Yes, the NFL Combine is meat market central. And certain aspects of the on-campus Pro Day are too. But the NFL uses these measurables to begin sifting through the thousands of potential prospects and get it down to the more manageable "hundreds" level.
Last week, Southern University held the last on-campus Pro Day for an FCS school, with Lenard Tillery and Willie Quinn shining.
Since only 19 of the FCS' prospects were invited to the official NFL Combine back in early March in Indy, we here at HERO Sports decided we'd take the NFL Combine specs for those 19 players and combine them with the on campus Pro Day numbers we were able to verify (and yes, this was a challenge) and create a mythical "FCS Draft Combine". We decided to take five categories — 40-yard dash, Bench Repetitions of 225 pounds, the 3-cone drill, the vertical jump and the broad jump and combine those specs in a database to see who did what. Those lists are found below.
RELATED: The HERO Sports Podcast: The HERO Sports Mythical Combine – Jim and Brian break it down
Keep in mind … in the 40? Skill players will come out on top. In the bench, the linemen rise to the top. So there's that to be considered … but we did wonder: Who is the fastest, who is the strongest, who is the best going east-west (3-cone), you name it. So below is what we found.
NOTE: Finding full results for the nearly 120 FCS schools was a challenge, as mentioned above. We may have missed some team days (so if we did, please hit us up), and next spring we will contact every school and request results. But we feel this list is pretty comprehensive after spending a week to compile it.
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THE 40-YARD DASH
Obviously the 40-yard dash is going to have the receivers and D-backs rise to the top, along with the running backs. These times are given in seconds, obviously. Below are some of the FCS' top on-campus Pro Day marks.
RELATED: How did the FCS rookie free agent class do in 2016? Take a look.
PLAYER | SCHOOL | POS | HGT | WGT | 40 TIME |
Jamal Agnew | San Diego | CB | 5'9" | 185 | 4.32 |
Delshawn McClellon | Northern Arizona | WR | 5'9" | 175 | 4.37 |
Chad Williams | Grambling | WR | 6'1" | 207 | 4.37 |
Josh Thornton | Southern Utah | CB | 5'10" | 180 | 4.37 |
Charlie Miller | Dartmouth | FS | 6'0" | 185 | 4.39 |
Raysean Pringle | Southern Utah | WR | 6'0" | 200 | 4.40 |
Jody Webb | Youngstown State | RB | 5'7" | 186 | 4.41 |
Shaq Hill | Eastern Washington | WR | 5'10" | 180 | 4.41 |
Tarik Cohen | North Carolina A&T | RB | 5'6" | 179 | 4.42 |
Jacques Bryant | FAMU | FS | 5'11" | 206 | 4.42 |
C.J. Board | Chattanooga | WR | 6'1" | 181 | 4.42 |
Brendan Langley | Lamar | CB | 6'0" | 201 | 4.43 |
David Jones | Richmond | FS | 6'1" | 205 | 4.43 |
Alexander Jette | Brown | WR | 6'0" | 184 | 4.45 |
Casey DeAndrade | New Hampshire | FS | 6'0" | 207 | 4.45 |
Samson Ebukam | Eastern Washington | DE | 6'1" | 238 | 4.47 |
Ezra Robinson | Tennessee State | CB | 5'11" | 189 | 4.47 |
J.R. Nelson | Montana | CB | 6'1" | 187 |
4.47 |
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THE BENCH
RELATED: How did the 20 NFL Draft picks out of the FCS ranks do as rookies last year?
Here's how the bench press looked. This is standard procedure with the NFL Combine and Pro Day. You're measured by how many repetitions you can get benching 225 pounds. And keep in mind … when it comes to the bench press, it's hard to hide. There are no "wind-aided" lifts or machine malfunctions, this is what it is, and you can see the results below.
Here were the FCS leaders:
PLAYER | SCHOOL | POS | HGT | WGT | REPS |
Bret Treadway | Lamar | OG | 6'4" | 295 | 34 |
Patrick Ricard | Maine | DT | 6'3" | 285 | 33 |
Anthony Pullins | Stephen F. Austin | C | 6'1" | 310 | 33 |
Dylan Cole | Missouri State | OLB | 6'0" | 233 | 32 |
Taylor Gadbois | SE Louisiana | OT | 6'7" | 315 | 31 |
Zachary Petit | UC Davis | DE | 6'4" | 252 | 31 |
Michael Coe | North Dakota | C | 6'2" | 300 | 31 |
Derek Rivers | Youngstown State | DE | 6'4" | 248 | 30 |
Keionta Davis | Chattanooga | DE | 6'3" | 268 | 30 |
Caleb Kidder | Montana | DE | 6'5" | 269 | 30 |
Mark Spelman | Illinois State | C | 6'2" | 299 | 30 |
Karter Schult | Northern Iowa | DE | 6'3" | 263 | 30 |
Codie Brooks | Sam Houston State | DL | 6'1" | 260 | 30 |
Doug Webb | Harvard | DT | 6'3" | 290 | 30 |
Martez Stone | James Madison | DE | 6'0" | 273 | 29 |
Cam Keizur | Portland State | OG | 6'3" | 303 | 29 |
Deon Hutchinson | Sam Houston State | TE | 6'0" | 250 | 29 |
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THE 3-CONE
The three-cone technique drill, measured in seconds, gives you an idea of how a player can move east-west, instead of just the pure speed of the more north-south 40-yard dash. This proves how quickly a player can change direction and adjust to where the ball is. If you have a good 3-cone time, you're a shifty one.
