The FCS will have on-campus Pro Days beginning March 7th with Samford and wrapping April 4 with national runner-up Eastern Washington. With only 14 FCS players invited to the NFL Combine, this is an athlete's big chance to show out in front of NFL scouts.
Samford held its Pro Day in front of 29 NFL teams, with 2018 Walter Payton Award winner Devlin Hodges throwing at his second Pro Day on Thursday. He'd thrown earlier in the morning across town at UAB's Pro Day, tossing the ball to several UAB receivers, while he had fellow Samford All-American Kelvin McKnight and another stellar Bulldogs' target Andrew Harris to throw to at his home campus.
MORE: All FCS to the NFL Coverage
According to Samford staff, the Super Bowl runner-up Los Angeles Rams even had general manager Les Snead on hand to take in Pro Day.
"UAB asked me to come over there to just throw," Hodges told WVTM13 locally. "I throw the ball a bunch each Saturday, so that didn't bother me. Just getting more throws in front of scouts, that's what I was wanting to do."
Hodges certainly had the eyes of scouts fixed on him after setting the all-time career passing record for the FCS/I-AA level, breaking Steve McNair's record from the 1990s. While he got a chance to show his arm, he also posted two performances in the drills at Samford that would have placed in the Top 10 at the NFL Combine, if he'd been invited. His 40-yard dash time and vertical jump (see marks below) would have been toward the top of the charts in Indy.
McKnight also posted two drill marks that would have been Top 10 at the NFL Combine for wide receivers. His vertical jump and 3-cone shuttle run both would have been elite. In total, six former Samford athletes performed (full results are below).
"Our guys had a really good day, lots of scouts attended," Samford head coach Chris Hatcher told HERO Sports on Thursday, following the event. "I believe today's performance did nothing but enhance their chances on getting on a team this summer."
SCHEDULE: All FCS Pro Days
NFL COMBINE: Top FCS Performers[divider]
SAMFORD'S FULL RESULTS
NOTE: 40, shuttles and 3-cone are listed in seconds, vertical and broad jumps are in inches and bench is in reps of 225 pounds
| PLAYER | POS | BENCH | 40 | VERT | BROAD | 20SHUT | 3CONE | 60SHUT |
| Ahmad Gooden | OLB | 16 | 4.93 | 31.5 | 108 | 4.76 | 7.6 | 12.4 |
| Andrew Harris | WR | 12 | 4.72 | 32 | 112 | 4.56 | 7.42 | 12.05 |
| Antwan Johnson | OT | DNP | 5.39 | 24.5 | 82 | 5.27 | 8.27 | DNP |
| Horace Roberts | DT | 24 | 5.25 | 28 | 99 | 4.72 | 8.01 | DNP |
| Devlin Hodges | QB | DNP | 4.78# | 32# | 103 | 4.53 | 7.38 | DNP |
| Kelvin McKnight | WR | 8 | 4.62 | 39.5# | 120 | 4.24 | 6.98# | 12.01 |
NOTE: $ means a top five mark for his position at the NFL Combine, # means a top 10 mark
