INDIANAPOLIS – In 2002, Marc Colombo was one of the 300 or so players invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and one of the few players that teams considered a possible first-round pick.

For a short time he lived in Bradenton, Fla., working out at the IMG Academy to get ready for the myriad drills he would endure at the combine. One of the most important drills had nothing to do with his upper body strength, leg strength or speed.

Sitting in front of 20 tennis instructors, Colombo was peppered with questions about his health, his personality, his family and his ability.

Two weeks ago, Colombo, the Cowboys offensive tackle who was chosen in the first round by Chicago, and Cowboys linebacker Akin Ayodele addressed several prospects at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney.

"You're your own CEO," Colombo told the group.

For the past three days in Indianapolis, college players have been poked and prodded by teams' medical staffs, looking for ailments. They have run 40-yard dashes, seen how many times they can bench press 225 pounds without stopping and jumped to test their vertical leap.

They have also attempted to sell themselves in a series of 15-minute interviews they have at night with teams. Teams will talk with prospects through the night. The head coach, coordinator, general manager and position coach will pepper the player with questions about football, family and life. Some teams will have a psychologist on hand, too.

"I think the interviews are great," Kevin Colbert, the Pittsburgh Steelers' director of football operations, said. "You find out a lot. Some people say, 'What can you learn in 15 minutes?' Sometimes it takes only five. You can get a feel for guys that aren't what you're looking for. You get a little excited if someone fits what you're looking for. It goes either way."

Classes to prepare players for the combine have become a hot commodity as players look to deduct a tenth of a second from their time in the 40-yard dash or add another repetition to their weightlifting test. But they are also being coached on interview techniques.

"Our general feeling is that the draft is sort of like the lottery," said Trevor Moawad, the director of IMG's International Performance Institute. "The more you do to prepare, it's like getting an extra five or 10 tickets. We want them to leave with 500 tickets instead of 25."

Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson talked to the players on how to handle the process. NBC's Lewis Johnson also meets with the players. They are shown good interviews and bad interviews. Their interviews are taped and reviewed.

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Dallas Cowboys OL Marc Colombo tells players "You're your own CEO."

"I learned a lot," Texas tackle Tony Hills said after his first day of screening. "You learn how to speak, how to be attentive, how to present yourself to the coaches. I took those things to heart to make them work for me."

Ken Herock spent more than 30 years in the NFL as a player and then executive with Oakland, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Green Bay. He met with more than 80 players before the combine.

"They know where I'm coming from," Herock said. "I'm not a guy teaching them how to interview in a room. I'm a guy who's been there and knows exactly what I want in the player. I tell them the things I want and the things I'm looking for."

Herock remembers times where his coaches said, "I don't want that guy on my team," just as much as they said, 'Man, that's the kind of guy we need.' Some teams feel the players have become too scripted over the years.

"Everybody has a different story to tell, that's what I'm looking for," Herock said. "You can ask a question, and there's 10 answers to it and they're all right."

Herock's eight-hour sessions focus not only on the Combine but also on pre-draft visits players will take to teams' facilities. He tells them to show up in a suit and tie.

"This is a huge job interview now," Herock said. "Let's go up there to impress with a suit and tie, don't go wearing dungarees or a warmup outfit. Show up looking professional. If you were going to work with Coca-Cola down here in Atlanta, how would you show up? No different, except this company trying to hire you in the NFL is trying to pay you millions of dollars."

Steve Shenbaum does not have a football background. He is an actor, trained at the British America Drama Academy in Oxford, England, after earning a performance studies degree from Northwestern.

Shenbaum appeared in American Pie 2 and Big Fat Liar, but he is also president of Game On Media at IMG Academies.

"The combine is a TV show now," Shenbaum said. "It's 24 hours a day coverage. What the other men and women do, what I do, the cat's out of the bag. It's not a secret I exist. I know coaches don't want to hear some guy who sounds rehearsed. The other things I stress are authenticity, humility, honesty and humor."

Shenbaum uses improvisation classes to help build players' confidence. He will have players mime certain situations to show the power of non-verbal communication. He has a game called "Status" where players switch from an eight, which is bravado, to a three, which is a little more reserved.

"They'll have to change emotions five different times, going from angry to happy to enthusiastic to sarcastic to paranoid," Shenbaum said. "Do that with 40 of your peers, and you can answer questions yourself with the Jets."

Teams have 15-minute interviews with 60 players, and it can make or break a player as much as a 40-yard dash time. Some tips that agents provide clients for the interview process:

■ Have a firm handshake

■ Look the questioner in the eye

■ Be truthful, humble and funny