Twelve draft-eligible Alabama football players worked out for scouts from all 32 NFL teams in Tuscaloosa at the University’s annual Pro Day. It was a chance for players who didn’t participate in the NFL Combine three weeks ago to show NFL teams what they could do ahead of the NFL Draft, which starts Thursday, April 25.
“I think that it says a lot about the total program and all the people in it and the great team of people we have here, whether it’s in personal development, academic success, developing the players, being able to recruit quality people to represent the program and develop within the program,” head coach Nick Saban said. “Our coaching staff does a wonderful job. We have a great support staff here in the athletic department, and the University community has been very cooperative in helping us develop players off the field as well as helping us recruit them.”
D.J. Fluker, Kelly Johnson, Nico Johnson, Barrett Jones, Robert Lester, Jeremy Shelley, Damion Square, Carson Tinker, Chance Warmack, Jesse Williams and Michael Williams, in addition to walk-on Ranzell Watkins, all worked out for NFL scouts.
Jones and Square were only able to bench press and turned in 27 and 23 repetitions, respectively. Eddie Lacy, Dee Milliner and Quinton Dial measured and weighed in but did not participate in any drills.
“It is frustrating, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do but rehab and get better for next time,” Lacy, who strained his hamstring running a 40-yard dash during a mock combine, said.
Jones is still recovering from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left foot. After Alabama’s championship celebration, he said he wouldn’t be able to work out before the draft. Still, he is meeting with teams so they can get a better feel for him without watching him workout.
“I’m just focusing on controlling the things I can control,” Jones said Wednesday. “I have 50 games of tape out there, so hopefully, they watch those and try to present myself in a good way so a team will pick me and kind of convey what I can bring to a team, which is kind of hard because you really have to talk about yourself a lot, and I’d rather talk to you guys about other people.”
Jesse Williams may have had the best showing at Wednesday’s Pro Day, where he ran an unofficial 4.9 40-yard dash, according to ESPN. Williams, who weighed in at 6 feet 3 inches, 323 pounds, could be a first-round draft pick, according to many predictions.
“I think that’s what people look for,” Saban said of Williams, “guys that have size but are athletic and have initial quickness and some power and can run and finish on the quarterback and run ball-carriers down.”
Nico Johnson said Alabama will hold another Pro Day April 2 for players who are still recovering from injury. Johnson had sports hernia surgery in January and did not participate in the NFL Combine.
“I just want to come back April 2 and show I could improve,” Johnson said. “Today I don’t think I ran that well. But everything else – I think I did the drills well. But I’m a perfectionist, so I want everything to be good. So I’m gonna come back and bust my butt.”
