The NFL Scouting Combine gets underway Wednesday, but the preparation began months ago. Following their respective college bowl games, top NFL prospects across the country quickly packed their bags and headed off to begin the next phase of their development –- combine training.

A select number of athletes will stay and practice on their college campuses, but the majority of prospects will venture far away, where the only focus is on perfecting their craft in preparation for the next level.

To show what NFL Combine training entails, Blog Blitz will take you behind the scenes inside one of the world’s most renown athletic training facilities, the IMG Performance Institute in Bradenton, Florida.

You’ll meet some of the promising faces of this year’s NFL draft class and learn that it’s not just X’s and O’s for these talented 20-somethings. They undergo grueling mental and physical conditioning, along with a holistic approach to their training that may surprise you.

Their off-the-field curriculum is just as stringent, filled with mental conditioning sessions, vision training, individualized nutrition counseling, and even communication classes, where they develop interview skills for NFL GMs, scouts and the media.

And in this program, they learn from experts.

“So you want to improve your 40 time, kid?” In walks an Olympic gold-medal sprinter.

“Are you prepared to be grilled by every pro scouting department in the league?” In walks a former NFL GM, who flew out to the middle-of-nowhere Bradenton just to offer some pointers.

“And what about toughness? Are you sure you have what it takes to make it as a professional athlete?” In walks the NFL vets, week after week, along with a major league baseball player or two, and any other alum who just happens to be in the area.

With its sun-glistening Bermuda grass fields and resort style clubhouse with a pool, this place looks more like a vacation country club than it does an athletic facility.

But the idea behind IMG, originally founded in 1978 as the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, is that if an athlete is going to be the best, he must have the best –- the best facilities, the best coaching and the best off-the-field resources available.

Combine that with the opportunity to focus solely on football, and it’s no wonder this program has produced 23 first-round picks alone.

Join us as we take you on this exclusive tour, and meet the hard-working young men who could be coming to an NFL city near you.

-- JENNA LAINE Follow her on Twitter @bucsblogblitz