As the 2024 NFL Draft approaches, many young and up-and-coming athletes are out to show their worth in hopes of being selected by a team. Maryland offensive lineman Corey Bullock is out to prove that, given his versatility and work ethic, he can be an asset to any and all teams in the NFL.
Bullock’s path to the draft has not been the easiest one. The 6-foot-4, 331-pound Bullock has had to fight to earn everything that has come his way on the field, and it looks like his biggest fight is still ahead.
Bullock will attend the Terps’ Pro Day on March 29, which will help determine Bullock’s NFL future. As such, he has spent the past few months working his hardest to improve so he’ll be better equipped to succeed in the NFL. Bullock has even trained with former Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley get into NFL shape.
“Recently, I got down here in Ohio training with LeCharles Bentley for like the last three months and keeping on a strict diet,” Bullock said on Glenn Clark Radio March 8. “I’ve lost a few pounds here and there and just changing the way my body looks.”
Bullock began his college career at North Carolina Central University, where he played from 2019-2022. He earned second-team All-MEAC honors as a sophomore after playing several positions on the offensive line, giving up only one sack that season. Bullock believes the lessons he learned at NC Central carried over with him to the University of Maryland.
“When I got to college, I was at North Carolina Central University and over the course of those three years that I was there, it taught me you have to put in the work to see the results on the weekends,” Bullock said. “Making the transition to the FCS level and playing at Maryland, I always kept the underdog mentality with me. It gave me a chip on my shoulder and made me go a little bit harder because they’ve been here for four years and I’ve only been here a year so I’ve got a lot more to prove, per se.”
Making the transition from the FCS to the Big Ten is a hard one given the style of play and caliber of athletes. Yet with this season at Maryland, Bullock proved that he can compete at a higher level. Bullock started 11 games at left guard for the Terps in 2023 and chipped in at center and right guard.
“It just meant like, can I play on this level at a high level? Can I do it at a high level? Just going out there and doing it at a high level, and when I did it, I was like, ‘I can play. Now I’ve just got to just do the techniques I can a little bit better and just polish my game so I could be looked at in the next level,'” Bullock said.
Outside of Bullock’s work ethic and persistence, Bullock’s greatest strength as a player is his versatility. He has played and succeeded at every position along the offensive line during his college career, even checking in at both tackle spots during his tenure with North Carolina Central.
While some may say it would be best for Bullock to specialize in one of position so NFL teams can easily envision a fit for him, the lineman believes that his versatility will be what makes him most valuable to teams.
“For me, it was kind of like understanding what all five guys had to do, so just being versatile across the line of scrimmage,” Bullock said. “So if somebody went down, they could put me right there so it’s no drop-off, per se. I just prided myself in across the board up front.”
Bullock learned in his transition to Maryland came from being closer to his family. The Accokeek, Md., native relished the fact that he got to play closer to home and his family, with whom who he spends a great deal of time. This new opportunity gave Bullock the chance to learn a new lesson, one that he has carried both on and off the field.
“The best lesson I learned was just leaning on your support system,” Bullock said. “Coming home, I thought it’d be a good thing, which it was, but I had moments where I was just like, ‘Oh man, I don’t know what to do. Can I do this?’ But I would just lean back and just call my grandma every once in a while, and she helped me get through days. So having a great support system really helped me a lot.”
This mentality is just a small glimpse as to what NFL teams can expect to find out of a player like Bullock, a player who works to make himself and the players around him better. He makes that very clear to teams looking at him as a draft prospect.
“They’ll be getting the hard worker, a person who comes in every day and works and just getting the best person he could be every day,” Bullock said.
For more from Bullock, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of AMDG Sports