The challenge came so subtly, that perhaps, only Braxton Berrios perceived it as such.
While most of his Hurricanes teammates and coaches celebrated the string of straight A's he'd accumulated during his first months at Miami at a team meeting, a passing comment was made.
Yes, the grades were impressive. But it wasn't like Berrios was pursuing a degree in a course of study as demanding as finance, someone noted. If that were the case, then, the freshman's accomplishment might be significant.
"The next day I added finance as a major," said Berrios, who last month graduated as the valedictorian of Miami's business school and days later, played his final game as a Hurricane in the Orange Bowl.
Silencing critics has long been a sort of personal mission for Berrios, who this week is headed to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. where he hopes to, yet again, prove his doubters wrong.
When he was told he was too small to play major college football, the 5-foot-9 receiver worked hard enough to earn scholarship offers from several top-notch programs, including Miami. Faced with the stereotypical notion that football players aren't known for their work in the classroom, Berrios balked. He then added that finance major to an existing entrepreneurship major and eventually, became one of 13 finalists for the Campbell Trophy, known in college football as the "Academic Heisman."
Now, in front of countless NFL personnel, Berrios is looking to prove he's not just quick, but fast. He wants to show his smaller frame doesn't limit his effectiveness on the field. And most of all, Berrios wants to make sure every scout, general manager or coach he meets understands his passion for the game.
It's a passion that continues to drive him, even as his motivation might be questioned.
Already once, Berrios has found himself explaining his desire to play in the NFL. Why, an NFL person asked, would a business school valedictorian with multiple career options want to put himself through the physical rigors of professional football?
The question left Berrios fuming. And motivated.
"Braxton doesn't usually call me very angry," said his father, Rico Berrios, a former All-State soccer player at Miami Southridge who raised his sons to be Hurricanes fans. "But he was angry that day. He couldn't fathom why he'd have to sell himself to NFL people, that he'd have to prove his love and desire to play the sport of football. ... Is it because he's smart? Would people think he was a better football player if he was a 'B' and 'C' student? Would he have less desire to play football because he did well in the classroom? Just because he has great grades and wants a future after football, that doesn't mean he wants football to end any time soon. If it was up to Braxton, he'd play 12 years in the NFL. It's not just about 'getting there.' He wants to be the best at everything he does, including playing receiver in the NFL."
Berrios, who was the Hurricanes' leading receiver with 55 catches for 679 yards and nine touchdowns last season, isn't the first NFL prospect that has had his motivation questioned after excelling in the classroom.
Former Florida State safety Myron Rolle, a projected first-round pick during his time in Tallahassee, took a year off from football to pursue a Rhodes Scholarship. That hiatus later gave some NFL teams pause when it came time to draft him, with Rolle dropping to the sixth round before he was selected by the Tennessee Titans with the 207th pick in 2010.
Rolle played three seasons in the NFL before going to medical school. And those connected to football say it's not unusual for athletes like him, and Berrios, to find themselves having to justify the decisions they've made or explain their drive as NFL personnel weigh whether to spend a high draft pick on a player that can easily walk away from the game.
"It's not an issue of being too smart. It's a matter of how dedicated is he to playing pro football and if he becomes disinterested, will he follow a different career path," draft analyst Tony Pauline said. "That's fine, but teams want to know about that. It's the difference between being a fifth, sixth, seventh-rounder or being a free agent. ... They're going to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on kids. ... You don't want to be surprised by anything. You don't want to find out midway through August camp that you spent a sixth-round pick on a kid that doesn't want to play football and is going to go approach a business career or something else."
Berrios and those who know him insist that won't be the case here. And they say the receiver has already proven his ability to succeed by how he balanced his class load at Miami with the demands of helping lead the Hurricanes during a 10-3 season in which Miami won its first Coastal Division crown while multiple offensive playmakers were lost to season-ending injuries.
Berrios stepped in to fill some of those voids, becoming one of quarterback Malik Rosier's most consistent targets on the field and one of the Hurricanes emotional and vocal leaders off of it.
"This kid has chosen to be the best he can be at everything he decides to do and not everybody's capable of doing that at such a high level," Hurricanes coach Mark Richt said. "But he is. He was able to be great and be at his best on the field and academically in the same college career. That's rare. If you watched him play in the Florida State game, you know he's committed to football. ... Watch the tape. You don't have to guess if can he do it. Just watch him do it."
Added Pete Bommarito, who has worked with hundreds of NFL prospects and has been training Berrios ahead of the Senior Bowl, "He's a football player and Mobile is all about football. He has a football mentality and he has a football body and he has football skills. You can see it on tape, and we expect him to display it in Mobile."
For Berrios, who knows he will be heavily scrutinized while working with a quarterback group that includes potential first-round picks Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield, that's the goal.
And he knows after Senior Bowl week is finished, he'll continue having to answer questions, hopefully at the NFL Combine, at his Miami Pro Timing Day and in individual workouts beyond that.
He insists he's ready for the challenge, just as he was when someone questioned whether he could handle a difficult finance major.
"It's always nice to prove somebody wrong," Berrios said with a smile. "I want to show I'm a playmaker. When the ball was in the air and my number was called, I made the plays. Hopefully they can see why my team thought of me as one of the captains, one of the leaders on the team. I think that's a vital part of being a good football player and building a good football team. ... I would say those are two things I really want to show. That I'm a playmaker and that they know I'm a leader and I'm going to do anything I can for my team, whichever one it ends up being."
