Georgia football held its Pro Day in Athens early Tuesday, and by all accounts the atmosphere had an odd feeling for a program that could have as many as ten players drafted this April.
“I’ve been doing this for a lot of years,” said NFL Network’s Mike Mayock. “And this was the weirdest Pro Day I’ve ever attended.”
First, all head coaches were in New Orleans for the NFL owners meetings.
Second, personnel types who did make the trip couldn’t even watch top prospect A.J. Green in pass-catching drills.
Georgia has no outgoing, draft-eligible quarterbacks, so they had to call in Justin Roper from Montana. Because Roper did not play at Georgia and does not live within 40 miles of campus, Pro Day rules required the university to send all NFL officials indoors for Green’s individual drill workout, where they could watch on a monitor.
According to Russ Lande of Sporting News, many NFL people simply exited the premises.
On a positive note, linebacker/defensive end Justin Houston ran his forty-yard dash in the high 4.5s — an incredible time for a 6-foot-3, 267-pound pass rusher.
Green stood on his Combine measurables. Former Georgia defensive end David Pollack covered the Pro Day for ESPN3.com, and believes Green “definitely solidified his spot” as the draft’s top receiver (ahead of Julio Jones) in position drills.
The position drills no one watched.