INDIANAPOLIS — As time marches on, the last of the super seniors are preparing to leave college for the NFL. When COVID interrupted the 2020 college football season, every athlete in school at the time received an extra year of eligibility. Combined with redshirt seasons, transfers, and medical lost years, it resulted in some athletes having up to six, even seven years in some cases, to play ball.

Now, those guys have used up their eligibility and are preparing to head to the NFL.

One of those players is Joe Fagnano. The seven-year QB is 26 years old and spent time at Maine and Connecticut.

"I don't know how many people know my story, but I don't think there's a lot of people that would kind of be in my shoes if they didn't, or to go through the journey that I've gone through to be here. I think it just speaks volumes," he offered when reflecting on the kind of discipline and competitiveness he'd bring to a team.

And what is that story?

"How much time you got?" he chuckled.

"In 2019, I started college, and it was like a 75 percent scholarship to go to University of Maine. Wasn't highly recruited, and then COVID happened, injury, transfer, get the starting job at an FBS school, injury right away, so just a bunch of adversity to go through, and then the year after that, put into a backup role after being a starter for a couple of years. And then able to put it all together this final year.

"But it's just the bumps in the road, and it's kind of made me who I am. I definitely wouldn't change it one bit at all. I'm thankful for the journey. It's got me where I am. It's made me who I am, and I'm proud of it."

Then there's Joey Aguilar, the Tennessee quarterback who will be 25 before training camp begins and spent time at four different schools before preparing for the league.

He had a redshirt year, then COVID wiped out a season; he played at JUCO, then at Appalachian State, a non-playing pit stop at UCLA, before finally capping his career with a year at Tennessee.

"The short time I was at Tennessee, being in that offense for one more season and get a full offseason to work with those coaches, I thought would put me in a really good situation for next year," Aguilar explained about the decision to stay in college for another year. And more importantly, to play through a shoulder injury that plagued him all season.

Early on in the season, he noticed pain in his throwing shoulder and found out he had a benign tumor. Surgery would mean recovery, which would mean being sidelined. So he elected to play through the pain.

"If you got one time to play at Tennessee, there's no backing down," he explained on Friday of his decision. "So you know, I just played through it, put the team first, and carried on through the season.

"Some games were better than others, but definitely my arm was weaker going into a lot of games last year due to the amount of throwing in games and practice, the overwork of the bicep, and how much it was pressing on my bicep and my pec, but I don't have a percentage, but definitely was hurting a lot."

Aguilar told reporters Friday afternoon that he recently had the shoulder cleaned out, which would keep him from throwing at the NFL combine.

The two elder passers are a case study in what a team could add to their quarterback room with this class. General manager Dan Morgan hasn't been shy about the idea of adding a young, physical guy in the backup quarterback position to be developed behind Bryce Young. Typically, that would mean a rookie who could spend years in the playbook before being called upon.

But with this group of super seniors available, a rookie could come in to back up Young while actually being older than the Panthers' starting quarterback. In such a case, it would provide Carolina with a backup QB to develop, but one who also already has ample experience across different systems and learning playbooks, should they be called upon to come into a game.

Fagnano, for example, has experience being a backup to and being backed up by the same guy. It could create for a tense quarterback room, but instead created a system of support by two guys who knew what the other was going through. It means Fagnano knows what makes a good backup quarterback.

"I think somebody that can still be a leader in that role, even though there might be a guy ahead of you that, it might be his offense at that time. And then somebody that doesn't let circumstances kind of dictate how they work. Preparation doesn't change whether you're first string, second string, or third string, and I've been in all those roles throughout my college career, so that's something that I've learned for sure.

"A lot of it's just mental preparation, whether that's in the film room or if you're standing back behind the play, just going through your visual keys as a quarterback, going through your footwork. And then after practice, you know, getting extra throws in, whether that's just into a net or just having a receiver running top of a route, there's always things that you can do."

For Aguilar, the rush to learn a new playbook at each new school helped him better prepare to be a backup, as he tells it.

