During his time at the Senior Bowl in January, Kirby Van Der Kamp kept one thing in mind.

With scouts from every team in the NFL watching — as well as some NFL coaches — something kept coming back to Van Der Kamp that carried him throughout his week at the college football all-star game.

“Every day you step out on the field and every day you’re just out in public, you have to be able to live up to the best of your abilities because they’re watching everything you do,” said Van Der Kamp.

And what those people watching him saw at the 2014 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 25 was Van Der Kamp punt eight times and average 46.9 yards per kick with a long of 54 yards for the North squad. Despite being pleased with his numbers, Van Der Kamp acknowledged that while he had a good week, there can also be stress involved.

“It’s definitely a stressful situation just because it’s your future, but sometimes people put too much stress on themselves and that’s one way to lead to a downfall,” Van Der Kamp said. “So I just tried to compose myself and relax, go out there and have fun.

“That’s always worked the best for me.”

The week prior to his time spent at the Senior Bowl, Van Der Kamp spent a week in San Diego with his agent and worked with former NFL punter Darren Bennett, who played for the San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings. Something Bennett was particularly good at, Van Der Kamp said, was the backspin on his punts, which is a nuiance he then tried to bring to the Senior Bowl.

At the Senior Bowl throughout the week, scouts from every team in the NFL were there, with Van Der Kamp getting to talk to a lot of them. Van Der Kamp said they would ask anything and everything regarding him because “if they’re going to invest on you, they want to know everything about you.”

There was one particular encounter that made the week somewhat surreal, though.

“I was practicing one day and I just came off the field from punting and [Pittsburgh Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin came up and talked to me a little bit,” Van Der Kamp said. “And that’s just one of those moments where you’re like, ‘Wow, that was Mike Tomlin talking to me.’ Just the whole week, you’re kind of in awe of everything going on around you.”

Now back in Iowa, Van Der Kamp is finishing up his degree at Iowa State and will be completing his requirements in the spring. He will continue training in Ames at the ISU indoor facility, but will also be flying to San Diego a couple times to train outdoors.

He will go to southern California two weeks before the Iowa State Pro Day, having another chance to impress NFL scouts. While he talked to many different teams at the Senior Bowl, Van Der Kamp knows — especially for punters — if and when your name is announced on draft day is up in the air at this point.

“That’s kind of hard to know at this point,” Van Der Kamp said of teams interested in him. “You can see what teams are looking for punters, but that doesn’t affect any of the way you prepare or perform. Ultimately when it comes down to it, the only time it matters is during the draft.”