UPDATED: Bellore, Berning chart course for post-college career

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The path to the 2011 NFL draft has led CMU’s formidable linebacker tandem of Nick Bellore and Matt Berning in different directions.

Bellore, who recently received invites to the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine and East-West Shrine Game, headed south to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for what he called “an athletic haven — like paradise for athletes.”

“You work out next to, like, Maria Sharapova and Freddy Adu and stuff, so it’s kind of a wild place,” said the 6-foot-1, 250-pound Whitefish Bay, Wis., native. “(Joey) Votto was here today.”

As for Berning, the 6-foot, 246-poundere from Duisburg, Germany, will stay put, training at CMU while he finishes his degree.

He said footbally is his main focus.

“I think it always has been ever since I came here,” said Berning, who led CMU with 102 tackles and added four sacks. “But I wasn’t as naïve believing that that’s going to work out. There’s a lot that can happen; nothing is certain.”

At the IMG Performance Institute, Bellore receives a well-rounded sports education.

“It’s fully integrated, everything,” said Bellore, who had 90 total tackles last season, along with seven tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. “So we have classes — I have almost like an improv-type class that teaches us interview skills and stuff like that. They do a vision-training class that is like stuff that they teach the pilots in the Air Force. We meet with a sports psychologist.”

Bellore signed agent Dave Butz Jr., the son of former Washington Redskins Super Bowl champion Dave Butz Sr., to represent him, and he said Butz helped direct him to IMG Academy, where he relocated to the day he graduated on Dec. 11.

Butz, part of Sportstars Inc. out of New York City, works out of St. Louis, Mo.

“(Butz) gave me a total option,” Bellore said. “I could have trained at my high school, I could have worked out wherever. … But they were fond of IMG and what they provide. I trust him, and it’s been an unbelievable experience, so I definitely made the right choice coming here.”

IMG Academy trained 14 players who were drafted in the 2010 draft, including Sportstars Inc. clients Dexter McCluster (Kansas City) and James Starks (Green Bay), among others.

Alternatives

Berning, who starts his training Monday with senior guard Jeff Maddux, said the lifting will stay the same under CMU strength and conditioning coach Rick Perry.

At some point, he plans to have a personal running coach stay with him for 6 to 7 weeks.

Berning signed on with agent Rick Smith of Priority Sports in early December.

He has 12 credits of class and an internship standing between him and graduation, and he has options if a professional football career evades him.

“After (graduation), maybe work for a year and decide whether or not I’m going to go to grad school, if my dream of playing NFL football doesn’t come true, of course.”

If football does not work out for Bellore, he plans to make use of his degree in finance.