Passing Through TEST Could Lead to NFL Roster

Kevin Dunn's facility in New Jersey has sent more than 300 players into the NFL and several more are on the way, including Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett

The first business he purchased was in a New Jersey strip mall tucked between a pizzeria and a nail place.

The 1,500-square feet space came with the usual amount of self-doubt that typically comes for anyone starting their own business, but Kevin Dunn also had plenty of confidence that his business plan was going to succeed.

It was confidence no doubt born from a unique summer job as a high diver in shows at Six Flags Great Adventure and the business acumen he gained during his work experience leading up to initiating his plan.

The result was what is known as TEST Football Academy, which stands for Total Energy System Training.

It is an immersive, high-level training experience that prepares athletes both mentally and physically in just about every sport from the young teenager and up. It is best known for football, specifically preparing players to enter the NFL Draft by getting them ready both mentally and physically to have success at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Dunn’s idea has grown many times since 1999 to what it is now - a 24,000 square foot facility in Martinsville, N.J., about a 20-minute drive north of Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus, that was built in 2007 and is the academy's only flagship spot.

“It took a lot of risk,” said Dunn. “You give up a lot. Looking back on it now, obviously, 23 years later, it was worth it.”

The 2022 NFL Draft is set to begin April 28 and run through April 30, and TEST has some prospects that could interest the Eagles, including Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett and Rutgers WR Bo Melton.

There are dozens more hoping to be drafted over the final three days of the month or signed once the draft ends.

TEST has already sent more than 300 players into the pro ranks.

It’s a group that includes Super Bowl winner Joe Flacco, Patrick Peterson who ran a 4.34 40 at the 2011 Combine, Demario Davis, Jevon Kearse, Kyle Juszczyk, and Darnell Savage, among many others.

Rich Seubert, an offensive lineman who won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants, helps train offensive linemen at TEST. Last year, the academy had three of its linemen drafted - Tommy Doyle (fifth round by the Bills), Will Fries (seventh round, Colts), and Matt Farniok (seventh round, Cowboys).

Super Bowl winner Rich Seubert coaches offensive linemen at TEST Academy / USA Today

“We literally came into town (with that first building in 1999) and sort of spun everybody’s head off,” said Dunn. “They weren’t used to this type of service, this level of training. People were seeing results immediately.

“We had one member say that the place was run pretty well before, and that was kind of like having a cold beer on a Saturday afternoon after you just finished cutting your grass, but training with you guys is like going out to an expensive dinner and having a nice glass of fine wine.

“I thought that was one of best compliments we could get from someone, (but) it was a journey. It was a lot of risk up front. I had a full-time job as a general manager and regional fitness manager for 14 clubs with health insurance, a 401K, benefits, everything, but I just saw the vision of what starting our own company could do for our future.”

Dunn, 48, grew up in Vineland, N.J., the son of a tried-and-true fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.

His father, Robert Dunn, took him to his first Eagles game when he was little, and Dunn was little. He wasn’t big enough to play football beyond middle school, though he was a quarterback before leaving the sport.

“I was 110 pounds soaking wet,” he said.

So, Dunn became a swimmer and diver, taking that path to Rutgers as a walk-on and eventually becoming a two-time captain and MVP of the team. He also earned awards that included Atlantic 10 and ECAC’s Diver of the Year and broke three school records before finally earning a full scholarship for his senior year.

That success was on a three-meter board; nothing compared to what awaited him during his college summers.

Upperclassmen on the Scarlet Knights’ diving team recruited him when he was a freshman to work as a high diver at Great Adventure. He would soar through the air from 95 feet straight up after launching himself from a 1x1 platform that barely had enough room for both feet.

There’s more of an art to that than it may appear. He had to study repetitive motions over and over in order to make every dive as perfect, and safe, as it could be.

“The thing I pulled from diving that I feel relates so well to Combine training is football players are not used to pre-programmed drills,” he said. “Everything on the field is so chaotic, you’re never in a set situation doing the exact same thing over and over and get it to perfection.

“It might be the first time in their careers these guys are doing any pre-programmed stuff. That was my jam doing the same thing ever and over and attain as close to perfection as possible.

“Learning technique is sometimes more important than getting stronger. Film review, watching those adjustments, teaching them, going through film in slow-mo, and analyzing bio-mechanically is the most efficient way to do these things.”

Diving also taught Dunn about injury and recovery. He had an accident so bad during one of the shows at Great Adventure, that he had to be pulled from the pool after a dive.

“Understanding you’re human and the whole phycological side with athletes when they’re not healthy, the things that they go through, the direction that their mind is going, is challenging,” he said. “

"You may not feel any pain but you’re still limping, you’re still favoring one side which is creating asymmetries. That’s not going to be good for your technique, your form, or making sure long term you stay healthy.”

To get an idea of just how far TEST has come, look no further than Geir Gudmundsen.

Geir Gudmundsen (left, former NFL player and TEST Football Academy's Director of Operations), Kevin Dunn (center), and former Kentucky offensive lineman Logan Stenberg at the 2020 NFL Combine. Stenberg was a fourth-round pick of the Lions in the 2020 NFL Draft / TEST Football Academy

Gudmundsen was in the first TEST camp in 2005, when Combine training began. It was him and just three others training to be NFL players.

“There weren’t a ton of places doing that,” said Gudmundsen. “My agent had a relationship with these guys.

"I was still at the University of Albany, and I would drive down, train, drive back up, take classes, drive back down and stay over while I didn’t have classes.

“That’s almost three hours one way almost every day, but I loved the culture, kind of that offensive linemen mentality of just getting it done. We had an incredible culture, incredible people, we didn’t have the facility that we do now, but it was something that I wanted to be a part of.”

He loved the experience so much that, after a four-year professional career that began as an undrafted free agent of the Buffalo Bills, Gudmundsen is now TEST’s Director of Football.

“It’s been an incredible ride from how we’ve grown to just putting our heads down and getting what needed to be done, done,” he said. “As far as facilities and just growing this place, I feel as connected as if this was my own baby as well. 

"I feel like, listen, I’m in the first class and I feel I had a part in helping the growth of it. I have two kids, but really, I feel like I have three with TEST football.”