Five Compete in Pro Day as Draft Nears
4/6/2010 5:49:25 PM | Football
Five members of the Syracuse football team moved one step closer to their dreams of making it in the National Football League during Pro Day at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday, April 6. Twenty NFL scouts were on hand to evaluate the skills of nose tackle Arthur Jones, tight end Mike Owen, quarterback Greg Paulus, wide receiver Lavar Lobdell and former Orange safety Paul Chiara. While Jones participated in agility and strength drills, Owen, Chiara and Lobdell were the receiving targets for Paulus.
"It went well,” Jones said. “I'm okay with my performance as far as my defensive line drills. I think I did a pretty good job. It was a little tougher doing drills by yourself, I'm used to having a couple other guys there. Overall, it went pretty well."
Syracuse assistant athletics director for strength and conditioning Will Hicks and head strength and conditioning coach Hal Luther were responsible for preparing the student-athletes for Pro Day to give both the student-athletes and SU football program national exposure.
"Any time you give your players the ability to showcase their talent to the National Football League and in turn, play in the league, helps Syracuse University as far as exposure for the football program,” Hicks said. “Whether we have one player come out or five, because it is Syracuse University, when we say we're having a Pro Day, all the teams will come. When you're a major Division I program, you have the power to get scouts to come because of it."
Under the direction of second-year head coach Doug Marrone, the student-athletes are available regularly to show off their skills to NFL scouts.
"The way Coach Marrone runs things for the scouts, we're very accessible and open for practices, games, and viewing tape to find out information about our players,” Hicks said. “Because of that, our players who go through our program get a tremendous amount of exposure to the NFL scouts. When it comes time to get drafted, sign as a free agent, or just try to help a young man get into a camp, if we make a phone call to someone in the league, they've had enough opportunities to see our players so it helps them tremendously."
Preparing for the April 22 National Football League draft is much like preparing for testing in the Syracuse football program.
“With Coach Marrone's program, when we test three times a year, our testing within our own team is very similar to Pro Day,” Hicks said. “You have to compete that day and try to put up your best numbers. When they get to this point, they've already run the 40 the pro-style way. They've already run the short shuttle, they've already done the vertical jump, they've already done the 225 test. It's not the first time they've ever done it, they've had prior preparation in doing it."
Jones, who was a four-year letterwinner standout, participated in every drill at Pro Day except the 40-meter dash due to a sore hamstring. The Endicott, N.Y. native finished his collegiate career with 38.5 tackles for loss, which is the most in SU history by an interior defensive lineman and ranks third on SU's career record list. Despite missing the final three games of the season due to knee injury, his 145 career tackles ties for 10th on the Syracuse record list for tackles by a down lineman.
"I have no idea where I'll be drafted,” Jones said. “I'm just honored to be given the opportunity to work out in front of pro scouts. I think it went well and we'll see what happens."
