{"id":855396,"date":"2026-04-05T16:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855396\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:45:33","slug":"colts-to-interview-international-sensation-with-jaw-dropping-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855396\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts to Interview International Sensation With Jaw-Dropping Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/colts\/onsi\/news\/3-reasons-anthony-richardson-colts-benefit-staying\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Indianapolis Colts<\/a> are continuing preparations for the upcoming NFL draft, and a recent report claims Indy will meet with one of this year&#8217;s most intriguing international prospects.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bylucaevans\/status\/2040475234273481208?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Luca Evans of The Denver Post<\/a>, the Colts will meet with Nigerian native Uar Bernard, who recently posted some of the most unbelievable athletic testing numbers ever seen. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Broncos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Broncos<\/a> are hosting Uar Bernard, defensive lineman from Nigeria who went viral this week, on a top-30 visit next week, his trainer Javon Gopie told <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/denverpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@denverpost<\/a>. He\u2019ll visit with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Colts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Colts<\/a> before that.<\/p>\n<p>6-4 1\/2, 306 pounds, body fat 6%, ran 40 in 4.63 seconds. 39-inch vert. Unreal. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NZVG23BXlY\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/NZVG23BXlY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bylucaevans\/status\/2040475234273481208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">Bernard is one of 13 players in NFL&#8217;s International Player Pathway program for 2026. Bernard joined the program in mid-January, measuring in at 295 pounds with a 32-inch vertical leap and a 9-foot-4-inch broad jump. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">Less than three months later, Bernard had added 11 pounds, increased his vertical leap by 7 inches, and increased his broad jump by 1.5 feet. His 6% body fat at 306 pounds is quite literally unheard of. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">&#8220;It&#8217;s like watching (Victor Wembanyama),&#8221; quarterback coach George Whitfield told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7168307\/2026\/04\/03\/uar-bernard-nfl-draft-prospect-nigerian-village\/?source=user_shared_article&amp;unlocked_article_code=1.YFA.IGmy.aWdtgp6Ze3qD&amp;smid=ta-ios-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Athletic&#8217;s Bruce Feldman<\/a>. &#8220;The numbers don&#8217;t even do him justice. He&#8217;s 6-5, 310, and he&#8217;s got 6 percent body fat on him. NBA players don&#8217;t have 6 percent body fat on them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Bernard&#8217;s trainer, Jordan Luallen, said that Bernard is &#8220;the most explosive athlete I\u2019ve ever seen in my life&#8221;. It&#8217;s easy to see why, because there has never been a defensive tackle prospect to post numbers like Bernard&#8217;s. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">Had he participated in this year&#8217;s combine, Bernard would have led all defensive tackles in the 40-yard dash, vertical leap, and broad jump. He would have ranked second in the bench press with 31 reps. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"77\">His broad jump exceeded that of combine defensive tackles by over a foot, underscoring just how unusual his lower-body explosiveness is for a player of his build.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">306 pounds and 6% body fat. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0CxFshSNsV\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/0CxFshSNsV<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GFaHbvoZKc\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/GFaHbvoZKc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lance Zierlein (@LanceZierlein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LanceZierlein\/status\/2040074314477609411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 3, 2026<\/a>Ballard Loves to Bet on Athleticism<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">Since taking over as general manager in 2017, Chris Ballard has led the Colts through nine drafts. One commonality across every draft is that Ballard loves to take a chance on players with athletic traits, even if they didn&#8217;t produce at the collegiate level. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">Bernard, of course, has never played football. His game IQ still needs to be developed, which means most front offices will be wary of using draft capital on a player like him. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7m\">That developmental curve is precisely why teams like the Colts are doing their homework. Pre-draft meetings and evaluations are less about what Bernard currently is and more about what he could become. The IPP program was designed to uncover exactly this kind of global talent\u2014athletes with elite traits who simply lacked exposure to the American football pyramid.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">The Colts currently have one IPP player on their roster in offensive tackle Bayron Matos. Matos has never played a snap, but he&#8217;s someone who made it to the league after growing up playing basketball in the Dominican Republic. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">Indy has already addressed defensive tackle in free agency, but most of their guys are on expiring contracts. The best time to plan for the future is right now, so it wouldn&#8217;t be shocking to see Indy use a draft pick on a developmental piece like Bernard, who can learn behind some of the game&#8217;s best in DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/colts\/newsletter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign Up For the Colts Daily Digest &#8211; OnSI\u2019s Indianapolis Colts Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indianapolis Colts are continuing preparations for the upcoming NFL draft, and a recent report claims Indy will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,2004,392,2381,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-855396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis","11":"tag-indianapolis-colts","12":"tag-indianapoliscolts","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116353114178040908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}