For many of the seniors who completed their final BYU football game last week, thoughts now turn to the possibility of taking the next step and playing professionally.

There is conditioning to be done, combines to prepare for and a draft to dream about.

But the biggest piece can be both a benefit and a challenge: Signing with an agent.

Just ask former Cougar running back Fui Vakapuna.

“Agents are the bridge,” Vakapuna said. “They are the ones that get the exposure for the players. They are the ones who have to be consistent in talking to teams and doing things to get the player out there. Sometimes there are things they are supposed to tell you that they don’t tell you. Sometimes the agents don’t want to do the grind but just wait and see what happens. There are a lot of promises they make that don’t come true.”

Vakapuna recently changed agents, electing to join the new NFLDraftMasters agency run by Provo attorney Rose Blakelock. The agent signed her second player to the roster Thursday afternoon when Preston Hadley, a graduate of Pleasant Grove High School and Snow College who just finished his two-year BYU career, came on board.

“As a kid, you always grow up saying this is what you want to do,” Hadley said. “I’m definitely fortunate and blessed to be able to sign. The journey has just begun. I haven’t made it, so there is still a lot of hard work ahead of me. This is a pretty good step in the right direction.”

Blakelock, who became a certified NFL agent during this past summer, said she’s excited to invest in Hadley.

“I believe he’s going to be a good player and good businessman,” she said. “He’s a bright young man who works hard. He makes his own decisions. He said that was what he wanted and so that’s what he was going to do.”

Vakapuna said he remembers being where Hadley is now as a college senior just starting to be initiated into the business of professional sports.

“It’s a happy feeling compared to the uncertain feeling I felt when I signed my contract,” he recalled. “It felt like I was signing my life away but here it feels like he’s being signed for his talents. I can feel the difference. I’m happy for him and I wish I had that same situation.”

Vakapuna is now a four-year veteran of the NFL who spent time with on the practice squads of four teams before spending the 2012 season recovering from a hamstring injury.

“I’m ready to go,” he said. “I had a whole season to rest up. I tore my hamstring and that ended my season, so I couldn’t do too much. But right now I’m healthy. This is the first time I’ve felt that way.”

Blakelock, Vakapuna and Hadley each took their own path that eventually led to NFLDraftMasters.

After 20 years as a successful divorce attorney, Blakelock became interested in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement during the lockout of 2011.

“I thought I would see how difficult it was to become an agent,” she said. “I studied for about a year, went and took the test and passed.”

Mutual acquaintances introduced Vakapuna to Blakelock and he came away impressed.

“It’s amazing what she’s doing,” he said. “Right when I signed, the next day I had an opportunity to go to a regional combine that I didn’t even know about. It’s the small detail things that I like and I think it’s what a lot of players like. That’s where she sets herself apart from everyone else.”

As she looked more into what agents did and didn’t do for players, she decided she wanted to do things differently.

“I got to thinking that maybe the best place to start was with a veteran who knew what went wrong and what went right,” she said. “I didn’t want to make the mistakes that had been made with Vakapuna. A lot of the stuff I’ve learned he taught me. I know what to do but better yet has been learning what not to do.”

Things went much more quickly for Hadley. He happened to run into Vakapuna earlier in the week and they talked about the process of finding an agent.

“He brought me in to meet with them (on Wednesday) and they had everything I was looking for,” Hadley explained. “I trust them and I have confidence that they will do what it best for me. It was stressful but I’m glad I got it done.”

The cornerback will now turn his attention to garnering the attention of NFL teams.

“I’m going to train like crazy,” he said. “It’s the walk-on mentality. It’s kind of the story of my football career. I have to take advantage of every opportunity I’ve been given.”

Blakelock said she is committed to getting Hadley as many chances as possible.

“He needs to work hard and be a good player and stay in as long as he can,” she said. “He’s going to look at this as a business. If he gets money, good. He needs to invest it and keep it.

“We’ll start by sending him to Athletic Performance for an eight-week program. If he’s not initially drafted, then we will do other things where he’ll be exposed to the teams. A lot of guys work their way up. There are several ways to do it and we’ll do all the ways there are to get it done.”

She also plans to get Vakapuna back in front of the league representatives, something he said he’s ready and excited to pursue.

“A lot of players get back into the league,” Vakapuna said. “Coaches see the talent and they can’t deny it. I feel like I’m one of the best fullbacks out there even though I haven’t played on Sundays. Injuries have hampered me but I’m coming back into form. By March, I’ll be in tip-top shape ready to go.”

Blakelock said that she believes this is only the beginning for the NFLDraftMasters agency but also said she wants to keep it small and focused on the players.

“I believe if you treat the kids fairly and invest in them, you’ll have a good business,” she said. “If I have my way, we’ll have four or five players because I want to invest in them. We’re going to give them the best. If we give them that, then we’ll see what happens.”

Vakapuna and Hadley are confident it will give them the best chance to see their dreams become reality.

“I understand that I’m not a first-round, high-profile player,” Hadley said. “I was looking for someone who would value me as a player, whether I get drafted or sign as a free agent. I wanted someone who was going to do the best that they can and based off Fui’s experience so far, I feel they are going to do everything they can to get me on a team.”