Rookie linebacker Marcus Freeman, a fifth-round draft pick from Ohio State, shares his thoughts in a weekly diary on ChicagoBears.com. The feature will go on hiatus for a few weeks and return the Tuesday before training camp.

I’ve been at the NFL Rookie Symposium here in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., since Sunday, and I think it’s been a good growing experience for all of us. There are about 250 rookies here, including nine from the Bears. We’ve spent a lot of time together because it’s been part of our routine, and that’s who’s in our comfort zone. We’ve been together for the past few months in Chicago and we’re together here now.

We’ve heard a lot of excellent speakers and learned a lot of great things. [Free-agent linebacker] Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, [former running back] Jerome Bettis, [Steelers coach] Mike Tomlin, [NFLPA executive director] DeMaurice Smith and [Rams linebacker] Chris Draft have been among those who have shared their stories on different topics and given us valuable advice.

Bears rookie linebacker Marcus Freeman is preparing for his first NFL training camp.

The interesting thing to me is that we’ve already heard a lot of the stuff at the Bears’ rookie school, and that’s a credit to [Bears director of player development] Isaiah Harris and what he’s done for us. But it’s been good to hear a lot of the important information reiterated, especially about financial education.

They’ve told us that you should save your money, pay yourself, and quit paying other people and giving your money away. We’ve also learned about life in the NFL and how hard it’s going to be. They reiterated that you could get cut at any second. They told us about the temptations and the distractions.

People are always going to be pulling on you and saying, “Marcus, you’re a millionaire now” when in reality you’re not and saying, “Can I have this? Can I have that?” The most important thing we learned is that we’re going to have to be able to say no. We’re going to have to be strong and say no to family, friends and strangers. We’re learning a lot of things that are going to help us be successful.

In terms of horror stories, they’ve given us examples of athletes such as Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Cheryl Swoopes. Some of them have been the biggest stars in their sports, but they’re in financial trouble. 

Even a person who won almost $200 million in the lottery is in financial trouble now. You hear some of those stories and that’s going to help us. We don’t have a first- or second-round pick, so I think we all realize that, “Hey, we don’t have those millions of dollars, so let’s save what we do have.”

Chris Draft mentioned that he was a teammate of Michael Vick’s and that there are going to be times when people make mistakes. He told us he would have open arms for Michael Vick when he comes back into the NFL. He also told us a lot about every day life in the NFL and how hard it is and how grateful we should all be to even get a chance to play in the NFL.

One big thing that all of us rookies have talked about as a group the past few days is that we don’t know what to expect. None of us has been in a training camp. None of us knows what an NFL season is like. None of us knows what it’s like to be cut or released, and everyone sooner or later is going to released at some point in their career.

We just have to focus on each day. Mike Tomlin said it best. He said that right now we shouldn’t be worrying about the season. We should be worrying about getting ready for training camp and getting in the best shape possible, because if we’re thinking about the first game or the first preseason game, we’re going to miss out on the chance to get better in training camp. So we’re all just trying to concentrate on getting as prepared as we can for training camp.

Our days here at the Rookie Symposium have been very busy. We have to be down at breakfast between 6:30 and 7:45 in the morning. We have meetings and seminars until we break for lunch at about 12:30 p.m. After a 20- or 30-minute break, we have another five hours of meetings before breaking for dinner. Then we head right back and have more meetings and seminars until about 9 p.m.

You hear a lot of people talking about how long a day it is, but they’ve made it really informative. As a group, we’ve learned so much from being down here, and I think we all have a new respect for the NFL and for Isaiah and what he’s done to help prepare us for our rookie seasons.