If there was an award for having the most positive attitude at the NFL Scouting Combine, Nicholas Petit-Frere would certainly be in the running.
The combine can be an arduous process for draft prospects, as players spend four days in Indianapolis going through a battery of interviews with NFL teams, a lengthy medical exam, media interviews and more before they even take the field for their actual combine workouts. As he prepared for his own turn through the combine gauntlet this week, Petit-Frere heard plenty of horror stories from former combine participants about how challenging the week would be, from 5 a.m. wakeup calls to going from one meeting to another.
As he spoke with reporters on Thursday morning on his third day in Indianapolis, however, Petit-Frere said he couldn’t understand why anyone would complain about going through the combine.
“I got to talk to a bunch of coaches, talk ball, football, life, my philosophies on football. I got to talk about my high school, college, little league and things like that. And then all the (medical) testing and stuff, it was fine. It was easy. The people there were lovely,” Petit-Frere said. “I don't know why people made it sound like this would be so bad. This has kind of been the best week of my life.”
During a media session that lasted nearly 23 minutes on Thursday, Petit-Frere repeatedly expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the combine and for the sport of football as a whole. The son of a single mother, Petit-Frere says football has changed his life for the better, not only because he’s about to play in the NFL but also because it introduced him to coaches who have become father figures and teammates who have become best friends.
To Petit-Frere, the opportunity to be one of the 324 draft prospects invited to the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine is a special privilege, so he’s trying to appreciate every moment along the way.
“For me, my mindset is, I get this opportunity to reach my dream and play in the NFL. I’m applying for a job to play for one of the best 32 teams in the world,” Petit-Frere said. “For me, all the things that I love about football, just talking ball, meeting people, creating new families, new relationships, it's all happening here. So it's like, it's the best time of my life.”
Petit-Frere made it clear in Thursday’s press conference just how much playing football means to him, and he wants to convey that during his interviews with NFL teams as well.
“In terms of effort, I want to make sure that everyone knows that every single play, whether it’s the first play or the last play in a game, I'm going to give every single effort I have,” Petit-Frere said. “And I just want to make sure that every single team that I talk to that if I was lucky enough for me to play for whatever team I'm playing for, my main and number one mission is to go win a Super Bowl. There's nothing else that I’m gonna settle for. There's no other accolades that I really care about or anything like that. The only thing I care about is getting a ring on my finger and being able to have that legacy be written into the lore of NFL history that I was a part of a Super Bowl championship team.”
“I don't know why people made it sound like this would be so bad. This has kind of been the best week of my life.”– Nicholas Petit-Frere on the NFL Scouting Combine process
His former Ohio State teammate Thayer Munford, who also met with reporters at the combine on Thursday, is among those happy to vouch for Petit-Frere’s dedication and work ethic.
“He's a hard worker. He is a team player,” Munford said. “He doesn't really care where he's at as long as he can win championships.”
Petit-Frere still isn’t happy about the way his Ohio State career ended, as his final game with the Buckeyes was their 42-27 loss to Michigan in November. He says that game continues to fuel him, though, as he goes through the draft process and prepares for the next chapter of his career.
“I'm still reeling from that. It’s something that I took it mentally. But I took it mentally as a sense of ‘I never want to have that feeling again,’” Petit-Frere said. “I didn’t think it would ever happen to me in my career, losing to that team. But with that comes a new mindset with me, a new mentality about me, a new vigor in terms of never letting something that's that precious go. And I’m hoping that when I get to the league, if I get a chance to go to the league, that I'll be able to express that to the team I'm with.”
Even with his decision to enter the 2022 NFL draft rather than play a fifth-year senior season for Ohio State, Petit-Frere could have still played one more game as a Buckeye in the Rose Bowl. He made the decision to opt out and begin training for the NFL Scouting Combine a few weeks early, however, because he wanted to make sure he was fully healthy and prepared to take advantage of this week’s opportunity in Indianapolis.
“I came to Ohio State because I wanted to play in the NFL, I wanted to achieve my lifelong dream of playing in the league,” Petit-Frere said. “So when I kind of looked up (after the Michigan game), I saw that that was right in front of my face, it was so close that I could just touch it. And when I saw that, I said to myself, what do I have to do to get to that point so I can be the very best I can be? So that if I get to the combine, if I got that invite or if I go to pro day, that I can show myself, ‘Hey, this is my best self. This is the person that I want to show teams and I hope that they give me the opportunity.’ And when I felt that, I said that I think that the best thing for me to do is for me to opt out. But it was for me to chase my dream.”
