Michael Joseph picked off eight passes for the University of Dubuque this season. Dubuque athletics photo

University of Dubuque cornerback Michael Joseph, the D3football.com West Region Defensive Player of the Year and a first team D3football.com All-America selection, has been invited to the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine.

The event, the NFL's annual draft evaluation week, features 335 invitees and is held Feb. 27 through March 5 in Indianapolis.

All 32 NFL teams are represented at the combine with their top executives, coaching staff, player personnel departments and medical staff. The NFL Draft Combine features measurable drills such as the 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three cone drill and shuttle run. Over the course of the week the invitees will also participate in individual position drills, psychological testing and interviews with team’s coaches, executives and doctors.

"He's a great story of an unheralded and unrecruited First Team All-American," said Spartans coach Stan Zweifel. "He did it through a tremendous work ethic on the field, in the classroom, and in the weight room and watching film. What I enjoy is, he is even a better person off the field, just a great student-athlete and we hope things work out well for him as he continues to pursue playing after college."

Joseph and the rest of the defensive backs will be the last position group to get underway at the combine, with the defensive backs scheduled to start on March 2.

Two of the past 10 Division III football players to be drafted into the NFL played cornerback: Albion's Chris Greenwood, selected by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round in 2012; and UW-Stout's Tony Beckham, taken by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of 2002.