Less than two months before the NFL scouting combine, Calvin Ridley only got four reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

He needed help on the fourth. The two-time All-SEC wide receiver hadn't lifted weights seriously since the summer.

His strength was down. His weight was down. And his body was tired from a 14-game season that didn't end until the second week of January.

When Ridley finally lifted at the NFL combine, he did 15 reps of 225 pounds. As in 11 reps more than he'd gotten less than two months earlier. His number bested eight running backs and a 345-pound All-American offensive lineman.

Best of all, even though he was up 12 pounds from mid-January, Ridley had one of the fastest 40-yard dash times among wide receivers at the combine.

It came through help from a lesser-known Alabama employee whom one Tide draft prospect referred to as a "mini Scott Cochran."

And it went beyond just Ridley.

***

Typically, players travel to places like Florida or Arizona to do their pre-draft training. Especially top prospects like Ridley, who is expected to be taken in the first round.

But Alabama is creating a new norm.

It started in 2014 when Amari Cooper and Christion Jones chose to do their combine and pro day training in Tuscaloosa. This year, three likely first-round picks -- Minkah Fitzpatrick, Rashaan Evans and Ridley -- opted to train in Tuscaloosa. So did several other Tide NFL draft prospects.

As has been the case since 2014, the training was led by that "mini Scott Cochran" -- Jason Poeth.

"This has been coach Cochran's vision," Poeth said. "This is the next part. Coach Saban always talks about a process. Well, this is the next step in the process for our guys and what we're doing for them."

Cochran wanted players to get top-of-the-line pre-draft training without having to leave Tuscaloosa.

Players get treatment from Jeff Allen and his group of athletic trainers. They have a nutritionist, Amy Bragg, to put together diet plans. A chef is there to take care of their meals. Some current Alabama staffers have helped with position work, like former Tide star Javier Arenas taking Fitzpatrick through defensive back drills. And Poeth handles the workouts with help from others such as assistant strength and conditioning coach Tyler Owens.

"When I got a chance to leave and go train, I thought, well, maybe I want to go somewhere else and see if there's anything better. And then I realized no, there's not," said Evans, who spent time at a training facility in Florida before returning to Tuscaloosa. "It's just being comfortable in your environment. The people that are here, everyone knows me. They've seen my face for four years and they know my body and know how my body responds to certain things. ... And when I was in Florida, I really didn't know anybody and everyone was like, well, I'm just here working out. Every man was kind of on his own in a way. But when I came back to Alabama, we were back into a groove and kind of like a little team."

Poeth, an energetic 42-year old who spends most of the year working with Alabama's track and field and women's soccer teams, has been around Saban and Cochran since the early 2000s at LSU. Before arriving in Tuscaloosa in 2013, he owned a gym in Mobile where he trained everyone from Olympic weightlifters to former Tide stars like D.J. Fluker and Mark Barron.

"Anything as far as working out, getting ready for combine, strength and conditioning, speed work, he knows it all," Evans said. "He's a funny guy and knows how to train but at the same time have fun."

Including with a cool new way to help players prepare for one of the combine's most important drills. Something he discovered with an unintentional assist from the Tide's former punter.

***

While flying a drone around Alabama's indoor practice facility one day, JK Scott got video of one of the Tide's draft prospects running around.

He had put it in a "follow mode," so the drone moved with the player as he ran. It quickly got Poeth's attention.

"It clicked with me," Poeth said. "I was like, 'Come here, man. Can you fly this beside him as he sprints?' And he was like, 'Yeah, I think so.' So I was like, 'Let's try it.' And sure enough..."

They eventually started using a drone during training, which proved to be a good resource.

An intern was tasked with learning how to fly the drone since -- as Poeth said -- "you've got to have a pretty good drone operator."

That intern eventually flew the drone next to players as they ran at different points, getting video that was helpful for Poeth when he wanted to evaluate a player's technique.

"It's incredible," Poeth said. "It's really cool stuff. I think it's going to be one of the cutting edge things in the future as far as sprint training. Let's say you have a camera and you're trying to film, with a (40-yard dash), you can only get a couple good angle steps with it and then the angles aren't good anymore because you're stationary. Well, with a drone, it's flying right beside, so you can see every step and break down the mechanics directly from the side."

There's also a special program to help players make quick gains on the bench press.

They bench press three days per week. A heavy day designed to build raw strength. A day that's for quickness and power. And one that's more repetition-based.

Using that, it's not uncommon to see jumps like the one made by Ridley.

***

Ridley, though, did lose a bet.

Three members of this year's training group -- Ridley, Fitzpatrick and wide receiver Robert Foster -- were involved in the bet, which centered on their combine 40-yard dash times.

Foster won, running the fastest time of the three. Soon, he'll get a framed picture of him running the 40-yard dash. Below the picture will be a $1 bill that's signed by Ridley and Fitzpatrick. It will say at the top, "Robert Foster, you're the fastest man I know."

Ridley and Fitzpatrick didn't fare poorly, though. Ridley ran a 4.43, which was tied for sixth-best among wide receivers. Fitzpatrick posted a 4.46, a very good time for someone who's 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds.

And overall, the 2018 Alabama pre-draft group tested out well.

Some other highlights:

-- Foster's 4.41 40 was tied for third-best among receivers.

-- Linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton got 20 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

-- At 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, defensive lineman Jamar King ran a 4.78 40 at the Tide's pro day. That would have ranked first at the combine among players weighing 285 pounds or more.

-- Offensive lineman J.C. Hassenauer, who put on about 15 pounds leading up to the pro day, ran a respectable 5.23 40 at 6-foot-2, 302 pounds and got 28 reps on the bench press.

There were also solid numbers from players like offensive lineman Bradley Bozeman and wide receiver Cam Sims.

Bozeman got 27 reps on the bench press despite dropping nearly 30 pounds during the two months leading up to the pro day and despite being limited some by a strained chest muscle. As for Sims, he ran a 4.59 40 at 6-foot-4, 212 pounds.

"We had a really good group of guys," Poeth said. "And it's starting to grow for us. I think you'll start seeing more guys stay because they have that opportunity."

Especially if they watch Ridley's combine bench press video.

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