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The Florida Gators football team hosted their annual Pro Day on Wednesday, March 28. There were 18 former players working out Wednesday morning to impress NFL scouts.
Trust your training. #GatorMade pic.twitter.com/8jGtrs4QiB
— Gators Football (@GatorsFB) March 28, 2018
Compared to previous years, there were not as many NFL scouts present at this year’s Pro Day though. The reason for this could be because the Gators only had two players participating in Pro Day who are viewed as potential first-round draft picks. Also, the Miami Hurricanes had their Pro Day on Wednesday. This may have caused scouts to pick to travel to Miami instead of Gainesville.
The Draft-Eligible Players
The 18 players that worked out during Pro Day were:
- OL #78 Ricardo Benalcazar
- DL #93 Taven Bryan
- WR #81 Antonio Callaway
- DB #7 Duke Dawson
- TE #30 DeAndre Goolsby
- DB #26 Marcell Harris
- K #15 Eddy Pineiro
- WR #4 Brandon Powell
- DB #35 Joseph Putu
- OL #51 Antonio Riles
- DB #30 Garrett Stephens
- RB #24 Mark Thompson
- P #19 Johnny Townsend
- DB #8 Nick Washington
- QB #8 Malik Zaire
- QB #12 Austin Appleby
- RB #37 Mark Herndon
- S #22 Matt Elam
Possible First-Round Draft Picks
Defensive tackle Taven Bryan and wide receiver Antonio Callaway are the only two players who worked out during Pro Day that could potentially be drafted in the first round this year.
Bryan is Florida’s top available player for this year’s draft. During pro day, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli spent a lot of time working out with Bryan and talking to him afterwards. Bryan said the drills he ran with Marinelli went really well and he’s going to continue to practice them.
In his interview with the media after his drills, it was interesting to note that Bryan didn’t grow up watching football. He said he didn’t watch football on Sundays and spent most days fishing and hunting.
Callaway also has the potential to be drafted early on this year. A lot of talk around Callaway during Pro Day had to do with how he has changed since sitting out the whole 2017 season due to an alleged credit card fraud scam.
Callaway says sitting out for a season humbled him.
Callaway says since he has a daughter now he has to make the right decisions and believes it has changed him.
He thinks this change will show on the field as well.
