March 12, 2007

AUBURN - Auburn football held its annual NFL Pro Day Monday with 18 former Tigers working out in front of NFL scouts for approximately four hours.

The group, which was broken up into different sub-groups primarily based on positions, spent time in two different sessions. The first session was held indoors at the John H. Watson Fieldhouse, and consisted of workouts in measurable testing. Those drills included standing long jumps, vertical jumps, 225-pound bench presses, the 40-yard dash and shuttle conditioning drills.

After spending approximately two hours indoors, the groups moved outdoors where each worked on position specific drills. Groups included defensive backs, linebackers, kickers, wide receivers and running backs, offensive linemen and defensive linemen. Each group spent 15 minutes apiece outdoors, and all were staggered so that each could work out on the Sprinturf artificial field behind the Athletics Complex.

The NFL Draft will be held April 28-29 in New York City.

Will Herring
On his performance...
"I think it went well. I was happy with my overall performance. From what I could tell, the guys came out here and looked great. It was fun coming back and competing and cheering each other on."

On participating in Pro Day with former teammates...
"It's fun. Most of the guys are training at different facilities, going their own ways. To be able to come back here one more time and be around them and the atmosphere was a fun day."

Karibi Dede
On his performance...
"I think it went well. I didn't hear everyone's numbers, but for myself, I was pleased with the way I ran. I got 35 ½ on vertical, and I wish I could have gotten 36. It was a lot of fun."

On participating in Pro Day with former teammates...
"I love seeing the young guys. I'm excited about being back for A-Day and watching those guys. This is one day where it's weird when you go from being in a team setting, there is so much individualized attention that pertains to the combine and Pro Day drills. Football is a team sport. It's the ultimate team sport. It's fun to have guys supporting you."

Courtney Taylor
On his workout today...
"I'm satisfied and happy with my day. I feel like I had a great day. It feels good to get back here and be around the guys and see them doing their jobs."

On working out here as well as the combine...
"Basically I wanted to get my 40-yard-dash down because I had a lot of teams that clocked me at a 4.4 or mid-4.4s, but my official time was a 4.5 flat. I wanted to show them that I was a 4.4 guy today and I did that, twice. I ran two 4.4s, ran a low 4.4 actually. I'm still amazed by that, but that's why you stuff at the combine. You find a lot of guys that like to skip out, I guess, and wait until Pro Day, but you get to improve all of your grades."

Tre Smith
On his workout...
"I did some good drills and some bad drills. I'm just trying to have fun out here. I'm going to have my master's degree, so this isn't my No. 1 plan. I'm hoping that something happens, but I'm just out here having fun, trying the best I can. I'm not too worried if I don't do well, but I'll be really excited if I do well. There is not a whole lot of pressure on me, I'm just out here showing what I can do. If someone wants me, I'm theirs."

Tim Duckworth
On his performance...
"I think I did really well. I improved a whole lot. I think everything else that I did I improved on from the combine. I did a lot better than I've been doing. It's always good to be back home. You feel a lot more comfortable when you are at home so I owe that to Auburn as well. I did well here, and I'm just waiting to see what will happen after that."

On feeling more comfortable here as opposed to the combine...
"I feel a whole lot more comfortable. I notice the surroundings at Auburn and it just works a whole lot better to be here."

Ben Grubbs
On pressure felt from working out in front of scouts...
"There's not a whole lot of pressure. We've been out here doing this for a long time. When I can do the position drills, it's kind of a relief. I just get into my comfort zone and just do what I've always done, do what got me here. I was telling some other guys that the pro-agility and 40-yard-dash have a lot more pressure with them because we are big guys and a lot of people don't think we can move, so you definitely want to do well for that."

On practicing these drills before the combine and today...
"I flew into Atlanta Jan. 2nd after the game, and the next day, I started training, and I've been training up until now. I've been training for going on seven or eight weeks now, but it paid off. I had two trainers, I trained with Chip Smith and Kelly, so they really showed me some tips and some strategies to use and it definitely improved my times."

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