INDIANAPOLIS — Truth be told, there’s probably very little that Texas A&M’s Von Miller could have done on the field Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium to dissuade teams from believing he’s not an elite player.

The consensus top outside linebacker available in the April draft and a likely top-10 pick, teams love Miller’s athletic ability, and he put his explosiveness on display during skill testing.

Miller was second among linebackers with a 4.53-second 40-yard dash after weighing in at 246 pounds — 9 heavier than he was at the Senior Bowl last month. He also posted the best broad jump (10 feet, 6 inches), was third overall with a 37-inch vertical jump and displayed impressive change-of-direction ability during position drills.

“This is just a cross-check,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. ”There’s nothing he could have done negatively where people would have thought he wasn’t what they thought he was. He had a great day today. I thought he had a phenomenal day, and he’s a top-10 pick.”

Teams will leave the combine thinking the exact same about Miller as when they arrived.

NFL Network host Rich Eisen runs the 40-yard dash as he is timed by Mike Mayock and video-taped by Warren Sapp during the NFL Scouting Combine. Click on the photo to view the latest from Lucas Oil Stadium. (Ben Liebenberg/NFL)

Catch Rich Eisen‘s run towards greatness Tuesday on NFL Network. Will the new shoes help him beat his record time? Tune in to find out.

One thing is certain, Eisen is certainly preparing for this pretty seriously.

Coverage of the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine begins at 9 a.m. on Tuesday with the defensive backs and continues throughout the day.

“NFL Total Access” offers complete analysis of the combine, starting at 7 p.m.

You can find a complete list of NFL Network’s coverage of the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine right here.

INDIANAPOLIS — Robert Quinn expected it. He knew it was coming. So when he got to the NFL Scouting Combine and faced questions about the NCAA suspension for receiving illegal benefits that wiped out his 2010 season, he was prepared for it.

Quinn said that after introductions, most of his interviews with teams over the weekend started with that same question. He said he wants to make the most of his second chance.

“It really made me think to myself and realize how much I missed the game of football and missed Saturdays,” Quinn said of his suspension from North Carolina. “I don’t want to say it was a good thing, but I appreciate now what I’ve went through to mature myself and realize how much I love game. I don’t want to miss it again. I took a negative and am making it into a positive.”

After defensive line workouts ended Monday, Quinn worked out with a small group in alternate skill drills designed to test ball skills and change of direction as a linebacker. Quinn said later that teams are interested in him as both a 4-3 defensive end and a 3-4 outside linebacker.

With some momentum coming off his Senior Bowl performance, Quinn has put himself into position as a possible top-10 pick. He’s the top-rated end on Mike Mayock‘s board, and the No. 6 overall prospect for NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks.

UPDATE: Moch’s official 40 time was registered at 4.44 seconds, setting the combine record among defensive linemen.

INDIANAPOLIS — Everyone knows Nevada DE Dontay Moch can run. It’s just a matter of how fast.

Moch wears a “DL” on the front of his green NFL Scouting Combine jersey, but his speed is rare and impressive at any position. Moch registered an unofficial time of 4.45 seconds on his first run (and a 10-yard split of 1.62) to set a combine record for defensive linemen since 2000.

If Moch’s time stands, he’ll have bested the previous mark of 4.47, set by UAB’s Bryan Thomas in 2002.

Moch, who was the 2009 WAC Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the 2010 All-WAC First Team, weighed in at 6-foot-1 3/8 and 248 pounds at the combine.

NFL Network’s Charles Davis projects Moch as an outside linebacker on the next level, and NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks sees him as a situational edge rusher.

“He has a chance to be a special rusher in the right system,” Brooks said.

INDIANAPOLIS — Oregon LB Casey Matthews won’t work out Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine after injuring his shoulder during the bench press the previous day.

Matthews said while attempting his 14th rep, his shoulder subluxed and he couldn’t finish.

Matthews said this was a freak accident, but that he did suffer an injury in his left shoulder as a freshman. He said he doesn’t believe surgery will be needed and that he can heal with rehabilitation.

Matthews’ pro day is March 10, and he said he hopes to be able to participate, but he’s not certain.

INDIANAPOLIS — The first group of defensive linemen is done with the 40-yard dash, so we have some unofficial times to pass along.

If there’s a continuing trend when it comes to combine numbers, it’s that the times for defensive linemen are getting better and better every year as the positions continue to evolve. We’ll have more on that later.

For now, here’s a look at some of the early times Monday:

1. Sam Acho, Texas: 4.63 seconds
2. Chris Carter, Fresno State: 4.66
3. Ugo Chinasa, Oklahoma State: 4.67
4. Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue: 4.67
5. Christian Ballard, Iowa: 4.70
6. Cameron Jordan, Cal: 4.71

Two of the top defensive tackle prospects also ran well. Auburn DT Nick Fairley clocked in at 4.82, and Alabama DT Marcell Dareus ran in 4.92.

