Alohi Gilman Discusses Altered And Memorable Pre-Draft Process
The prevalent image of Alohi Gilman’s pre-draft process is a mighty assist he gave at the NFL Combine.
After a day of drills, NFL Network cameras caught him picking up trash in one end zone of Lucas Oil Stadium, the combine’s home. The video took off on social media, ushering in praise for the two-year Notre Dame starting safety and 2020 draft prospect.
“Pretty natural reaction from me,” Gilman said last week in an interview with The Post Game. “I was raised by great parents.”
What has followed in his draft preparation has been decidedly not natural, for him or anyone. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person team visits and pro days. Video calls are the only means of doing a pre-draft visit. NFL teams will rely heavily on information they already had on players.
Gilman had been working out in the Dallas area at EXOS Training, a popular offseason football conditioning program. Since the country shut down, he went back to his home in Laie, Hawai'i. The small town of about 6,000 people on the coast of Oahu has a well-respected defensive backs coach: Keawe Gilman, his father, who runs a camp called DB Tech Academy.
“He’s taught me everything,” Gilman said. “Most of my success has been from teachings from him.”
His workouts now, though, are for his own benefit and to simply stay in shape. He did not do a personal pro day after Notre Dame’s April 1 official pro day was canceled. He can hold virtual meetings from Hawai'i, which along with workouts, have taken up most of his time.
“Answering phone calls, doing online interviews with coaches,” Gilman said. “The work in terms of physically showing people is pretty much done. Now it’s continuing to show everyone who I am as a person, what I know and my football intelligence.”
Gilman’s combine left a mixed bag. His running events were above average for safeties at the combine. He ran a 4.6 40-yard dash, which was 12th among safeties. Those went with a 4.08 20-yard shuttle (sixth) and a 6.81 three-cone drill (second). His 17 bench press reps were 11th.
The jumping events, though, were less successful. His 32-inch vertical was last among all safeties and a 119-inch broad jump was fourth worst.
“It was a long experience,” Gilman said of the combine. “There are a lot of things you have to do, from medicals to interviews to testing. … You have to enjoy it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Overall, an experience to remember.”
Gilman is seen as a later-round prospect. Most seven-round mocks have pegged him in the fifth or sixth round of the draft, which runs Thursday through Saturday. In two years at Notre Dame, he totaled 168 tackles, six tackles for loss, one sack, three interceptions and seven passes defended. He was a team captain for the 2019 season.
Gilman began his career in 2016 at Navy, where he made 76 tackles (five for loss) in his one season there. He was a starter on a 9-5 Navy team that won the American Athletic Conference West Division title.
In his first game at Notre Dame, a win over Michigan in September 2018, he had seven tackles, one tackle for loss and two passes defended. Asked about it now, it remains his favorite memory.
“Night game, 7 p.m. primetime,” Gilman said. “College GameDay. The whole deal. Something I’ll remember for a lifetime.”
As Gilman’s popularity rose and success continued, so did his family’s hashtag, #GillaKilla. It’s a lifestyle, Gilman said, not just a word — and one that he will take with him to whichever NFL team snags him.
“It started when my older sisters played sports,” Gilman said. “It’s a family thing we started and did with ourselves. … Any sport or competition, it kind of brings out that killer instinct. It’s a switch I have on the field.”
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_MikeSinger, @PatrickEngel_, @ToddBurlage and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.