Record turnout at Bearcats’ pro day … There was what is believed to be a record turnout, at least for a non-Power 5 program, at the Cincinnati pro day today at which all 32 NFL teams were represented by as many as 95-100 team staffers. In fact, Atlanta had a dozen people there today including GM Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith. Fontenot was one of four GMs in Cincinnati today including Martin Mayhew of Washington (who was accompanied by head coach Ron Rivera, Pittsburgh’s Kevin Colbert (who was there with head coach Mike Tomlin) and the Giants’ Joe Schoen. There were also 7 head coaches including Lovie Smith from Houston whose Texans have two first round picks this year. Before anyone overreacts to who was in attendance, remember that all the above were also at the Ohio State pro day the day before so one doesn’t want to read too much into who was in Cincinnati today. Certainly, many were there to see QB Desmond Ridder who had what is being described as a pretty good throwing regimen today, along with star CB Sauce Gardner who is being talked about as a potential top 5 pick next month. And just for the record, it was the group from Pittsburgh that got the coveted ‘dinner the night before’ date with Ridder, while it was Schoen and the Giants who had dinner with Gardner. For the record, former Bearcats MLB Darrian Beavers, who did not run at the combine, was clocked in the 4.65-4.70 second range today.
Speaking of the Ohio State pro day on Wednesday, there were a couple of notable performances by former Buckeyes’ who were not invited to the combine. WR Chris Booker, for example, measured in at 5-11, 184, had a 36-inch vertical and was credited with a 4.52 40 clocking, while RB Master Teague tipped the scales at 5-11, 221 and had a 4.45 time for the 40 and a 36-inch vertical of his own. Also of note from the Ohio State pro day, Washington head coach Ron Rivera was seen talking extensively with WRs Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave over the course of the workout, as well as the OSU receivers’ coach. Also, from yesterday, we are trying to make some sense out of DE/OLB Drake Jackson’s data from the Southern Cal workout on Wednesday. Unless there’s a misprint or we are reading it wrong, Jackson weighed almost 20 pounds more at his pro day (273) than at the combine (254). And for whatever reason Jackson, who didn’t run at the combine, did not run again yesterday, although he did post some very good shuttle times of 4.28 in the SS and 7.09 in the 3-cone.
Elsewhere today, 29 teams were at the Utah pro day where LB Devin Lloyd, last season’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American, opted to not participate citing “lower extremity tightness” as the reason. At Oklahoma State, LB Deven Harper, who was disappointed he didn’t get a combine invite after posting 96 tackles this fall including 6 sacks, had a pretty good day. After measuring in at just over 6-0 and 234 pounds, he posted a very athletic vertical leap of 40.5 inches, which would have ranked 2nd at the position in Indianapolis, and then clocked a 40-yard dash in the mid-4.5 range.
