In the months leading up to the NFL combine, several collegiate football players will spend time at the IMG Performance Institute preparing themselves for the rigors and pressure of the combine, which will help determine how high or low a player goes in the NFL Draft. Here’s one of the players:

Naaman Roosevelt

Naaman Roosevelt is among the crop of receivers that is putting University at Buffalo on the map. We talked to him about his experience at IMG as well as some of his future aspirations outside of football.

Training at IMG Academies…

“I love it here, it’s nice that everything is in one place, no more than a golf cart’s drive away. The mental conditioning is something that is really helpful because it is a main component in taking me to the next level. In college, everyone had great athletic ability and they worked on it all the time. The mental conditioning and all the extra stuff is what gives a player that extra edge on the field.”

Dream city to play in…

although he grew up a bills fan, his dream city to play in is Miami.
“If I could play in any city I wanted to, I’d definitely pick Miami, mostly because of the warm weather. Growing up my favorite team had to be the Buffalo Bills. They had Jim Kelley, Thurman Thomas– easy to root for when I was younger.”

Working with kids…

“I love working with kids, I’d do anything to work with kids. During the season me and another receiver (Brett Hamlin) would always go to the Children’s hospital and talk to kids and getting involved with things in the community. We talked to a lot of kids because in Buffalo they definitely look up to you. We got to play games with them, sign autographs, watch the games on TV with them, they love doing that. Going there and seeing how happy they were just to talk to us definitely made my day.”

Advice for future groups…

“Definitely work hard, do everything like it’s your last time. You can’t take anything for granted, because it will already be over by the time you realize how lucky you are to be there.”