Inside the NFL rookie experience: 'Dudes are here today and gone tomorrow'

There were 256 football players picked at this year's NFL draft in Texas, leaving a large number of fresh-out-of-college athletes on the sidelines and hoping for a call to be an undrafted selection, to have one more chance to impress.

Once called, either during the draft itself or after, there's still no guarantee of making the final 53-man roster in the week leading up to the start of the season.

Months of training and grinding in the preseason could all be for naught, and as of this past weekend, the players' fates have been sealed ahead of the season kickoff on Thursday.

KweséESPN caught up with three NFL rookies at the tail end of preseason to discuss their training camp and the rookie experiences, as they battled to make the final rosters before the cut this past Saturday.

University of Toledo linebacker Ola Adeniyi [undrafted] and Stanford linebacker Peter Kalambayi [214th pick] made it onto the rosters of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans respectively, while undrafted Portland State cornerback Donovan Olumba missed the cut but stays on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad.

KweséESPN: How was the training camp experience in general?

Kalambayi: It was very insightful in terms of learning the business of the NFL.

Olumba: I [was] just grateful for the opportunity, really. Coming from a small school, I would never think I would get a chance with the Dallas Cowboys so I just tried to take advantage of this opportunity, show that I could play every single day and just keep on working hard. Being undrafted, you know that you're going to have to work for everything.

Adeniyi: It's been great, it's my first NFL training camp so there's been a lot of jitters. A lot of nervousness going into it but as it got going I got comfortable with it.

KweséESPN: What was your mindset heading into training camp?

Olumba: Every day I went out there to put it on tape that I could play. Just to go out there to show that I can play every single play. In the meeting room, the mindset was to show that I know my stuff, show that I'm an intelligent football player and just be a great team player.

Kalambayi: I just wanted to go out there and give great effort and improve every day, which I think I did.

Adeniyi: Everyone has an opportunity out here. It's not that "he was drafted and you were not". If you produce then you will play, that's how it is. Just come out here and produce, show what I can do and contribute to the team.

KweséESPN [To Olumba and Adeniyi]: Why did you sign with your respective teams as an UFA?

Adeniyi: They [Steelers] showed me some kind of love during the draft. I just sat down with my agent and discussed it. We felt like this was the best opportunity for me and the best opportunity for me to make the team.

Olumba: I had a few offers but [Cowboys defensive backs] coach Kris Richard really [convinced me]. I saw what he did with tall, longer corners [such as former Seahawks and current 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman]. Coach Richard was probably the biggest reason. I was a Seahawks fan when I was younger. Seeing how good they were and how they played was something I was attracted to so when this opportunity came up with the Cowboys I just jumped on it.

KweséESPN: Were there any veterans on the team who took you under their wings and helped you out?

Adeniyi: My entire linebacker room, the outside linebackers [T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree, Anthony Chickillo and co.] every single one of them took me under their wings. Me being young and a rookie they call me their little brother.

Olumba: Yeah, Sean Lee for sure. I watch film with him, he's been great. Chido Awuzie, Byron Jones, Jeff Heath, all our DB vets. Everyone, all the veterans, show love to the rookies if they make a good play. When you do good everybody shows love. Everybody wants to see each other do well. That's one thing I really love about this team... the positivity.

Kalambayi: Whitney Mercilus and Brian Peters are two vets that I try to emulate. Both are very professional guys who do all the little things necessary to be great.

KweséESPN: What were you surprised by during the preseason journey?

Adeniyi: I kind of expected everything because I have a lot of friends in the NFL already, so they told me how it is. Going into it, I knew it was going to be hard. I knew it was going to be fast paced, faster than college, so I just kind of got my mind prepared for it. I noticed the pace even during practice.

Kalambayi: I would say the most surprising thing is seeing the business side of football. Dudes are here today and gone tomorrow, with some new guy wearing their jersey.

Olumba: You really have to be technically sound. In college you can get away with bad technique but in this league receivers are going to push off, they are going to hand fight so you have to learn to work through it. Especially through the game with the refs, It's an offensive game so you have to learn to play good ball, play with your hands clean and not get flagged.

KweséESPN: What did you have to adjust to as an NFL player during training camp?

Adeniyi: The adjustment to playing hurt. That's one thing that I definitely had to get used to. If you get hurt you can get replaced easily, so you want to try to be out on the field as much as possible. You just have to play through injury, learn how to play through it.

Olumba: On the field, just going against better players than in college. Off the field, since coming from a smaller school where not everyone cares about football, to the Dallas Cowboys where everyone cares about the Cowboys. That's like two different worlds and is probably the biggest difference.

Adeniyi will have a chance to make his regular season debut on Sunday when the Steelers take on the Cleveland Browns, while Kalambayi could feature for the Texans on Sunday, against the New England Patriots.