With the NFL draft on the horizon, 12 Rebels displayed their skills to an array of NFL personnel as Ole Miss football held its annual Pro Day at the indoor practice facility Tuesday morning.
Thirty-nine scouts from 31 NFL teams gathered in the Manning Center to evaluate the draft prospects of a dozen Rebels looking to play on Sundays. The scouts traveled from across the country to watch Daronte Bouldin, DeMarquis Gates, C.J. Hampton, Marquis Haynes, A.J. Moore, Herbert Moore, Ty Quick, Breeland Speaks, Isaac Gross, Rod Taylor, Jordan Wilkins and Gary Wunderlich participate in a variety of positions drills and workouts – including the 40-yard dash, 60-yard shuttle, bench press, vertical jump and three-cone drill.
Tuesday’s activities gave each of Ole Miss’ seniors a platform to display his talent and offered Wilkins, Haynes, Speaks and Taylor, who participated in many of the same drills and workouts at the NFL combine last month, a chance to improve their numbers.
Both Wilkins and Haynes entered the day looking to prove their explosiveness and impress scouts after underwhelming combine performances, and both did.
Wilkins, who did not run the 40-yard dash in Indianapolis, ran a 4.50 and improved his broad jump by 6 inches to 10-feet-3 and his vertical jump by 1 inch to 37.
The reason for the improvement, Wilkins said, has to do with the health of his left hamstring, which ailed the dynamic 1,000-yard rusher throughout the 2017 season.
“I just wanted to come out and compete and have fun with it,” Wilkins said. “At the combine, I didn’t feel like my numbers were where they need to be. Not making excuses, but I wasn’t fully healthy. I think that made a big difference.”
Throughout the day, he worked through drills with New Orleans Saints running back coach Joel Thomas, and secured his projection as a third-to-sixth round pick.
Meanwhile, Haynes said his goal for the Pro Day was to decrease his 40-yard dash time from a 4.68 to somewhere in the 4.5s. He reached his goal and ended up running a 4.56.
“I felt slow getting off the ball, and that’s not usually what people see me as,” Haynes said. “They see me as a rocket. I needed to come here and show that today.”
Haynes is currently doing all his NFL training in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at JPI Sports Performance and is working to prove his versatility before he hopes to hear his name called in April.
“Getting out of the backfield, run routes, break tackles, working on pass protection,” Haynes said he’s been focused on. “Getting all the yards that are there and do what the coaches want me to do, whether that’s run routes out of the backfield, pass protection, running in between the tackles or outside. I just want to be a dominant player all over the game.”
Other noteworthy participants on the day were offensive lineman Daronte Bouldin and defensive back A.J. Moore.
Bouldin went into the room with a rush of adrenaline that allowed him to conquer 35 bench press reps and impress the entire weight room, while Moore had the best time in the 40-yard dash, running a swift 4.39.
The Pro Day now complete, each of the 12 Rebels will continue to prepare for the next level with the hopes of dressing on Sundays. The first round of the NFL draft will begin April 26 with the second and third rounds taking place April 27 and rounds 4-7 on April 28.
