SMU’s Emmanuel Sanders was one of the most impressive performers at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, ranking among the best at his position in several drills, including the 40-yard dash (in which he tied for second among receivers, in 4.41), the broad jump (in which he placed first among receivers, and tied for fifth among all players, with a leap of 10 feet, 6 inches), vertical jump (fifth among wideouts with a jump of 39.5 inches), the three-cone drill (second at his position, in 6.60) and the 20-yard shuttle (third, in 4.10).

Emmanuel Sanders is looking forward to next month's NFL Draft so he can find out where he'll be playing next year (photo by David Mojica).

But the Combine is more than just sprints and jumps and lifts. It also is a time when NFL scouts and coaches get to sit down with draft prospects to get a peek at what makes players tick, how they think, how they respond to different kinds of coaching, and whether those players are a worthy investment for their teams.

Sanders visited again with PonyFans.com to discuss his off-field interaction with NFL teams, and how it feels to be waiting for the NFL Draft next month.

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I think I did pretty well at the Combine. I was hoping to run in the 4.3s, and I ran a 4.41. I was hoping to get 15 reps on the (NFL-standard 225-pound) bench press, and I only got 12, so in those two, I fell a little short, but overall, I think I did pretty well. Maybe it (the time in the 40) had something to do with the turf — it was kind of worn out after the offensive linemen, defensive linemen and special teams guys ran before us.

But overall, I'm pretty happy with how I did. I'm not going to run on Pro Day. I'll do position drills, if a team wants me to, but as far as running and lifting, I'm going to go with what I did at the Combine.

Sanders was one of the top performers among wide receivers at the NFL Combine (photo by NFL.com).

I did a lot of interviews when I was at the Combine. I talked with five head coaches, but I’m not going to say which ones, because they don’t want it out there, who has been showing the most interest. But I talked with five head coaches, the wide receivers coach from every team in the NFL, and about 10-12 special teams coaches.

I know some players were asked a bunch of weird questions, like “would you rather be a cat or a dog?”, but I didn’t get anything like that. They were really straightforward with me. They asked me about our offense, about my family background, about my suspension in ’08 — things like that.

I had one private workout, which was pretty intense. I did position drills for about 30 minutes, and then they had me up on the board for about 90 minutes — they flew out to see me, so they were going to get their time in with me.

I’ve been training with (former SMU punter) Ryan Mentzel, and he threw for me during the workout — running their plays, not the plays I ran at SMU. The wide receivers coach said he was impressed by the way I picked things up. At one point, he said it looked to him like I had run their offense before, so I took that as a compliment.

Then we went up to (SMU wide receivers) Coach (Jeff) Reinebold’s offense. He put me up on the board, and gave me the remote when we watched film of the UTEP game. We’d watch a few plays, and then he’d stop me and I had to tell him everything about a play: what the call in the huddle was, what my route was, what I saw from the defense, whether it was a 6-man or 8-man protection, and the job of everyone else in the offense except the quarterback. I had to tell him what the running back was supposed to do, or the other receivers, even the line. He was really thorough.

He told me he sees me as a good fit in their offense, as an inside guy (slot receiver) who occasionally moves outside in certain situations.

I’m going to visit one more team before Pro Day, and I think a couple of teams are coming to visit me in Dallas. I hear a lot of teams will have coaches there — we’ll see.

I’m not really nervous about the draft, but I wish it would get here. With the draft, you can’t know what’s going to happen. Some people are saying I’ll go in the second or third round, and some people are saying I won’t go until the fifth or sixth round, or even as a free agent. I just want to know what team I’ll be playing for, so I can focus on one thing. I’m going to try with everything I have to make my team glad they picked me.