NFL draft diary: Bene' Benwikere wraps up preparation

USA TODAY Sports recruited 11 prospects to chronicle their journey to the NFL Draft. Today's entry is from San Jose State cornerback Bene' Benwikere, who had 14 career interceptions and has worked out for the Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers.

I'm feeling really good. Enjoying myself, ready for these final less than two weeks to come through. I kind of relaxed on the whole MMA thing. I'm more so just boxing. That's my little fun workout – hitting the bags. But I still go run and I do a lot of abs and feet work.

The workouts with the 49ers and Raiders last week went really, really well. I was called into the offices and got a chance to speak with both head coaches and d-coordinators and DB coaches. They asked me my knowledge on football. After the workouts, I got calls from both the DB coaches and then I got calls from the scouts, asking for all my draft day information. They told me that they really enjoyed me at their workouts and they really like what they saw.

The 49ers coach actually called me beforehand, and he told me I was one of the main guys that they were looking at. He just wanted me to go out there and be me and show off to Coach Jim Harbaugh and show off to the owner and the GM that I had ball skills and catch everything. That's exactly what I did, and afterwards, they all talked to me and said I impressed and didn't disappoint at all. Also with the Raiders, the DB coach pulled me into the office and talked to me for a long time afterwards and said he was really excited that I came.

I took a look at some mock drafts in between the combine and pro day. Everyone didn't have me running as well in between those two times, and I saw my name dropping down to like seventh and free agency. So, I stopped looking at it. But my agent, Bardia Ghahremani, has been talking to me a lot and telling me what he's been hearing. He's even been telling me a lot more within this week that we're starting to get a lot of teams looking at me for third, fourth round. That's been a definite positive and I'm glad I stopped looking at the internet and stressing myself out.

Also, going through these workouts, my phone has been buzzing a lot more lately with calls from teams. Finally, we're starting to get to what I've been wanting and excited for. I just want to go out there and prove myself. I think teams are starting to understand that and when they meet me or talk to me and watch film, that's what they're starting to see – a guy who wants to compete. I can't wait for whichever team chooses to pick me so I can go and prove it to them.

This is Bene' Benwikere's final draft diary. Keep following him on Twitter @Benwik_CHOSEN1.