Linebacker with Blazing Speed and One Hand Was the NFL Combine's Best Story by Cindy Boren and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post on 03.12.18 Word Count 719 Level MAX

Linebacker with blazing speed and one hand was the NFL combine's best story By Cindy Boren and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post on 03.12.18 Word Count 719 Level MAX

Auburn Tigers quarterback Jarrett Stidham (8) is sacked by UCF Knights linebacker Shaquem Griﬃn (18) during the Chick-ﬁl-A Peach Bowl football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 1, 2018. Photo by: Todd Kirkland/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The ﬁrst time Shaquem Griﬃn was held out of a football game, he was 8 years old. Football was for people with two hands, an opposing coach told him, and his left hand had been amputated four years earlier as the result of a painful prenatal condition.

"That was the moment I realized I was always going to have to prove people wrong," Griﬃn wrote on the Players' Tribune.

Griﬃn, the Central Florida linebacker, has done that and more, vanquishing even more doubters with attention-getting performances last weekend that led him to become the best story at this year's NFL combine.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1 On March 3 he bench pressed 225 pounds 20 times with the use of his right hand and a prosthetic device on his left wrist. That was only four reps off the pace of the combine's leader, West Virginia wide receiver Ka'Raun White. On March 4 he followed that up with a blazing, official time of 4.38 seconds in his first attempt at the 40-yard dash, and a 4.58 in his second.

How good was that? Well, the NFL Network reported that 4.38 was the fastest 40 time by a linebacker at the combine since 2003.

After initially not being invited to the combine, Griffin's draft stock has been on the rise, with scouts now predicting he could be taken anywhere from late in the third to the fifth round at next month's draft. Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks' cornerback, tweeted that if Griffin isn't drafted in the first three rounds, "the system is broken."

Scouts told Sports Illustrated's Peter King and Albert Breer that they had Griﬃn going in the middle rounds of the seven-round draft. "Late third, early fourth," King wrote. "He can be the best special-teams player on any team early, and maybe have a pass-rushing or sub-package role right away." Breer added: "A college scouting director told me on Sunday that he thinks Griﬃn leaves [the combine] a fourth-rounder, and I ran that by a couple other scouts and they agreed. To start, he can be a strong special teamer, and developmental linebacker, with a chance to grow into more."

Rick Spielman, the Minnesota Vikings' general manager, told Bleacher Report's Doug Farrar that he didn't think Griﬃn having one hand "should be a factor, just because he's shown he can be productive at a high level against some high-level competition."

Griﬃn's twin brother, Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griﬃn, ran a 4.38 a year ago, and was drafted in the third round, as the 90th overall pick. He reveled in Shaquem's moment in the spotlight.

"Can Y'all Simulate Me And My Brother Next To Each Other? Sure Everybody Would Love To See That !!," he tweeted.

It felt like everyone was talking about Shaquem and his road to the combine, a road that began with surgery when he was 4. That's when doctors decided to amputate his left arm the day after his mother found him threatening to cut off his fingers with a kitchen knife. It was the only way he could think of to cope with the searing pain in his hand, the result of Amniotic Band Syndrome his mother suffered while pregnant, causing an amniotic membrane to wrap around his hand.

"It's a thin tissue you can barely see," Tangie, Griﬃn's mother, told the Los Angeles Times. "The doctor answered the questions and explained the options. It could be taken oﬀ with a needle [during pregnancy], but even the slightest move could have punctured [either of the twins] and it was possible one wouldn't survive. I was not going to take that chance."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2 Shaquem thus experienced serious pain whenever his ﬁngers were touched or pressured. The night he tried self-surgery, he had hit his hand against the side of the bunk beds he shared with Shaquill, who is older by one minute. The day after surgery, he was playing football again, with his "bandage just dripping blood."

"I didn't care, I was going to play football regardless," he told the Times. "It was tough until I had my ﬁngers removed, but after that I knew I was going to play again. The pain was gone. ... It didn't hurt when the ball hit."

At the combine, he showed that he can catch passes that might come his way, too. (He had one interception last season.)

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3 Quiz

1 Read the following statement.

Griﬃn has achieved new popularity in recent months.

Which selection from the article BEST supports the statement above?

(A) On March 3 he bench pressed 225 pounds 20 times with the use of his right hand and a prosthetic device on his left wrist. That was only four reps oﬀ the pace of the combine's leader, West Virginia wide receiver Ka'Raun White.

(B) On March 4 he followed that up with a blazing, oﬃcial time of 4.38 seconds in his ﬁrst attempt at the 40-yard dash, and a 4.58 in his second.

(C) How good was that? Well, the NFL Network reported that 4.38 was the fastest 40 time by a linebacker at the combine since 2003.

(D) After initially not being invited to the combine, Griﬃn's draft stock has been on the rise, with scouts now predicting he could be taken anywhere from late in the third to the ﬁfth round at next month's draft.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4 2 Read the selection from the article.

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the selection above?

(A) Griﬃn's ability to play as a special teamer makes him a highly desirable asset in the NFL draft.

(B) Griﬃn's main goal coming out of the combine is to gain a role as a special teamer and developmental linebacker.

(D) Though Griﬃn is highly desired for his abilities as a special teamer, he would prefer to be drafted for his abilities as a linebacker.

3 Which of the following selections from the article BEST develops a CENTRAL idea of the article?

(A) The ﬁrst time Shaquem Griﬃn was held out of a football game, he was 8 years old.

(B) Football was for people with two hands, an opposing coach told him, and his left hand had been amputated four years earlier.

(C) That's when doctors decided to amputate his left arm the day after his mother found him threatening to cut oﬀ his ﬁngers with a kitchen knife.

(D) The night he tried self-surgery, he had hit his hand against the side of the bunk beds he shared with Shaquill, who is older by one minute.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5 4 The CENTRAL idea of the article is developed by:

(A) describing Griﬃn's challenges and illustrating that he has overcome them

(B) giving examples of people who have doubted Griﬃn's abilities over the years

(D) showing that Griﬃn has lived up to the expectations set by his twin brother, Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griﬃn

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 6