Auburn DT Nick Fairley catches his breath after running a drill Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine. (Ben Liebenberg/NFL)

INDIANAPOLIS — It proves every year to be true that the defensive linemen drills are among the most intense at the NFL Scouting Combine.

After running their 40-yard dashes Monday, the first group of linemen went straight to position-specific skill and agility drills. They really get after it, and by the time coaches stop yelling, “Let’s get to work” about an hour later, the prospects are winded. Not only are coaches and scouts looking at the players’ footwork and agility but how they compete and take direction when they’re broken down and tired.

After a quick drink, a check of their cell phones and a change of shoes (think the football version of a triathlon), the player hit the broad jump and the vertical jump.

The work for the D-linemen ain’t no joke.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Clemson DE Da’Quan Bowers wasn’t expected to particiate in on-field drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, and those expectations were met Monday.

Bowers didn’t run the 40-yard dash and is sitting out the other drills at Lucas Oil Stadium. He announced Saturday that he wouldn’t test at the combine because of a meniscus tear he suffered in his right knee in October.

Bowers, one of the draft’s top prospects and the possible No. 1 overall pick, did participate in the bench press Sunday (he posted 22 reps). Bowers is on the field Monday watching his fellow linemen work.

Another linemen not working out is Ohio State DE Cam Heyward, who underwent left elbow surgery. Heyward also is on the field.

Iowa DT Karl Klug is sitting out, too, because of a right hamstring strain.

INDIANAPOLIS — There’s no rest for the weary. We’ve reached Day 5 of the NFL Scouting Combine, and many of the draft’s top prospects along the defensive line and at linebacker will work out at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The defensive line — split into two groups — will work out first, followed by a third group comprised entirely of linebackers. Highly rated prospects in the first group include Clemson DE Da’Quan Bowers, Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn, Alabama DT Marcell Dareus, Auburn DT Nick Fairley and Cal DE Cameron Jordan. The second group includes Oregon State DT Stephen Paea, North Carolina DE Robert Quinn, Wisconsin DE J.J. Watt and Temple DT Muhammad Wilkerson.

The combine’s final position group, defensive backs, will take part in the Wonderlic exam and psychological testing, followed by the bench press before their on-field workouts Tuesday.

I’d be remiss — and not in the good graces of my editors — if I failed to mention that you can watch all of the combine action at NFL.com/combine/live.

INDIANAPOLIS — When it comes to touting their prospective NFL players, representatives of college football programs can be a little, uh, creative with some of the vital statistics.

Listed heights and weights are routinely embellished for the sake of making the prospects look more attractive to potential employers.

A classic example from the class of 2011 is highly touted DT Nick Fairley, who is entering the draft as a junior. His school, Auburn, listed him at 6-foot-5 and 298 pounds. But at the NFL Scouting Combine, he checked in at 6-3 7/8 and 291 pounds.

The discrepancy isn’t likely to do much, if any, damage to Fairley’s draft stock because NFL talent evaluators consider it par for the course, especially for a junior. Physical profiles on juniors are hard to come by because NFL teams don’t assemble them on underclassmen and don’t receive measurements on them until the combine.

“We pretty much know (college measurements are) going to be inflated,” Browns general manager Tom Heckert said. “We don’t spend a whole lot of time messing with that.”

Standard procedure for NFL teams is to establish their own “estimated” heights weights, and arm lengths for prospects via their scouts’ campus visits during the fall. Then, at the combine and other individual workout sessions leading up to the draft, they put that data in the “verified” category.

“That’s why you send the scouts to the school, to kind of get an eyeball test on the guy,” Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland said. “But for the most part, we’re not gasping because a guy’s (height is) off by two inches. We knew (Fairley) was still a pretty tall kid.”

Added Chiefs GM Scott Pioli: “The actual dimensions of a person matter to a degree, but then it’s just like some people are, on paper, big and/or strong, but when they get into a game, they don’t play big or they don’t play strong. You want to have some prototypes in terms of numbers that you want the guy to be, but there are some guys that play bigger and/or stronger or faster.”

Heckert said the area where measurement tends to matter the most to talent evaluators is the arm length of offensive linemen, because “if (you discover) they have short arms when they come here, I’m not saying it would make you not take them, but you just have to be concerned if he’s going to struggle a little bit.”

Generally speaking, the one thing combine prospects can control is their weight. And for linemen, a popular tactic to prepare for pre-draft auditions is to get as light as possible to help enhance their speed while running the 40-yard dash at the combine, then add as much muscle weight as they can in order to excel at strength testing during on-campus and other private workouts.

“I know there are kids doing that this year,” one NFC GM said. “They do it every year.”

The defensive linemen will look to impress Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. NFL Network’s Warren Sapp, Steve Mariucci and Michael Irvin point out the big men to watch.

The running backs were out in force Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Charley Casserly reveals which under-the-radar back improved his draft stock.

Who are the best values among wide receivers at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis? The “NFL Total Access” crew offers a few choices.

NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci offers a mock draft with a little bit of everything: entertainment, a few surprises and … cannoli?