Cal's Pro Day

Cal held its annual Pro Day yesterday. It was an opportunity for all of Cal’s draft prospects to work out in front of 50 scouts representing 30 NFL teams in hopes of improving their draft pick status or even just landing an invitation to a fall camp.

Big Mack
The biggest star of the day was undoubtedly C Alex Mack. Most scouts had come just to see the top center prospect in the nation, and congregated excitedly around Mack as he performed his workouts. As centers are rarely taken in the first round, Mack had been considered a borderline first-round pick. However, Mack did everything to ensure that he would be an exception to that rule with a terrific workout.

Mack ran a 5.17 and a 5.23 in the 40-yard dash, also recording a 8’10” broad jump, a 28 1/2-inch vertical jump, a 4.75 short shuttle, a 7.31 3-cone drill, and 20 bench press repetitions of 225 pounds.

Mack then met individually with certain teams to break down film, and will have about 10 individual workouts with teams between now and the draft. I can’t see any reason at this point why Mack won’t be taken in the first round.

Longshore Impressive?
One of the workouts I was most curious about was Nate Longshore’s. Tedford has run some legendary pro day workouts for his QBs in the past, and I was interested in seeing how Longshore would do. Although I haven’t been able to find too many specific numbers or scouting reports, I do know that Longshore threw about 75 passes all over the field, and appeared to be satisfied with his workout.

"It went well," he said. "The weather cooperated, and it was a nice day. My body feels good. I feel like I'm throwing the ball like I should be."

I’m still looking for an official number for Longshore’s 40. It’s something I’ve always been curious about. This BleacherReport has an unofficial time of 4.7/5.1 which would actually be pretty impressive, if true. Doubtful, but then again the author’s hand time for Cameron Morrah wasn’t off by much.

While I still don’t expect Longshore to get drafted, I sincerely hope the guy at least gets a shot at a pro camp this summer. It’d be real good to see and he still has a lot of the physical tools that may make scouts willing to take an extra look at.

Linebackers Limited
It was a tough day for the linebackers, as all were limited in workouts due to injury or were injured during the workouts themselves.

Zack Follett bench registered 21 reps but couldn’t participate in any on-field workouts after tweaking his hamstring last week.


Anthony Felder clocked in a 4.76 40-yard dash and posted a 36-inch vertical leap. However, Felder pulled his hamstring running his 40, and was unable to complete his workout. It is particularly unfortunate for Felder who was considered a borderline draft pick going into the pro day, especially given his limited workouts at the combine due to hip flexor injury.

Worrell Williams ran a 4.75 40-yard dash, but strained his groin in the process.

Other Players
Tight end Cameron Morrah recorded 40 times of 4.61 and 4.63, impressive for the 242 pounder, and good enough to make him one of the top 3 fastest tight end prospects. One NFL Blog reports seeing that Morrah showed really good hands, but “is not seen as a proficient blocker.”

Rulon Davis showed up to observe but did not participate due to an ankle injury. He did say however that he was satisfied with the numbers he had already posted at the NFL combine.

FB Will Tau’fou’ou had an impressive workout, even catching some passes from Nate Longshore in some receiving drills. It’s pretty rare that fullbacks get drafted these days, but I would be very surprised to not see Tau’fou’ou get a shot in the pros and make an NFL camp this summer.

Jonathan Okanes reports that other players who worked out included:
“Wide receivers Sean Young and LaReylle Cunningham, defensive tackle Mika Kane and long snapper Nick Sundberg. There also were some former Cal players working out, such as quarterback Joe Ayoob, offensive lineman Erik Robertson, wide receiver Burl Toler, and placekicker Tom Schneider.”

Oh, and let me repeat that again. BOOYA BABY.