PLAYER | SCHOOL | POS | HGT | WGT | 3 cone |
Cooper Kupp | Eastern Washington | WR | 6'2" | 204 | 6.53 |
Devin Church | Eastern Illinois | RB | 5'7" | 198 | 6.60 |
Darion Flowers | Sam Houston State | CB | 5'10" | 191 | 6.63 |
Anthony Warrum | Illinois State | WR | 6'1" | 190 | 6.66 |
C.J. Board | Chattanooga | WR | 6'1" | 181 | 6.67 |
Demetrius Johnson | Texas Southern | CB | 6'0" | 181 | 6.68 |
Kendrick Bourne | Eastern Washington | WR | 6'1" | 203 | 6.73 |
Willie Quinn | Southern | WR | 5'5" | 150 | 6.73 |
Willie Quinn | Southern | WR | 5'5" | 150 | 6.73 |
Troy Doles | Brown | WR | 6'0" | 197 | 6.74 |
Dorian Williams | Princeton | SS | 5'10" | 203 | 6.8 |
Xavier Coleman | Portland State | CB | 5'11" | 189 | 6.81 |
Dante Shells | Liberty | WR | 6'1" | 186 | 6.84 |
Zach Conque | Stephen F. Austin | QB/TE | 6'5" | 237 | 6.84 |
Aaron Bailey | Northern Iowa | QB/RB | 6'0" | 233 | 6.85 |
Dalton Crossan | New Hampshire | RB | 5'10" | 202 | 6.85 |
Kenny Bishop | Youngstown State | CB | 5'11" | 184 | 6.85 |
Justice Liggins | Stephen F. Austin | WR | 6'1" | 206 | 6.85 |
Lance Lenoir | Western Illinois | WR | 6'0" | 199 | 6.87 |
Chase Allen | Southern Illinois | ILB | 6'4" | 241 | 6.88 |
David Rivers III | Youngstown State | CB | 6'1" | 186 | 6.89 |
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VERTICAL JUMP
Think an athlete's vertical only matters in basketball? Think again. If you're a safety or corner, isn't it important to be able to go up and knock down a pass in the endzone — or for a receiver, isn't it important to go up and snag it? Or if you're a defensive lineman, how nice is it to have some 'ups' and be able to knock down a pass? That's what the vertical gives an idea of, how athletic a player is. This is measured in inches.
PLAYER | SCHOOL | POS | HGT | WGT | VERT |
Yamen Sanders | Montana | SS | 5'10" | 215 | 42.0 |
Jacques Bryant | FAMU | FS | 5'11" | 206 | 41.0 |
Curtis Alexander | FAMU | OLB | 6'1" | 235 | 40.5 |
Darnell Leslie | Monmouth | OLB | 6'1" | 229 | 40.5 |
Xavier Coleman | Portland State | CB | 5'11" | 189 | 40 |
Samson Ebukam | Eastern Washington | DE | 6'1" | 238 | 39.5 |
Dylan Cole | Missouri State | OLB | 6'0" | 233 | 39 |
Fletcher Collins | Montana State | LB | 6'2" | 225 | 38.5 |
J.R. Nelson | Montana | CB | 6'1" | 187 | 38 |
Chad Newell | Montana State | FB | 6'1" | 215 | 37.5 |
Jameer Thurman | Indiana State | ILB | 6'0" | 225 | 37.5 |
Dante Shells | Liberty | WR | 6'1" | 186 | 37 |
James Gales | Princeton | CB | 5'10" | 188 | 37 |
Justin Horton | Jacksonville | OLB | 6'1" | 243 | 37 |
Keionta Davis | Chattanooga | DE | 6'3" | 268 | 37 |
Zach Conque | Stephen F. Austin | QB/TE | 6'5" | 237 | 36.5 |
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BROAD JUMP
To us, the broad jump just measures pure athleticism, and what's interesting about this one is sometimes it is a bigger guy like Dorsey or Tonyan below, and sometimes it's a smaller athlete like Robinson who excels at it. This just proves you are a versatile athlete — that you probably could help the team in multiple ways. This is measured in feet and inches.
PLAYER | SCHOOL | POS | HGT | WGT | BROAD |
Darnell Leslie | Monmouth | OLB | 6'1" | 229 | 11'1" |
C.J. Board | Chattanooga | WR | 6'1" | 181 | 11'0" |
Jacques Bryant | FAMU | FS | 5'11" | 206 | 11'0" |
Jonathan Dorsey | Alabama A&M | TE | 6'6" | 234 | 10'11" |
Samson Ebukam | Eastern Washington | DE | 6'1" | 238 | 10'10" |
Ezra Robinson | Tennessee State | CB | 5'11" | 189 | 10'10" |
Delshawn McClellon | Northern Arizona | WR | 5'9" | 175 | 10'10" |
David Jones | Richmond | FS | 6'1" | 205 | 10'9" |
Courtland Fort | Sam Houston State | CB | 6'0" | 185 | 10'9" |
Xavier Coleman | Portland State | CB | 5'11" | 189 | 10'6" |
David Rivers III | Youngstown State | CB | 6'1" | 186 | 10'6" |
Dylan Cole | Missouri State | OLB | 6'0" | 233 | 10'5" |
Jameer Thurman | Indiana State | ILB | 6'0" | 225 | 10'5" |
Dante Shells | Liberty | WR | 6'1" | 186 | 10'5" |
Robert Tonyan Jr. | Indiana State | WR | 6'5" | 236 | 10'5" |
B.J. Bello | Illinois State | LB | 6'2" | 227 | 10'5" |