For former James Madison wide receiver Devin Ravenel, this past weekend was a taste of his childhood dream.

Ravenel, the Dukes' fourth-leading route runner last fall, spent three days at the Baltimore Ravens rookie minicamp in Owings Mills, Md., trying to impress the team's front office for another invitation back to the team's training camp.

And as Ravenel spent 72 hours inside the Ravens' practice facility, it didn't take him long to see the difference between college and the NFL.

"It was a big eye-opener for sure," Ravenel said. "Just seeing the way people move, seeing your competition for the next couple of years. You're seeing how serious everybody takes it. It's money on the line, it's business now. It's people going out there trying to get a job."

Baltimore, which ran JMU's pro day in March, liked what they saw from the agile wideout, and he joined a handful of players on the practice field attempting to make the team. But he wasn't the only former JMU player they liked enough to bring in for another look two others stood out.

Fellow wide receiver Kris Thornton and cornerback Jordan Swann joined Ravenel at the Ravens' camp, while quarterback Todd Centeio was in Kansas City and wide receiver Terrence Greene Jr. was with the New York Jets to round out JMU's representation at this past weekend's NFL rookie minicamps.

For Ravenel, having two teammates one in the same position group as him at the Ravens' camp helped calm his nerves with familiar faces in and around the facility.

"It definitely made me more comfortable for sure," Ravenel said. "Going in there, there's a lot of new faces. You don't know who's who. It was definitely a lot more comfortable going with [Thornton] and Swann, just knowing the type of people they were and I was in good hands, honestly."

Each of the three days at the Ravens' rookie minicamp started with a 6 a.m. wake-up before boarding a bus bound for the facility at 6:30 a.m. From there, Ravenel and the other players ate breakfast, had meetings, and got a lift in before practice at 11:30 a.m.

Once the practice concluded, Ravenel said they were back in meetings at 2:45 p.m. for three hours before receiving homework to do that night, which spanned from learning a handful of plays to watching film back in his hotel room.

Ravenel stayed up until about 11 p.m. before falling asleep for seven hours to do it all the next day.

"It was football all day," said Ravenel, who caught 24 passes for 313 yards and seven touchdowns in his final season at JMU.

Such is life in the NFL, and Ravenel, along with the others that were at the camp in basically a tryout setting, didn't have much time to adjust to the quick burst of football.

As Ravenel worked out and practiced with the rest of the receivers in camp, he witnessed up close the difference between a first-round pick and an undrafted player with Zay Flowers, Baltimore's top selection in the draft, training with him each day.

And as Ravenel watched Flowers run routes, it almost inspired him to improve.

"Seeing it first-hand, it just shows how much more work there is to be done," Ravenel said of Flowers. "And how much more there is to learn. It's definitely just more motivation in my shoes, 100 percent."

After the Ravens' minicamp ended on Sunday, Ravenel said he felt good about his performance, and it seems like Baltimore agreed.

"I got some pretty good feedback," Ravenel said. "The GM had a few words with my agency, and from what I heard, they had a lot of good things to say. So hopefully that leads to some good things in the future."

With no other rookie minicamps on the horizon, Ravenel is back home waiting for his phone to ring. He's still focused on a path to an NFL roster, and the most likely step is an invite to a training camp in August.

But as he waits, Ravenel isn't resting on his laurels. Instead, he's taking his experience with the Ravens and wants to use it as fuel to improve for his next professional football opportunity.

"It was just one little taste, so now everything's out there on the table," Ravenel said. "So it's up to me at this point with what kind of work I put in, what I do with my time, where I focus my time. It was definitely eye-opening needed for sure and it's definitely a big motivator, for sure."

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Ravenel motivated by 'taste' of NFL After rookie minicamp experience - Northern Virginia Daily