INDIANAPOLIS — As I mentioned in my story earlier today, some of the most important at the NFL Scouting Combine this week will not take place in front of TV cameras, but behind closed doors. That’s when teams get their shot at interviewing the prospects. A former AFC scout shed some more light on the process for me as to how his teams went about their interviews.

“We spent the first five minutes of the interview letting the kid tell us about his family background and letting us know about any off field issues,” he said. “After that, we allowed the coaches to have their time. [There’s] lots of talk about the scheme he played in, explaining our scheme and finding out what he knew and where he fit with our team.

“After the coaches were done — if we had time — the area scout got to ask questions about specific games, specific plays and specific mistakes,” he added. “It helped to clear up some questions we may have had while watching tape.”

It’s still early in the week, but some of those players have already gone through that process here in Indianapolis. Michigan punter Zoltan Mesko recounted some of his interview process earlier Thursday, and how he was caught a little off-guard.

“The Atlanta Falcons special teams coach and the Pittsburgh special teams coaches — [and] there was one other one I can’t remember — they sat me down and said, ‘Tell us a joke.’ I was like, ‘Uhhh, I wasn’t prepared for this,’” Mesko told reporters. “I told this joke that was so bad and they were like, ‘OK, let’s just get your cell phone number and stuff for draft day.’ I stopped them and said, ‘I have to apologize for that bad joke.’ They were just looking at each other like, ‘OK, let’s move on.’”