U.S. moguls star Jeremy Bloom plans dash from Torino to Indy

U.S. moguls star Jeremy Bloom plans dash from Torino to Indy{mosimage}Jeremy Bloom said he will stay in Italy for as short a period as possible in February so he can hurry home and proceed with his football career.

The Colorado freestyler will participate in the Feb. 24 NFL Combine – a tryout session before scouts that he hopes will be his big step toward getting drafted in the spring.

‘Our event is early in the Olympics, so my plan right now is to get in and get out as fast as I can’ said Bloom, speaking to Ski Racing just after finishing fourth in the opening World Cup moguls event at Tignes, France. ‘Hopefully I can train on the course for two days, compete, and go right into football that next day. I’ll have six days to train for the NFL Combine, in Indianapolis.’

The NFL Combine is a chance for football players to show their stuff in front of NFL scouts just a few months before the draft, which is April 29.

Bloom will come home from the Olympics, stash his ski boots and start training with cleats on. ‘Cutting, catching footballs, running 40s [40-yard dashes]: doing the drills that scouts want you to do at the combine’ he said. ‘Then I guess the whole thing begins. I try not to get ahead of myself because it’s so exciting.’

Technically, Bloom may be getting ahead of himself by speaking so assuredly of the Olympics. Only four men from the U.S. men’s moguls team can compete in the Torino Games, and the team is stacked with more than that many medal contenders.

Bloom, Nathan Roberts, Travis Mayer, Toby Dawson, Travis Cabral and several others make up one of the most intense squads on the U.S. Ski Team.

Even if Bloom doesn’t make the Olympics, he seems fairly confident about the NFL. ‘Just based off the two years that I’ve got on tape, the scouts are saying really good things about the way I play and where I can get drafted’ said Bloom, who is friendly with several players from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

‘Obviously I want to make it next year for sure, but it’s not a guarantee. There’s a lot of tough competition in the NFL.’

One person who believes Bloom will have a good shot is Gary Barnett, the recently fired head football coach at the University of Colorado, where Bloom made an impact returning kicks.

‘One thing I’ve learned is you never underestimate Jeremy Bloom’ Barnett said in an interview at www.skiracing.com. ‘Once he sets up his mind to do something, I don’t know how you prevent him from doing it.’