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Sports

Local Athletes Chase Their Dreams

The ex-Somerville quarterback hopes to be drafted by an NFL team.

When he was growing up and playing for Somerville High School, Dan DiLella, who now lives in Neshanic, always imagined that he would play in the NFL. And with the NFL combines and draft around the corner, that dream might become a reality for the former Somerville High School and University of Albany quarterback.

DiLella is one of about 30 college athletes training at the TEST Football Academy in Martinsville. The academy, which has been in New Jersey since 1999 and at its present location in Martinsville since 2006, has, over the past decade, been the nation's top program in preparing college football players for the NFL Combine.

The academy has trained more than 200 athletes who were later drafted into the NFL, including such notables as Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, New York Giants lineman Osi Umenyiora and New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott. During the offseason, like Monday, many current NFL players come to the Martinsville facility to train, including Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.

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DiLella first started coming to the TEST facility when he was a freshman in Somerville.

“I was able to see how they trained and fine-tuned their skills,” he said. “After my senior year, I figured I need to give it a shot."

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"You don’t know unless you try,” he added, saying that he just recently returned from Florida where he and other quarterback hopefuls got to train with former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington.

The eight-week program does not only focus on the physical aspects of training. Coaches also prepare their clients mentally for the rigors of the NFL, provide interview coaching, give individualized nutritional programs and review game films to work on specific aspects of each athlete’s game.

“The intensity and focus is a lot higher than it was in college” said Shane Kelly, another quarterback hopeful from Basking Ridge. "There are a lot of mental parts to it where they try to break bad habits and reinforce good ones”.

Kelly moved from Rhode Island to Basking Ridge during his senior year in high school, and his college career has included stops at Temple, Columbia and Wilfrid Laurier in Canada.

“Canadian football is a lot different than what we play here,” he said. “There was definitely a learning curve. The game is more wide open and geared towards offense which is good for a quarterback.”

“This year’s class looks to be a good one for quarterbacks” he added, citing that he will be heading to the regional combine in Cleveland March 17.

“Everyone here is draft eligible” said TEST CEO and founder Brian Martin. “This is currently our largest class with about 30 athletes here and another 30 in our Florida facility. On average, about half get invited to an NFL camp and about half of them get asked to stay. It’s very competitive, but we give them a much better chance with our program.”

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