Editor's note: Towson junior running back Terrance West declared early for the NFL draft after setting school records with 4,584 career rushing yards and 86 touchdowns. The 5-foot-9, 223-pound Baltimore native is not enrolled at Towson this semester as he pursues the NFL and is sharing his draft experiences with Baltimore Sun reporter Aaron Wilson. At the NFL scouting combine, West, delivered a strong performance as he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.54 seconds with a 33.5-inch vertical leap and caught the football smoothly in drills. West had formal combine meetings with 13 NFL teams, including the Ravens and Cleveland Browns. This is the 10th in an occasional series leading up to the draft in May:
Ten more days until the draft, it's almost here.
I'm just anxious and focused right now and ready to get to the NFL. I'm focused on being an impact player immediately and learning the system. I'm all done with team stuff as far as visits and workouts. I'm just training right now and staying ready.
I've been working out at Sweat Performance in Timonium with Kyle Jakobe the past few days. Kyle's a great trainer. He's a gym rat. I can tell he knows what he's doing.
I'm throwing out the first pitch at the Orioles game Tuesday night. The first sport I ever played was baseball. I played center field. I'm known for hitting home runs. I can throw a strike. I just need a few warm-up pitches first. After the Orioles see me throw, they might send down a text message to try to hire me. It's exciting. It's definitely a cool thing to get asked to throw out the first pitch.
We got our rings for making it to the national championship. It's real nice. It's almost the same size as a Super Bowl ring.
I went on my last three visits last week.
I went to the San Francisco 49ers first, then the Atlanta Falcons and the Buffalo Bills.
It was my first time ever in California. It was a nice experience. [49ers coach] Jim Harbaugh is a great guy. He gave me a 49ers sweatshirt. It was amazing. We talked about his brother [Ravens coach John Harbaugh] a little bit. I met [John Harbaugh] at the Ravens' local Pro Day. I'm quite sure my name came up in a text message conversation between them.
I think the 49ers is a good situation. I could learn from [veteran running back] Frank Gore. That could help me become better. He could teach me the ins and outs of the game. You can always learn from good people. Frank is a great blocker who can run and catch the ball. I want to learn from a guy like that who's going to be in the Hall of Fame one day.
When I visited the Falcons, [South Carolina defensive end] Jadeveon Clowney was there, too. He's a great guy. All that negative stuff people say about him isn't true. He's a humble guy. He's a great football player.
The Falcons' situation would be awesome for me. They have a great coaching staff. When I was down there, it felt like home. The whole environment there is all about business. You want to come to work there every day and have fun. You can accomplish a lot there. I think it would be a great opportunity. The Falcons have shown a lot of interest in me. [The Falcons sent coach Mike Smith, general manager Thomas Dimitroff, assistant general manager Scott Pioli and director of player personnel Lionel Vital to Towson to work out West privately].
I got a great vibe from the Bills. I felt a lot of love from them. When I went up there I met with [Bills CEO] Russ Brandon. He likes me a lot. We had a one-on-one conversation. I didn't realize at first he was in the movie, Draft Day. We had a little laugh about that. I had mentioned the movie to him. He was the Bills' GM. They have great guys up there. It's a nice, suburban town, somewhere you can focus on football. There aren't too many distractions. They're in the building process with their team. It reminds me of what we did at Towson. I liked it a lot up there. We'll see where I'm going to get drafted real soon. It's almost here.
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