INDIANAPOLIS — Ryan Van Demark remembers the moment he realized the NFL was a possibility.
Van Demark was a junior, a tall, rangy offensive tackle at UConn who still hadn’t topped the 300-pound mark, but Huskies offensive line coach Frank Giufre sat down Van Demark and told the big junior he might have a shot at making football a profession.
Up until that moment, Van Demark hadn’t considered the NFL a possibility.
But before Giufre had been hired at UConn, he spent six years as an assistant with the Colts on Chuck Pagano’s staff, the first year as an assistant tight ends coach and the next five as the team’s assistant offensive line coach.