BYU Pro Day prospects hope to boost draft stock while seniors eye own futures

BYU Pro Day prospects hope to boost draft stock while seniors eye own futures

(Hugh Carey/Deseret News)


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PROVO — BYU’s football team will take center stage Friday beginning at 4 p.m. at LaVell Edwards Stadium for a public scrimmage and fan events, putting into place several sets, packages and potential which the team has been working on during spring football.

But before next year’s Cougars can shine under the program’s “Friday Night Lights,” the senior class has one last shot to prove it can play at the next level.

BYU will hold its annual Pro Day on Friday morning at 9 a.m., giving the seniors one more shot at competing — for a potential spot on an NFL roster ahead of April’s draft.

As important as the spring scrimmage has been to BYU’s upcoming football season, so is the pro day in determining the future of the non-seniors and their professional prospects.

“I think it’s really important. For the players, that’s always been a dream and an aspiration,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “There is no one who wants them to make it more than I do. I also want them to be prepared once they get to the NFL.

"I love watching those guys who play.”

Mendenhall said he doesn’t talk much with NFL scouts or player personnel directors for each franchise. When Ziggy Ansah was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Detroit Lions in 2013, Mendenhall spoke with the organization the day of the draft. The same was true when Brian Urlacher went in the first round of the 2000 draft from Mendenhall’s highly touted New Mexico defense.

BYU linebacker Alani Fua (5) brings down Texas quarterback Case McCoy (6) during a game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 at LaVell Edwards stadium. BYU won 40-21. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)
BYU linebacker Alani Fua (5) brings down Texas quarterback Case McCoy (6) during a game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 at LaVell Edwards stadium. BYU won 40-21. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)

“Usually the only time I am talked to by first- to second-round guys is on the day they are going to be drafted,” Mendenhall added. “The rest of the work is with my assistants.”

The annual Pro Day also gives rising seniors a chance to project into the future, imagining what they need to do to be ready for their own day in front of the scouts.

“It’s super exciting, especially for me, a senior,” wide receiver Mitch Mathews said. “I’m saying to myself that I am next. It’s a time when you can lean back, relax and say how grateful you are for those guys. You hope for nothing but the best for them, to perform well. For me, it’s fun to look and see that I’m next.”

Linebacker Alani Fu’a was the only BYU player invited to last month’s NFL Combine, marking the third-straight year BYU has been represented at the annual event by an outside linebacker. The Cougar standout linebacker had mixed results, excelling at drills like the three-cone run while underwhelming some analysts with his 40-yard dash.

The lack of NFL Combine invites makes the on-campus Pro Day a bigger event Friday for this year’s outgoing senior class.

“Looking at them on the field, it’s exciting to see them perform well,” Mathews said of his former teammates. “They look really good.”

The current players on the team will also make their way to the Indoor Practice Facility on Friday morning to support their former teammates — with many of them having their eye on next year’s setup.

“It’s scary to think that it could be me in a year — I’ll be one of those guys next year,” senior wide receiver Terenn Houk said. “I’m really hopeful for them. I know they will kill it.”

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