"It just shows how well I can learn and how well I take that preparation seriously," Aguilar explained. "I've been a backup twice in my career at JUCO and App State. First game at App State, walked in as a backup. So the dedication to go in there and work like you are the starter, because I mean, next man mentality is always true, and that happened to me.

"I lived it. I was a backup. A guy got hurt, I had to go in there, and I had to be prepared. So to be a guy that can go in there and the willingness to learn and support the guy that's in front of you."

Both proved that when it was time to play, they were ready. Aguilar was 12th in the FBS this last season with 3,565 passing yards and a 67.3 completion percentage, throwing for 24 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. And Fagnano finished with the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in college football, with 28 touchdowns and only one interception through 413 passes.

"Something that I've definitely learned throughout my career is adversity is going to hit, failure is part of it," said Fagnano of the journey. "It's just part of the game that we play, and it's not about maybe wins and losses, although that's what we're graded on

"It's, how do you come back from those losses, and how do you become better from that? Are you going to let adversity just kind of be the end of your story, or you're going to come out on the other side of that and and be better?"

Sonny Styles raises stock even higher

Linebacker Sonny Styles from Ohio State was already a top prospect overall, and especially at his position. The Panthers, picking at No. 19 overall, were always going to have to rely on a little luck to get the playmaker so far down in the first round.

As draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah pointed out last week, though, Styles could be worth a reach.

"I would say if somehow the league was dumb enough for Sonny Styles to fall (to No. 19), Dan Morgan would lose his linebacker card if he didn't run that pick up there," joked Jeremiah, before facing reality.

"But I don't think he's going to make it there. So, you know, you're kind of looking at CJ Allen, who would be a good value…Styles would be the one that I would say if he got in range, Dan might have to move up and get him if that were to be the case.

"I think that's something in free agency you could look at, or when you get into the middle rounds, I think there's really good depth at linebacker…I don't know that they would necessarily need to do that with their first pick, except for the Styles exception."

Even a move up the first round might be out of reach now, though. Styles completed his on-field Combine workouts on Thursday evening. He eased through the linebacker drills, as expected. But it was in the testing, when Styles was able to show off his measurables, that his stock rose.

According to NFL.com, Styles' 43.5-inch vertical jump was the highest by any player 6-4 or taller or 240 pounds or heavier since at least 2003. His 11-foot, 2-inch broad jump was the best of anyone on Thursday, and is the best by any linebacker since 2013. And his 4.46-second 40-yard dash tied his Ohio State teammate, Arvell Reese, for the fastest of all the linebackers.

Can NIL benefit the NFL?

There is much to be said and opined on when it comes to NIL, the system in college football that allows players to make money off their name, image, and likeness. While it has only been officially implemented in college sports since 2021, the compensation-based idea has created ripple effects across the sports world and into the NFL.

On the one hand, it has led to more athletes staying in college longer. If they can make the same amount of money from NIL deals as they would from a rookie contract, why not make that money there before moving on to the tougher league?

For general manager Dan Morgan, who puts a premium on character in his locker room, NIL has given him a window into the kind of guy he is drafting.

"I don't really look at the NIL as a bad thing," he told reporters at the NFL combine this week. "I think the NIL is actually somewhat of a good thing because it gives us a little bit of a snapshot of a guy, what he's like with money. So from my perspective, it's good to kind of see, like, what did he do with this money? Did he spend it recklessly? Did he go out and get in trouble with it?

"So it tells you a lot about somebody, so if anything, I think it's really valuable for us."

One of the quickest downfalls for NFL players in the past was not knowing how to handle the large amount of money that suddenly flowed into their bank accounts. With NIL, those lessons are now being learned with the protection of collective staff and money managers around them.

Has it helped train them for the NFL?

"I feel like, yes," answered TCU safety Bud Clark. "Because of the fact that you're getting a lot of money at one point in time, depending on how much, what you're doing for your team. So I feel like it helps you more.

"If you're going first round, seventh round, whatever round it is, you have money to it, so you know how to manage it."

And the biggest lesson Bud Clark has learned about money before heading to the NFL?

"You need to do your taxes," he laughed. "And I got a CPA for that, so I feel like it's pretty good."