Warhawks Participate In Pro Day
Eleven Warhawks who played their college career at ULM had their chance to show up and impress the NFL scouts today in hopes of raising their draft stock. Nearly 20 NFL scouts were on hand the watch the Warhawk players.
The Warhawks who participated today were:
Justin Backus (CB); Rey Baltazar (OL); Dayton Balvanz (Punter); Tyler Cain (RB); Tre' Hunter (Safety); Jared Mapps (WR); Braxton Moore (LB); Alec Osborne (TE); Tre' Perrier (WR); and Jeff Savage (OL).
Rashon Ceaser (WR) also participated for the second year in a row as he looks for another shot with an NFL team.
Moore participated after missing his final season with an injury, while Cain's application for a 6th year of eligibility in 2016 was denied by the NCAA.
The day started inside the weight room in Malone Stadium. The heights and weights of all the players were measures before they broke up into groups to measure their verticals and broad jumps.
The players joined back together to test their strength by doing as many reps of 225 pounds of the bench press as possible. Rey Baltazar led the way with 24 reps, while Tyler Cain, who was measured as weighing only 175 pounds, did 20 reps (2 did not count because the scouts said he was not fully extended).
The players moved outside to perform their 40 yard dashes and positional drills. While none of the players ran the 40 in under 4.4 seconds like Trey Caldwell last season (Caldwell was drafted by the Browns), Tre' Perrier and Tre' Hunter helped themselves with decent 40 times. Hunter especially looked comfortable in the position drills.
"I've been training for this for weeks, especially position drills that I've been doing for years. I just had to relax then I was all good once I got rolling. It's real drill-specific when you train for pro day. There's not as much emphasis on the mental aspect of football, just getting ready for the 40 [yard dash] and technique."-Hunter
The most impressive performance of the day may have belonged to Punter Dayton Balvanz. He had several punts that traveled over 60 yards with over 5 seconds of hang time.
"I worked on hang time, operation time, and distance coming into pro day. I was pretty happy with my kicks. I've been training since our last game and I think it all paid off right now."-Balvanz
Another prominent Warhawk from last season was Jeff Savage. Savage was named second-team All Sun Belt last season for his performance and leadership from the guard and center position. He also spoke on his performance today.
"There's always room for improvement, but I came out here, competed, and did my best so I can't complain. I did a lot of position work to get ready for today. I tried to get my bench up and my times down. When you prepare for a season, you prepare for the long haul of the season. For a testing setting, I'm good for one rep."-Savage
All these players will now wait to see if their name is called when the NFL draft begins on April 27 and continues through April 29.