Michael Heldman reflects on Shrine Bowl experience, hopeful for NFL Combine invite
Heldman had to put in some extra effort to get up to speed, but felt like he made the most of being a late add to the showcase game.
Michael Heldman didn’t know the playbook yet, or even where to pick up his room key.
A late addition to the annual East-West Shrine Bowl, a pre-draft showcase game for college players vying to get selected or signed by NFL teams, Heldman had flown last-minute on a Thursday afternoon from Tampa to Dallas. A 10:15 p.m. arrival and pickup from the airport about 15-20 minutes later meant Heldman wasn’t at the hotel until after 11 p.m., without many people around to direct him. He eventually got his room key, slipped into his shared room with fellow late add and former Illinois offensive lineman, Josh Gesky, who had arrived some hours earlier and was already asleep.
Heldman didn’t even have pads with him, just his helmet, which he had by virtue of playing earlier in a different showcase game, the Hula Bowl.
“Basically I woke up and he had the schedule, and I'm like, 'Alright, bet. Send me the schedule,'” Heldman said to Mitten Football about getting going the next morning. “And kind of go from there. Got the playbook. I had like three team reps that day because I didn't know what the heck I was doing besides like the simple stuff. And then I finally learned it later that night with my coach. And then the week got better.”
Heldman, a Romeo, Michigan, native who played four years at defensive end for Central Michigan, is the best NFL prospect to emerge from the Chippewas 2025 roster. He’s been training in Florida since the season concluded on Boxing Day and got a chance to join the Shrine Bowl roster late in the process and show his prowess in front of more scouts and evaluators, and in front of a television audience. And despite arriving at the end of the first day and having to get up to speed with the playbook, Heldman feels he left the right impression from his time in Dallas, improving daily and showing he’s a player with lots of untapped upside, worthy of a shot from an NFL team.
The next step, Heldman hopes, is a trip to Indianapolis for the annual NFL Draft Combine, the NFL’s invite-only and highest-profile pre-draft showcase of skills and athletic ability for prospects.
“I'm just really praying and hoping I can get that Combine invite,” Heldman said. “And if not, it's not the end of the world. But, for me personally, it'd be something that I'd like to get. Because they've seen it, all these guys have seen it: I've gotten better every single day.”
