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*A Day With a DSFL Draft Prospect - Thor - 02-29-2020 Saturday February 29th, 5 days until the draft. For most people it's just another Saturday, they're sleeping in, spending time with family, generally enjoying the weekend. Today though, I was meeting with someone who is not "most people", as for UCLA football star Heath Evans his day starts with a gym session at 6am. Most of the articles I write don't involve a 5am drive to a private gym south of LA, but Heath insisted that I would have to be there to truly understand this process. When I arrived at 6am sharp Heath was already underway - warming up and preparing for what I understood to be an every day process for him in the weeks leading into the DSFL draft. The warm up Heath puts himself through is rigorous, one to rival the average persons day of activity. He starts off with a jog, usually aiming for the 5km mark (everything in this gym is listed in metric as Evans sought to make it feel like home) but always running for 21 minutes. When I asked "why such a specific time?" Heath stated that "LaDanian Tomlinson is my hero, every day I use his jersey number to remind myself that you don't get there without consistency." After the warm up we move to the powerlifting station, and as he begins to set up his bar I find that I have the opportunity to ask Heath a few more follow up questions about how much of his success so far could be contributed to this consistency - "Everything" Heath began, "it's the mamba mentality, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. I have the talent, and I'm not going to let someone who doesn't outwork me. Spot me here?" Beyond this point the workout becomes too intensive for our interview to continue - so I sat back and watched one of the hardest working athletes I've ever witnessed as he continued to hone his craft. The work out wraps up at 8am and we begin to make our way heading to a local cafe for breakfast. We reach Evans's car and I must have displayed a look of perplexion as Heath stated "It keeps me humble, reminds me of my roots." The Subaru Legacy must have been at least 20 years old, but seemed well kept and maintained. Upon arriving at the cafe, Heath walks past the sign asking patrons to wait to be seated, offering a wave to the kitchen staff on the way past. This is clearly a place he frequents, as we sit down only I am offered a menu. Heath comes here every day and awaits his regular breakfast, 6 slices of whole wheat toast with Vegemite (the cafe import it just for him), two cans of baked beans, a whole avocado and a coffee with a scoop of coconut oil - some days he may eat more, but never less. As we eat, the conversation shifts to football "How well did you feel your UCLA team this past season has prepared you for the DSFL?" I gently probed, "I'll tell you what, that there is a great bunch of guys that may just go down in history as an all time great team. We've got at least three players going in this draft between White Goodman, Acura Skyline and myself, and who knows how many more next season." Heath responded - I didn't bring up that he could have stayed with them another season to enjoy the success, it was clear to me that this was a man destined for more than that. We finish off our meal and head to Heath's physiotherapist - he's not injured, but also wants to stay that way, Heath states "a huge part of my regimen is recovery. I put my body through a lot and I want to keep doing that for as long as I can". While we wait, Heath checks his Twitter and shows me the other athletes he's connecting with, not just other prospects but current players, other athletes and even GM's. I'm not sure if there was any purpose for this display other than to brag, but it killed some time effectively as we waited for the session to begin. Heath didn't let me follow him into his recovery session, I guess everyone has a few secrets - all I know is he was gone from 9am-11am and came back looking like a new person (the editors guess is vampirism but I'm not so sure). Then we head back to the gym, the second of three trips we will make here today. This session is focused on mobility and allows Heath a smooth transition from recovery to exercise - there's a lot of stretching involved and words cannot describe some of the contortionist shapes I saw his body bend into. During this session a couple of other DSFL prospects drop in - these aren't first round prospects that you know the name of though, Evans says he "[invites] everyone over! This is a great place to work out and the competition makes everyone better, but it's not just that either. I want to help other people, I have a passion for teaching and sharing my knowledge and some of these players haven't had the same opportunities that I've benefited from, so it's up to me to pass that on." He also let's me know there are a few people I may know stopping by for his speed session and 1v1's later,l after a Twitter invite yesterday. For now I'll have to guess who that will be as we're already heading off for lunch. I notice Heath doesn't seem to cook for himself much, as we head to another local establishment that no doubt already has his order memorised. When I ask him about it, he deflects the topic back to football "Can you believe Dax had to wait until the third round last night? Smh my head can't believe that noise". Yes, he did say "smh" out loud - he might spend too much time on the internet. After another hefty meal featuring several thousand calories of energy, we make our way back to the gym for the final session of the day. As we head to the outdoor field Buck Thornton, Chester Sweets and Lawrence Bass head in through the gate - Heath wasn't lying when he mentioned he likes competition and these are some of the best prospects of the draft to work with. After a half hour of rotating parachute and suicide hill sprints, the four players move into one on one drills - with Heath being the only offensive player he takes every rep against the star defenders. They are fairly matched and there's no distinct winner on display after this session - only hard work and determination. It's clear this bunch are focused on improving their speed, strength and agility as much as possible. After their group training the players head into the gym where Madden is set up on the projector screen for them already - this is where I bid them farewell, as this is where they will remain for a huge catered dinner before heading home for an early night's sleep - because tomorrow is Sunday, and regardless of the weekend there are no days off in this game. As I walk out the door I hear another gym patron yell behind me "Hey Mr media man, what's this all about anyway?" - I respond "Only time will tell, my friend..." This media report was brought to you by Rony Tomo, a CBS reporting affiliate. WC:1258