Bootle hoping to run his way into the NFL

On June 16, 2015, DiCaprio Bootle “ran his way” into a Nebraska scholarship.

While competing in a Florida A&M Satellite Camp in Doral (Fla.) Meadows Park, Bootle ran a 4.34-second time in the 40-yard dash. It was the fastest mark out of the over 400 participants in attendance at the camp.

The Huskers were one of several different schools working the camp with nearly their entire coaching staff present that day. Bootle’s offer from the Mike Riley staff came within two days of the event. Without that running that time, Bootle never would've been on Nebraska's radar.

As the Miami native gets ready to take part in NU’s pro day on Tuesday morning, it’s hard not to flashback to that day at Doral Meadows Park that changed his life forever.

“I like to say I ran my way into Nebraska, and (Tuesday) morning I’ll run my way into the league very fast. Extremely fast,” Bootle told HuskerOnline on Monday.

So how fast is fast? Bootle and I got into an exchange about that on Monday. He asked, “what I thought was fast or extremely fast?”

I responded probably somewhere in the 4.4’s, and he said: “lower.”

After a hard winter of training, it’s clear Bootle knows it’s going to take an effort in the 4.3’s to get the attention of NFL teams.

The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Bootle started 32 consecutive games for the Huskers and played in a total of 44 over his career.

There wasn’t much more he could’ve done from 2016 to 2020 to improve his stock, so in his mind going into the draft was the right move.

Bootle, like all of the Huskers seniors, could have returned for an extra season. He was the only member of the Blackshirts that chose not to return in 2021, as a group of five defenders all chose to come back for a sixth year.

“Initially going into the year, even with Covid starting, I thought it was still going to be my last year,” Bootle said. “Then the NCAA said ‘ok, we aren’t going to count this year against your eligibility. You are going to be able to come back for another year.’ I can say I was halfway preparing to leave anyway. There was a big decision-making process that went into that, just because it was awarded to me and we had the ability to come back.

“Any time you have decisions that you have to make, I think it’s very important that you sit down and weigh your options and figure it out. If it wasn’t a Covid year, I wouldn’t have been able to come back anyways. I had already put that away in my mind, and it just happened that the NCAA gave back the year. In the last couple of games I played in a Husker jersey, I did a lot of thinking and tried not to think too much to where I was over-emotional, but just thinking analytical and using my mind to make the right decision for me. Just looking at it and all the things that I had done in my career here, I just felt it was the right move to go and pursue my goals and chase my dream.”

Bootle finished his career with 110 tackles, 27 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one interception. Going into this process he’s keeping a very open mind and will play for anyone that is interested.

“I don’t really have any preferences on where I want to go, I just want to go somewhere that a team is ready to have a hungry, young competitor on their roster,” Bootle said. “That’s what I’m going to bring to any team – I’m going to be hungry, I’m going to be young and going to be a competitor and compete every day, work hard, be a people’s person, be personable, be somebody the team can rely on and always be available.”