Big crowd at Horns pro day … Despite competing pro days at Alabama, Ohio State and Southern California, yesterday’s pro day at Texas drew a record crowd of over 90 NFL people including head coaches Mike McDaniel of Miami, Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor and Shane Steichen of Indianapolis. The three coaches were probably there to check out the UT DT combination of Byron Murphy and T’Vondre Sweat who pretty much stuck to position drills. Murphy, of course, has been one of the fastest rising prospects in the 2024 draft class and is now considered to be a potential top 20 pick come April, while the massive Sweat – he weighed in at 367 but still moved well in the drills – is more a early-to-mid second day candidate. TE Ja’Tavion Sanders also figures to be selected in that range, although by most accounts he didn’t have a great workout. Sanders, who is thought to be primarily an athletic receiving TE barely managed a 30-inch vertical; in comparison only one TE that jumped at the combine was under 32 inches. Same for his long jump which would have been as many as 5 inches shorter than the poorest figure in Indianapolis, while he also only posted 8 reps in the bench press. However, dispatches from the site did indicate that Sanders did catch the ball well in passing drills. LB Jaylon Ford, the one prominent Longhorn that did not run at the combine posted a decent 40 clocking in the 4.70 range, although it is likely pro scouts were hoping for something a little quicker. As a side note, Texas QB Quinn Ewers who opted to return to school for the upcoming season and won’t be draft eligible until 2025, did participate in the Longhorns pro day and by all accounts threw the ball very well.
And despite all the pro day drama yesterday there won’t be any break for pro scouts as there are as many as a dozen pro days across the country today including workouts at Notre Dame, Florida, and Utah. The tomorrow its off to Michigan where JJMcCarthy will do his throwing session.
