STrib: Gophers football players hope to catch NFL teams’ eyes at annual pro day

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Randy:

For 15 former Gophers football players, the morning of Wednesday, March 18, will serve as the ultimate job interview.

Representatives of all 32 NFL teams are expected to gather at the Larson Football Performance Center on campus to measure official heights and weights and put the players through seven physical tests to judge strength, speed, endurance, explosiveness and agility. Players also will be put through position-specific drills, with scouts seeing, for example, whether a wide receiver can catch the ball.

It’s a mini version of the NFL combine, which wrapped up March 1 in Indianapolis and gave invited players a chance to be compared with their peers. Defensive tackle Deven Eastern was the only Gophers player invited to the combine, and the 6-foot-5, 315-pounder from Shakopee had a 27½-inch vertical jump, a broad jump of 9 feet, 4 inches and a three-cone drill time of 8.07 seconds. He did not participate in the 40-yard dash, the 10-yard split, the 20-yard shuttle or the bench press.

Eastern, who will also take part in the Gophers pro day, received an NFL.com prospect rating of 5.68 from the combine, which projects him to be a bottom of the roster or practice squad candidate. He will try to improve on that Wednesday.

The other 14 Gophers scheduled to participate in the pro day are defensive backs Darius Green and Jai’Onte’ McMillan; defensive linemen Nate Becker, Jalen Logan-Redding and Rushawn Lawrence; kicker Brady Denaburg; linebackers Derik LeCaptain and Devon Williams; offensive linemen Marcellus Marshall, Aluma Nkele and Dylan Ray; tight ends Drew Biber and Jameson Geers; and wide receiver Le’Meke Brockington. In addition, a handful players from nearby NCAA Division II and III programs are expected to participate.


Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Per Randy:
offensive linemen Marcellus Marshall, Aluma Nkele and Dylan Ray
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lol. Anything that dude does tomorrow morning will have a better impact on the rest of his life than working out for NFL teams. Even just a morning shift at McDonalds will do more for his retirement plans than this.
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Not a very good class by fleck here. Did some in the class transfer out?
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Redshirts impact eligibility obviously but this would be the 2021 class. Other quality players that left for various reasons

Bucky Irving...xfer, NFL
Athan
Austin Booker...xfer, NFL
Walley...NFL

Looks better with 3 guys in the NFL already
 




Certainly not the strongest class, but I wouldn’t be surprised if LeCaptain or Geers randomly showed up on a roster after making a team as a UDFA. Logan-Redding and Brockington have talent, but hard to break through at those positions I feel.
 




GopherTheJugular said:
lol. Anything that dude does tomorrow morning will have a better impact on the rest of his life than working out for NFL teams. Even just a morning shift at McDonalds will do more for his retirement plans than this.
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Nice. Do you really think he deserves to be demeaned in such a snarky, mean-spirited way?
 

I have as good a chance as LR97 to make an NFL team. Maybe made three high impact plays in his entire five year career. Geers and Brockington are probably the two best players. Geers will make a team as an UFA.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
lol. Anything that dude does tomorrow morning will have a better impact on the rest of his life than working out for NFL teams. Even just a morning shift at McDonalds will do more for his retirement plans than this.
Click to expand...

Dylan Ray wasn't even the worst starting offensive lineman on the team but you decide to pull that rant out.
 

gopherphil said:
Not much of a Gooher fan I see, in gopherbaderman.
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Whatever. Do you think that is an impressive group of players at the pro day from the U? I'm not sure but was AK and Bucky or Anthony Smith in this class too?

Overall all I am saying having maybe one guy (Eastern) potentially drafted is not a great class and its definitely worse than the previous couple, and I was not sure about transfers.
 
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pharmacygopher said:
Redshirts impact eligibility obviously but this would be the 2021 class. Other quality players that left for various reasons

Bucky Irving...xfer, NFL
Athan
Austin Booker...xfer, NFL
Walley...NFL

Looks better with 3 guys in the NFL already
Click to expand...
Totally agree - looks way better with those players. Thanks for the info.
 







Clairemont Gopher said:
Nice. Do you really think he deserves to be demeaned in such a snarky, mean-spirited way?
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(goes back and watches tape from 2025 season....)

Yes I do. ;) These guys are pros now, they can take criticism just as well as they can take 6 figures of our money to be a bad player.
 

Gopherchase said:
I have as good a chance as LR97 to make an NFL team. Maybe made three high impact plays in his entire five year career. Geers and Brockington are probably the two best players. Geers will make a team as an UFA.
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Careful, some people here aren't gonna like the negativity.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
(goes back and watches tape from 2025 season....)

Yes I do. ;) These guys are pros now, they can take criticism just as well as they can take 6 figures of our money to be a bad player.
Click to expand...

You need to learn the difference between criticism and insult. That'll be a step toward becoming a grown-up.
 

That '21 class as mentioned above wasn't very good.

-Athan: put all our eggs in his basket to the point of not taking a QB in the '20 class to show how committed we were to him as our QB of the future. Also took his brother on scholarship.

-Austin Booker: This was the biggest miss as far as a kid who transferred out and then starred at Kansas left early and and got drafted by the Chicago Bears. For a team that lacked pass rush, we couldn't find a way to develop or use him.

- Bucky Irving: Not on the staff, got offered money to leave before NIL was a thing. We did leave some wins on the table after Mo's injury by playing Cam Wiley and someone else whose name escapes me over Bucky and Ky Thomas.

