‘Cats’ Slater, Newsome shine at pro day … Still waiting on some official word from the Northwestern pro day today, but FoxSports reporter Stacy Dales (from just down the road in Brockville) is reporting via twitter that both OT Rashawn Slater and CB Greg Newsome, the Wildcats top prospects, had really good days. According to Dales’ reporting Slater measured in at 6-4, 304, posted 33 reps in the bench press and was clocked in an unofficial 4.88 seconds for the 40. Maybe the most important number for Slater, if verified, is the fact that he measured in at 6-4 as there were concerns that he might only be around 6-2, which probably would have hurt his potential to play OT at the next level. The one concern in that regard was that Slater’s arms are only about 33″ long which is a couple of inches shorter than what is considered ideal for an NFL OT.Bottom line is that Slater didn’t do anything to hurt his chances of ending up as a top ten pick this coming April, although it is worth noting that while the Wildcats’ pro day was reasonably well attended with at least five teams (Chicago, Minnesota, Green Bay, Las Vegas and Washington) represented by senior personnel people. However, none of those teams have top ten picks. In fact, of those teams Minnesota has the highest pick at #14, while the others are all in the back half of the first round.
Meanwhile, Newsome also ran really well with a final 40 clocking of 4.38. Newsome, who measured in at 6-0, 192, also posted an outstanding 40-inch vertical. All that has some people buzzing about Newsome as a possible late first round prospect for the upcoming draft. On the other hand, there wasn’t necessarily a lot of speed among the rest of Wildcats prospects. Feisty MLB Paddy Fisher, for example, was only able to clock in at 4.91 seconds in the 40, while his 32-inch vertical was also below par for a LB. However, Fisher’s time of 7-flat in the 3-cone drill would have at least been middle-of-the-pack for the position at the 2020 combine. Same story for veteran DE Earnest Brown, who looked the part with 34.5 inch arms, but was only able to run in the 4.95 second range in the 40.
