The Nebraska Football program hosted its Pro Day event on Thursday, despite blanket wide cancelations in the NCAA and Professional Sports World
About 20 different NFL teams made their way to Lincoln on Thursday. Here's a complete breakdown of NU's Pro Day event.
20 different NFL teams still in Lincoln for Pro Day
Despite nationwide cancelations around the Sportsworld, around 20 different NFL teams were in Lincoln for Thursday's Pro Day.
What we don't know now is what's next? Will there be any more Pro Days across the country? When will the NFL Draft take place? These are questions nobody has answers to, but for the 12 former Huskers that took part in Pro Day on Thursday, they were still given an opportunity to prove themselves.
“I am kind of fortunate that I did get to go to the Combine because there were a few scouts that didn’t come today,” Carlos Davis said. “A lot of them stayed though because they were already here. If you are going to come all this way you might as well get something out of it.”
Defensive back Lamar Jackson knows he and his former teammates were fortunate that they even got this opportunity on Thursday.
“For the most part I heard from here on out Pro Day’s are over with,” Jackson said. “We were kind of one of the last groups to go out and do what we do.
"At the end of the day I still prepared for this moment and I still worked out, so it would’ve been a letdown if I couldn’t work out. At the same time, it’s a blessing. I’m happy everybody was here and that they could come watch me and teammates and put a great little workout together."
Jackson decides to run at Thursday's Pro Day
After running an electronic 40-yard dash time of 4.58 seconds at the NFL Combine earlier this month, Jackson took one more crack at it on Thursday.
Jackson decided to run on Thursday, as well as doing the vertical again. His times ranged anywhere from the low 4.5's to 4.65 and his vertical improved from 36.5 inches at the Combine, to 37 inches on Thursday.
“At the end of the day you are always going to look at the laser (time) because it’s a laser time,” Jackson said. “Hand time, it’s human error. I talked to my coach this morning and the competitor in him and the competitor in me, everybody wanted to see me improve and put a faster time on the board.
"It didn’t take much to convince me to run. They kind of said, ‘you don’t have anything to lose, go run.’ I just wanted to go out there and do a couple of starts and see how my legs felt. My legs felt decent enough and I was able to knock it out.”
Jackson also knows with his size at 6-foot-2 ½ and 208 pounds, teams aren't interested in him for his speed.
“What I've come to realize about the whole Combine and Draft is it’s about what you have going for you,” Jackson said. “If you are a little guy that’s 5-11, 185, then, of course, you have to run a 4.3.
"I’m 6-2 ½ and 208 pounds. (The scouts) just want me to run fast enough. 4.58 (at the Combine) would’ve done it. Of course, it’s not blazing, but at the same time, they can work with that. (Today) was really for my friends, my trainers and people that have seen me put in the work that knew I could run a little bit faster.”
Davis brothers hope strong Combine will lead to more interest
Both defensive linemen Carlos and Khalil Davis had no idea they were going to run like they did at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis earlier this month.
“I actually didn’t know I was running that fast,” Carlos Davis said. “Our trainer was telling us wrong times when we were down there training. So, I was telling everybody I was going to run 5.1 or 5.0, then I go down there and run 4.8.”
Khalil Davis ran a 4.75 in the 40, while Carlos Davis was clocked at 4.82. Needless to say, they both chose not to run on Thursday. However, both did take part in position work.
“I wanted coaches to see me do drills,” Carlos Davis said. “That was really the main thing. We did that at the Combine, but it was just good to get out there and run some drills. I kind of skipped out on them (at the Combine), because the 40, we ran good, but it taxed me. I kind of strained myself a little trying to run that fast.
"I took it easy at the Combine and didn’t do a little bit of the drills until Pro Day. I was really trying to get healthy for Pro Day to do the drills today.”
For both Carlos and Kahlil Davis, their recent success at the Combine has opened more doors.
They are on more radars, and they will get plenty of looks from now until the upcoming draft.
“(The Combine) just opened more doors for me,” Khalil Davis said. “Maybe a few guys are looking at me now that weren’t before. It opened a few eyes to maybe go back and look at the tape.”