Bradley Bozeman's reaction to not being invited to the NFL scouting combine may surprise you.

Most players view the combine as their best chance to make an impression on NFL teams in advance of the NFL draft.

Bozeman had a different mindset entering this process, though.

"The main invite that I wanted was the Senior Bowl," the former Alabama center said. "I wanted to show teams that I can play football, that I can play with the best of 'em, so I was really excited about that. The combine, it's a cool deal, but it doesn't have much to do with actually playing on the field. It's running, jumping. I get the aspects of it. But it doesn't necessarily correlate to the field because I'm never going to run 40 yards on a play unless it's an interception or a touchdown."

Still, the 2017 second-team All-American is looking forward to working out for NFL teams during Alabama's pro day on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-5 Bozeman has dropped more than 20 pounds since the end of the season, getting down to 305 pounds after weighing in at 327 pounds in mid-January and 317 pounds at the Senior Bowl.

"I wanted to show teams that I'm flexible," said Bozeman, a two-year starter for the Crimson Tide who was one of the team's four permanent team captains last season. "I just wanted to show that if I needed to cut weight that I have the discipline to do that, that I'm not a selfish guy, that I can stop eating the McDonald's and the bread and all that good stuff to be able to do what I need to do."

Bozeman cut out high-carb foods such as potatoes, rice and bread as well as anything high in sugar or processed.

For most of the last two months, Bozeman has been eating meat, fruits and vegetables while drinking protein shakes three times a day and working out at Alabama with fellow draft prospects Minkah Fitzpatrick, Calvin Ridley and Rashaan Evans.

"I ate like I needed to," Bozeman said. "I got in the protein that I needed to. ... I ate well. I didn't just starve myself. And we just killed it in the weight room, on the field. We just busted our butts. And the weight just kept dropping for me."

That should help on Wednesday with drills such as the 40-yard dash, which Bozeman said he hopes to run in "the low 5s," as well as with the positional workout portion of the pro day.

Best of all, the weight loss hasn't hurt Bozeman strength-wise.

Bozeman, who bench-pressed 500 pounds for three reps last year at Alabama, recently got 36 reps of 225 pounds. The only potential issue is Bozeman suffered a strained pec during a recent workout, which has limited him during the last week or so.

A good overall workout could make it more likely Bozeman is drafted.

Several NFL teams told Bozeman's agent after the Senior Bowl that Bozeman had helped himself and moved up their draft boards with his performance in Mobile. And Bleacher Report's Matt Miller had Bozeman going in the sixth round of a new mock draft that was posted on Tuesday.

"I'm not the most athletic guy. I'm not going to get you star-struck with my athleticism. But I'm going to give you everything I've got," Bozeman said. "I'm not going to give up on you. I'm going to keep pushing forward. I'm going to hide my weaknesses with my strengths and make sure I put myself in good position to be in a good position."

Matt Zenitz is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.