West Texas A&M University may be located in an unknown city to most, but the NFL definitely knows what Canyon, Texas is about. On March 14, 22 NFL scouts gathered to watch 15 senior Buffalo football players (including myself), as we chased our dreams towards a professional career.
The teams in attendance included the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, this past season’s Super Bowl representatives, along with “America’s Team”, the Dallas Cowboys, as well as the team with the first overall pick, the Houston Texans.
While the number one pick may not be a Buffalo, there are a few WT standouts with a chance to have their name called on draft day. Quarterback, Dustin Vaughan, and defensive end, Ethan Westbrooks, brought the biggest draw of NFL attention. However, with nine All-Americans, it’s easy to see why the scouts were evaluating the Buffalo talent.
Torrence Allen, an All American wide receiver, may have solidified himself as a late round draft pick with his explosive workout. Allen posted a 40 inch vertical and a broad jump of 129 inches, which would have put him in the top three of the receiver category if he would have participated in the NFL combine. Allen also pressed 225 pounds 15 times which would have placed in the top 15 of all wide receivers at the combine.
Prior to March 14, Allen’s biggest question mark was his speed. He quickly answered all questions with an unofficial time of 4.41, which again would place him as a top performer at the NFL combine.
Ethan Westbrooks improved on his 40 yard dash from the combine by .1 of a second with an unofficial time for 4.8.
As far as my workout, I had some personal bests which also would have placed me number one for receivers at the NFL combine.
Baylor wide receiver, Tevin Reese, had the number one vertical jump at the combine with 41 inches. On Friday, I posted a 44.5 inch vertical crushing his mark by 3.5 inches. I’ve always been blessed with great jumping ability, and I improved on my personal best by 1.5 inches.
Donte Moncrief from Ole Miss and Tevin Reese tied for the number one overall broad jump at the NFL combine with 132 inches. Once again, I topped those numbers, this time by six inches with a jump of 138 inches.
You may wonder, “What does jumping have to do with football?” The NFL measures the vertical and broad jump to give them a baseline of how explosive an athlete is.
My leaps show how explosive and powerful I am which usually equates to fast times in the 40 yard dash. Brandin Cooks from Oregon State, was the top performer in the 40 yard dash and the winner of the $100,000 Adidas 40 yard dash challenge, with a time of 4.33.
While I believe I ran much faster, currently it has been reported that my official time may be 4.32 seconds which tops his number by .01.
Anyone else think Adidas should send me the $100,000 instead? I sure do.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed a prolific performance and had talks with a number of scouts after the pro day was over.
Dustin Vaughan stood on all his numbers from the combine and only threw for the scouts.
As expected, Vaughan should have his impressive arm strength, and a Vikings scout complimented on the throwing script being “the most coordinated pro day script workout he has seen thus far.”
The Vikings scout was also impressed with the urgency and business mentality that Vaughan, myself and fellow wide receivers had throughout the entire 21 play script.
The Buffalo special teams unit also enjoyed great performances with kicker, Sergio Castillo, and punter, Kevin Van Voris, booming the football long and far.
I lined up to catch punts from Van Voris and the first punt soared over my head by at least 40 yards. Keep in mind, I was already 45 yards away from him to start with. Van Voris showed great hang time and distance with all his punts, and had me running all over the field to catch them.
Castillo also wowed scouts with his accurate and powerful leg. Castillo made field goals from lengths up to 50 yards and showed great hang time and distance in kickoffs.
The pro day for the Buffalo Football standouts was a success and I believe there will be a few Buffs from this senior class joining the elite in the NFL.