-OL/DL: This was probably the biggest thing. Fleck is now claiming to be a "developmental" program but we didn't develop a single OL in this class. James, Purcell, and Mapakaitolo didn't make a single start between the 3 of them. On the DL, we hit on Eastern but Schuster and McCoy didn't play at all and Booker became an impact guy after leaving. It's really tough to get good production out of one guy on the line of scrimmage in an entire recruiting class.

For their performance with the Gophers, Justin Walley was clearly the best player from this class. I looked it up and he was 2nd team All Big Ten as a Senior. The best player making 2nd team all conference is not a good high water mark for a class.
 

EG#9 said:
That '21 class as mentioned above wasn't very good.

-Athan: put all our eggs in his basket to the point of not taking a QB in the '20 class to show how committed we were to him as our QB of the future. Also took his brother on scholarship.

-Austin Booker: This was the biggest miss as far as a kid who transferred out and then starred at Kansas left early and and got drafted by the Chicago Bears. For a team that lacked pass rush, we couldn't find a way to develop or use him.

- Bucky Irving: Not on the staff, got offered money to leave before NIL was a thing. We did leave some wins on the table after Mo's injury by playing Cam Wiley and someone else whose name escapes me over Bucky and Ky Thomas.

-OL/DL: This was probably the biggest thing. Fleck is now claiming to be a "developmental" program but we didn't develop a single OL in this class. James, Purcell, and Mapakaitolo didn't make a single start between the 3 of them. On the DL, we hit on Eastern but Schuster and McCoy didn't play at all and Booker became an impact guy after leaving. It's really tough to get good production out of one guy on the line of scrimmage in an entire recruiting class.

For their performance with the Gophers, Justin Walley was clearly the best player from this class. I looked it up and he was 2nd team All Big Ten as a Senior. The best player making 2nd team all conference is not a good high water mark for a class.
Click to expand...
Booker must not have been a RTB disciple there’s no other way to explain his lack of playing time.
 

EG#9 said:
-Austin Booker: This was the biggest miss as far as a kid who transferred out and then starred at Kansas left early and and got drafted by the Chicago Bears. For a team that lacked pass rush, we couldn't find a way to develop or use him.
Click to expand...

Booker had to grow a lot physically his first few years. He was only here 2 years and redshirted his first. Booker still played in 6 games that year. Here was the DE depth chart his RS FR year.

Thomas Rush - SR - Undrafted FA NFL
Danny Striggow - RS SO - Undrafted FA NFL
Jah Joyner - RS SO - Undrafted FA NFL

These three were clearly above him on the depth chart and should have been at that time. Joyner/Striggow were only one year older so they were going to likely be the starters moving forward.

He also had Anthony Smith right behind him. He was a year younger but still much more physically ready than Booker, and will be a future high NFL draft pick.

The DE room was quite loaded at that time and Booker was the least developed physically. He left for a starting job and less competition as he continued to grow. Can't blame him for that.
 

EG#9 said:
That '21 class as mentioned above wasn't very good.

-Athan: put all our eggs in his basket to the point of not taking a QB in the '20 class to show how committed we were to him as our QB of the future. Also took his brother on scholarship.

-Austin Booker: This was the biggest miss as far as a kid who transferred out and then starred at Kansas left early and and got drafted by the Chicago Bears. For a team that lacked pass rush, we couldn't find a way to develop or use him.

- Bucky Irving: Not on the staff, got offered money to leave before NIL was a thing. We did leave some wins on the table after Mo's injury by playing Cam Wiley and someone else whose name escapes me over Bucky and Ky Thomas.

-OL/DL: This was probably the biggest thing. Fleck is now claiming to be a "developmental" program but we didn't develop a single OL in this class. James, Purcell, and Mapakaitolo didn't make a single start between the 3 of them. On the DL, we hit on Eastern but Schuster and McCoy didn't play at all and Booker became an impact guy after leaving. It's really tough to get good production out of one guy on the line of scrimmage in an entire recruiting class.

For their performance with the Gophers, Justin Walley was clearly the best player from this class. I looked it up and he was 2nd team All Big Ten as a Senior. The best player making 2nd team all conference is not a good high water mark for a class.
Click to expand...
This wasn’t a thing. We never lost a game in which Wiley got more than three carries.
 

EG#9 said:
That '21 class as mentioned above wasn't very good.

-Athan: put all our eggs in his basket to the point of not taking a QB in the '20 class to show how committed we were to him as our QB of the future. Also took his brother on scholarship.

-Austin Booker: This was the biggest miss as far as a kid who transferred out and then starred at Kansas left early and and got drafted by the Chicago Bears. For a team that lacked pass rush, we couldn't find a way to develop or use him.

- Bucky Irving: Not on the staff, got offered money to leave before NIL was a thing. We did leave some wins on the table after Mo's injury by playing Cam Wiley and someone else whose name escapes me over Bucky and Ky Thomas.

-OL/DL: This was probably the biggest thing. Fleck is now claiming to be a "developmental" program but we didn't develop a single OL in this class. James, Purcell, and Mapakaitolo didn't make a single start between the 3 of them. On the DL, we hit on Eastern but Schuster and McCoy didn't play at all and Booker became an impact guy after leaving. It's really tough to get good production out of one guy on the line of scrimmage in an entire recruiting class.

For their performance with the Gophers, Justin Walley was clearly the best player from this class. I looked it up and he was 2nd team All Big Ten as a Senior. The best player making 2nd team all conference is not a good high water mark for a class.
Click to expand...

The other issue with evaluating the 2021 class is that was the class most affected by COVID where nothing was normal, seasons were abbreviated, etc.
 


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