NORMAL, Ill. - For three hours Wednesday morning, a group of Illinois State football players did everything they could do to impress NFL scouts when they participated in Redbird Football Pro Day at Illinois State.
Seniors Cody White, Ashton Leggett, Keenan Wimbley, Milton Owens, Brandon Venson, Marvon Sanders, Nick Bledsoe and Otis Merrill showed up to the Richard and Fran Owen Strength and Conditioning Center inside Redbird Arena in the morning to be weighed, measured and put through a series of tests and drills for the evaluators.
White and Merrill got a chance to compete in a similar workout at Northwestern a week ago. White thinks his hard work and decision to train in the high altitude of Denver has prepared him well heading into the draft and free agency.
"I've been in Denver for eight weeks training with Loren Landow," White said. "He's been around the game for a long time and we had guys from all over just hammering in all the drills out there and it was all we were focused on. This was my second time around and I was able to go up to Northwestern and get a feel of how the pro day runs. I think my times were pretty similar and all in all I think I had a good day today."
The day started with the measurables (height, weight, wingspan, etc.) before the players moved on to the bench press. The players attempted to push 225 pounds as many times as they could. The offensive line, as expected, had the largest numbers with White leading the way with 31 repetitions.
After the lifting was done, the players moved to measure their reach and vertical leaping ability. Each player got three chances to jump as high as they could from their stationary stance. Merrill impressed the group with the largest leap of the day and Leggett posted solid numbers, which he and teammates in the group were impressed with.
From there, the action moved out onto the turf at Hancock Stadium, where the running and agility drills took place. The standing broad jump was first and Merrill impressed once again with a leap of over 10 feet. Sanders, White and Leggett were also pleased with their marks as they moved onto the 40-yard dash. All the players took their shot at running the most talked-about drill of any combine and Merrill led the way with an unofficial time between 4.42 and 4.45. The cone drills were next and the skill players rounded out the workout with individual drills.
Like White, Merrill was pleased with his performance on the day and looks forward to seeing if all the hard work will pay off.
"It was a good experience at Northwestern and I think I put on a good performance, but I had a little bit of nerves because it is the first one and you don't know what to expect with tempo wise," Merrill said. "Today, I was a little more relaxed, had my home field advantage and I think I did just as well."
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