The 2010 NFL Scouting Combine came and went just as fast as some of the prospects that ran in it. Rutgers’ own Anthony Davis and Devin McCourty were both in attendance and competed in all the events. With a lot of great performances this week, I got a chance to keep an eye on both these Scarlet Knights and breakdown their performances.
Offensive tackle Anthony Davis is one of the top rated tackles in this year’s class and has some serious competition from a few other players (Russell Okung of Oklahoma State, Bryan Bulaga of Iowa, and Trent Williams of Oklahoma) to contend with. Unfortunately in Indianapolis, Davis put on the most underwhelming performance out of all of them.
First off, he came in looking a bit out of shape and did not carry his weight not nearly as well as some of the other prospects. He put up 21 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, two less than Williams, five less than Bulaga, and a whopping 17 less than Okung.
The 40-yard dash, which is not super important for a lineman, but does showcase some of their athleticism, gave Davis some trouble. He only ran a 5.38, again finishing last out of the four of them.
Measurables are hardly all there are in football, but Davis will want to improve on these numbers at the Rutgers Pro Day workout on March 10 to keep his high first round draft grade.
Davis happened to acknowledge some of his inconsistencies at the Combine and had this to say about them “I need to work on that. Get better, keep focusing and listen to coaches.â€Â He knows what he needs to do, now its time to do it.
Shifting from the offensive line to the defensive secondary, cornerback Devin McCourty had quite the opposite performance.
On the last day of the Combine the defensive backs got a chance to showcase their stuff and McCourty made the most of his opportunity. Coming in at about 5’11, 193 pounds, McCourty was on the fringe of the first round before arriving in Indy. He posted 16 reps of 225 on the bench press, a 10’06 inch broad jump, and an impressive 4.48 “official†40-yard dash. His “unofficial†time happened to be 4.34, and there seem to be some issues with the NFL Combine’s “official†times and I would be willing to bet that more than a few scouts had faster times on their stopwatches for him.
He was right at the top of the class in workouts and has firmly pushed himself into the first round in my mind. A few other corners were either injured or failed to impress today so McCourty could be hearing his name projected even higher than I anticipated.
It was quite a weekend at the NFL Scouting Combine and now it’s time to look towards the Pro Day workouts and then the first round of the NFL Draft on April 22nd.
Wes O’Donnell is an NFL Draft Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com. If you are looking for more in depth analysis on the draft or all things football, check it out.