March 15, 2015 - Greg Gabriel
2015 Pro Days Notebook Part II
Some schools with top prospects in the 2015 NFL Draft held their pro days this past week including Alabama and Oregon. In many cases, if the top players already performed the measurable drills at the combine and were satisfied with the result, then they only ran position drills for coaches. Still, there were some players who chose to replay some drills.
UCLA
Owamagbe Odighizuwa - DE – stayed with the results of his combine times. He looked good when working out as a defensive end, but when the linebacker coaches had him do some drops, he didn’t look as comfortable. I’m told that some clubs will still work him in private workouts as a linebacker just to get a better feel.
Eric Kendricks – LB – ran the 20 yard-shuttle and the 3-cone and did a nice job, with times of 4.15 and 7.18 respectively. Despite being bothered by a minor lower leg injury, he looked good. Some teams are a bit worried about his size (235) and feel he will be best as a 4-3 Will.
Alabama
Amari Cooper – WR – He redid the vertical jump and jumped 34”, not great but good enough. In his position workout he looked quick and smooth and caught all but one ball. If Cooper isn’t the first receiver drafted, something is wrong.
T.J Yeldon – RB – Yeldon needed to run well and he did. He ran both 40’s in the 4.53 and then looked very good doing position drills for coaches,
Landon Collins – DS – Collins did not bench at the combine and then did 16 reps at the ‘Bama pro day. That s a very average number for his position. You would like to see him closer to 20 reps. Like the others he looked very good doing position drills.
Trey DePriest – LB – He didn’t help himself running both 40’s in the low 4.9’s.
USC
All the top prospects at USC ran nothing but positional drills at their workout. Leonard WIlliams, Buck Allen and Nelson Aglohor all looked impressive. Linebacker Hayes Pullard did run and averaged 4.69 for his two 40’s. His standing broad jump was a very unimpressive 8’10”.
Oklahoma
Dorial Green-Beckham – WR – He ran the 20 yards shuttle and the time of 4.35 was not good for the WR position. That can indicate tightness in the hips. He also had a 10’ LJ and a 33” VJ. While the long jump was good, many thought his vertical would be much better. His positional workout by all reports was impressive.
Jordan Phillips – DT – He only did positional drills and everyone I talked to came away impressed. He looked quick, strong and explosive.
The two offensive tackles Daryl Williams and Tyrus Thompson both ran the 3-cone drill and neither jumped out but they did look good doing positional drills.
Oregon
Marcus Mariota – QB -He threw in a scripted workout, often huddling before each series of throws. He threw a nice tight ball and showed the necessary arm strength but his ball placement and accuracy on the deeper throws was inconsistent at best.
Arik Armstead – DE - Stayed with the numbers he posted at Indy and just did position drills. His athleticism jumped out doing drills
Hroniss Grasu – OC – He helped himself, running a 5.03 in the 40 at 302 pounds.
Michigan
Devin Funchess – TE – At Indy he ran a disappointing 4.7 in the 40. There were reports that he ran as fast as 4.48 at the Michigan pro day this week, but people I talked to said it was much closer to 4.56. Still that is a drastic improvement. Just so you know, it’s not unusual that there are discrepancies between different scout’s times.
West Virginia
Kevin White – WR – He only did positional drills and looked like he has looked all year: very good. He is big, smooth, fast and athletic and will be either the first or second wide receiver drafted.
Ohio State
Michael Bennett – DT – The 297 pound 3-technique ran the 40 in 4.97 and 5.01. He also had a very impressive 35.5” vertical jump. He strained a hammy doing his second 40 and did no other measurable drills.
Devon Smith – ran the 3-cone in an outstanding 6.82 and stood on the rest of his Indy numbers. Scouts in attendance said he was inconsistent catching the ball while doing positional drills.
Jeff Heuerman – TE – Ran 4.81 and 4.84 in the 40. He also had a 34.5” vertical jump and a 10” long jump. He caught the ball well in drills.
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