Tigers work out for NFL scouts at Pro Day

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Tigers work out for NFL scouts at Pro Day
By SHELDON MICKLES
Advocate sportswriter

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/lsu/87736802.html

After participating in the intense NFL Scouting Combine workouts in Indianapolis last month, many of LSU’s pro prospects got a chance to feel a little more comfortable in their surroundings Monday.

To be sure, Pro Day wasn’t as dramatic as it has been for the past three years when eventual top 10 picks like JaMarcus Russell, LaRon Landry, Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson displayed their wares.

While LSU may not even have a player chosen in the first round this year, Monday was still an important day for 18 draft-eligible Tigers.

For some, it was another valuable opportunity to show what they could do for the 100 scouts, coaches and personnel people inside the LSU Football Operations Center.

For others, it was a time to not risk doing something that could eventually hurt them in the April 22-24 draft.

Among the players the scouts came to see were wide receiver Brandon LaFell and safety Chad Jones — LSU’s highest-ranked players. Both are rated as second-round picks by NFLDraftScout.com.

LaFell, who slightly lowered his time in the 40-yard dash to 4.55 seconds from the 4.59 he ran at the combine, felt even more comfortable Monday.

He caught passes in individual drills from hometown friend Bobby Reid, who was recruited by LSU coach Les Miles when Miles was at Oklahoma State and finished his career at Texas Southern.

“This was like a homecoming for me,” LaFell said of working with Reid. “It was more fun than at the combine, because there was a lot of pressure there. I thought I ran good. I didn’t improve my time, but I hurt my hamstring last week. I just had to push through it.”

LaFell, who was limited earlier by a knee injury he suffered in the Capital One Bowl, also did 11 reps at 225 pounds in the bench press and the 60-yard shuttle run in 11.47 seconds — just slightly slower than the 11.38 posted by track star Trindon Holliday.

Jones, who played free safety, is listed by NFL DraftScout.com as the top strong safety in the draft.

He said he was pleased with Monday’s workout even though he only did four of the seven physical tests players were put through.

He was clocked at 4.54 and 4.60 in the 40 after clocking in at 4.57 in the combine. Jones was also clocked at 4.13 seconds in the 20-yard shuttle run and went 9 feet, 7 inches in the standing broad jump.

Jones, who did 11 bench-press reps Monday after doing only nine in a poor showing at the combine, felt like he made up some ground Monday.

“After the combine, I definitely feel like I put on a good show for the scouts today,” he said. “They actually told me I would be better (at his Pro Day). I showed ball skills, and I showed I could run a little bit. And I competed in other drills and in the weight room.”

But Jones said he knows he has to keep improving to move up in the draft. He said he was told by the NFL’s Advisory Board before declaring for the draft he could go between the first and third rounds.

“But I don’t see myself as a third-round guy,” he said. “I kind of felt pretty confident in myself today. To tell you the truth, there’s not a certain thing that I can say, ‘I’m good,’ or ‘I fulfilled my dreams.’ I just have to keep working hard, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Another player under the microscope was left tackle Ciron Black, who, like LaFell, considered leaving after his junior season in 2008.

Because of a subpar senior season and possible position switch to guard, Black is rated as a fifth-round pick, but he said his agent has talked to some scouts who think he could go in the second to third round.

“It went well,” said Black, who didn’t run the 40 or do the bench press after doing 23 reps at the combine. “I did a few (individual) drills that I wanted to work on since the combine.”

Black beamed about getting the chance to work out for New Orleans Saints offensive line coach Aaron Kromer.

“I got to work with the O-line coach from the Super Bowl champions,” Black said. “I wanted to show I could move my feet better, which I did.

“I was just trying to re-establish myself, because I didn’t have a good first half of the season as I did later.”

Notes


Holliday, who ran a 4.34 at the combine and had a vertical leap of 42 inches, didn’t do either Monday, but he did run the 60-yard shuttle. He said he was intent on establishing himself more as a receiver in the individual drills, then went outside to catch punts off the jugs machine. … Safety Harry Coleman, who is projected as a sixth-round draft pick, may have helped himself when he ran the 40 in 4.45 and 4.48 after posting a 4.65 at the combine. … Also, running back Charles Scott ran identical 4.53s after running a 4.67 at the combine. ….Safety Danny McCray and defensive tackle Al Woods tied for the most bench reps at 23, while wide receiver Chris Mitchell had the top vertical leap at 37‰ inches.


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LSU Pro Day results
Name, Pos. 40-yard dash 225-lb. bench reps 3-cone drill Broad jump Vertical jump
Rahim Alem, DE --- 18 7.17 8-6 32 1/2
Charles Alexander, DT 5.35/5.40 --- --- 9-7 33
Ciron Black, T --- --- 8.04 7-7 26
Harry Coleman, LB 4.45/4.48 --- 6.90 9-10 33
Jacob Cutrera, LB 4.52/4.62 18 7.20 9-10 35
Richard Dickson, TE 4.85/4.92 14 7.56 8-6 28 1/2
Orlando Gunn, RB 5.04/4.98 --- 7.28 7-10 27
Chris Hawkins, CB 4.40/4.41 --- --- 9-11 36 1/2
Trindon Holliday, KR --- --- --- ---
R.J. Jackson, WR 4.63/4.58 19 6.59 9-0 35 1/2
Chad Jones, S 4.54/4.60 11 --- 9-7 ---
Brandon LaFell, WR 4.55/4.55 11 --- --- ---
Danny McCray, S 4.47/4.46 23 6.70 9-9 34
Chris Mitchell, WR 4.42/4.46 12 6.76 9-11 37 1/2
Perry Riley, LB --- 17 --- --- ---
Charles Scott, RB 4.53/4.53 17 --- 9-6 31
Keiland Williams, RB 4.52/4.51 16 --- --- 32
Al Woods, DT 5.09/5.00 23 --- 9-0 ---
 
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