AVENTURA — When an NFL draft prospect walks into the office at Bommarito Performance Systems for his first visit, there’s tangible evidence of the potential that can be achieved from working with South Florida-based trainer Pete Bommarito — just from a glance at the walls.
A few of the names of football players on those plaques: reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, Frank Gore, Rob Gronkowski, Le’Veon Bell, Ezekiel Elliott, Vernon Davis, Jimmy Graham, NaVorro Bowman.
For prospects who recently completed their college careers and now hope to show their best when they test for professional teams at the upcoming NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, that’s an impressive list.
As football players try to transform themselves into track athletes to run the 40-yard dash at Lucas Oil Stadium this coming week, Bommarito, who has been called “the 40, combine guru,” helps them navigate that unfamiliar territory.
“We’re training to be trackstars right now instead of being football players,” said Georgia and former Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Colbie Young, who has been back in South Florida training before the combine. “So just eliminating those little dips, anything that can clock a millisecond of a time, just eliminating that from our stances, our starts and making sure that we’re at top-end speed.”
And Bommarito does it by not just maximizing their sprint technique, but relying on his medical background to put his athletes in position to peak athletically when it’s time to perform with added emphasis on recovery, nutrition and joint alignment.
“There’s a difference between training hard and training smart,” said Bommarito, as he has been putting prospects in this year’s draft class through mock combines each of the past two weeks.
“I am a lunatic with recovery and regeneration.”
That aspect of it is invaluable, especially since he has several prospects from both Miami and Indiana who were playing in the final college football game of the season, the Jan. 19 title game. Some of them may run at the combine, others may wait until their pro day to maximize their training on what’s ideally an eight-week program Bommarito puts them through.
“He’s got the right staff, the right medical and things like that to get me healthy,” Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds said. “I feel like, as long as I’m healthy, I’m going to run fast, and I felt like Pete was the right person to go to for that.”
A mock combine day at Bommarito Performance Systems has prospects divided in groups by positions. They’ll line up for two runs each of either the 40-yard dash or the 20, depending on what they’re working on that day.
Bommarito positions himself at those markers, and he has cameras propped up every 10 yards, plus staffers both monitoring the start and taking video of each athlete’s sprint.
He holds his stopwatch up as each prospect crosses him to get as accurate a time as possible. All the while, Bommarito observes each runner, taking down meticulous notes he’ll bring back to the group as it gathers between runs.
This level of diligence is vital when these draft prospects have already completed their résumé of film on the field and has been given an initial draft grade by scouts and analysts. Now, it’s about optimizing the measurables that surface between combine and schools’ pro days before the late April draft.
Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson works out at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
University of Miami defensive end Akheem Mesidor works out at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Indiana University cornerback D’Angelo Ponds works out at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. Ponds is a graduate of Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Georgia wide receiver Colbie Young runs at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Boston College offensive tackle Logan Taylor runs at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Pete Bommarito instructs players on how to improve at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami on Feb. 11. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson runs the 40-yard dash at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
University of Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe works out at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Pete Bommarito times an athlete in the 40-yard dash at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
University of Miami defensive end Akheem Mesidor is seen at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson works out at Bommarito Performance Systems in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“You can’t overdraft a workout warrior,” Bommarito said. “It’s proven to be right. Even linemen, they want athletic freaks. Whether it transfers or not, when you lay down elite athletic wins across the board, that’s what moves the needle. … If you’re winning in the 5, 10, 20, 40, broad jump, (vertical jump) and you’ve got wins across the board, it’s almost inevitable that you will go up to the top of your grade.
“You look at the positional average, and you see who beat it and you see who didn’t — and you see who really beat it and who laid an egg — look at their draft grade coming in, look at where they got picked. Ninety percent of guys who beat the average will move up at the top of the grade. … Ninety percent of the guys will rise or fall based on the numbers.”
Bommarito adjusts schedules for his athletes’ peak performance depending on whether they participated in postseason all-star games like the Senior Bowl or when their college season ended. Miami and Indiana players — like the Hoosiers’ Ponds or UM defensive end Akheem Mesidor and linebacker Wesley Bissainthe — will be on a different training timeline.
On the medical side, Bommarito tracks everything from nutrition to sleep and how his athletes can develop bodily symmetry between left and right.
“The technology we have today, we can not guess anymore. Everything is mathematically calculated,” he said.
“We’re not just rehabbing injuries and recovering from the season — that’s a big part of it — but the main thing is, if they want to peak performance-wise, whether it’s football drills, football games, all-star games or the 40, right needs to equal left. We mathematically calculate that, literally on a daily basis. Neuromuscular therapy exams, physical therapy stress tests, force-plate metrics, motion analysis, all of it.”
Word of mouth from past draft prospects, many of whom come back to do offseason training once they’re firmly in the NFL, spreads as far as the results seen by the athletes.
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about Bommarito’s, just from former players, my friends that I know,” Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson said. “I knew that this was a place to get my speed the fastest, and also just good recovery. The medical’s great here.”
Added Boston College offensive lineman Logan Taylor: “Just the track history that comes out of this place. It was kind of a no-brainer when I was looking at all the facilities, and Pete’s just a great overall coach to have on your side. Statistics that I was looking at, coming to this place was just a no-brainer for me.”
By the end of next week, when you survey a list of top performers at the combine, odds are you will read some names of players who trained in South Florida with Bommarito.