day is tomorrow. GopherSports.com will provide a live blog throughout the morning and early afternoon, updating Gopher fans as the letters of intent come in to the U of M offices. We'll start the blog around 6 a.m. There will also be plenty of other information on GopherSports.com throughout the day, regarding the Gophers' recruiting class for 2010.
Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster will hold a press conference at 3 p.m., which can be viewed live on GopherSports.com in the Gold Zone.
-Andy Seeley
