MADISON, Wis. — The path to the NFL draft included a stop in Madison on Wednesday as the Wisconsin football program hosted its annual Pro Day inside the McClain Center.
A total of 65 executives, coaches and scouts — including Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson and Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin — turned out to see a dozen Badgers prospects work through a variety of drills. For six UW products that were invited to last month's NFL Scouting Combine, the event was a chance to shore up their scores in specific drills or simply get more face time with NFL personnel.
For another half dozen — QB Bart Houston, S Leo Musso, TE Eric Steffes, DB Serge Trezy, LS Connor Udelhoven and WR Robert Wheelwright — it served as a chance to make a good first impression, both in testing and position-specific drills.
Offensive lineman Ryan Ramczyk and outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who have been projected as first-round picks in next month's NFL draft, were limited participants. Watt, who had a stellar showing at the combine, only took part in linebacker drills, which also featured teammate Vince Biegel and were overseen in part by Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter and New York Jets assistant Kevin Greene. Ramczyk, recovering from offseason surgery, spent his time at Pro Day meeting with NFL staffers.
Running back Corey Clement looked to use Pro Day to improve on several marks from the combine, and he was able to do just that. Clement lowered his 40-yard dash time to 4.54 seconds after logging a 4.68 at the combine. He also improved his vertical jump mark with an effort of 32.0 inches (an improvement over his 28.5-inch performance at the combine), his broad jump mark to 120.0 inches (from 115.0) and posted strong marks in the 20-yard shuttle (4.19 seconds), 60-yard shuttle (11.16) and three-cone (6.70) drills.
Fellow running back Dare Ogunbowale also improved on marks from the combine, lowering his 40 to 4.58 and shaving .12 seconds off his 20-yard shuttle time to 4.22.
Cornerback Sojourn Shelton dropped his 40 time from the combine to 4.50 and also improved his three-cone drill time to 6.78 and broad jump mark to 124.5 inches.
Musso made the most of his first time in front of scouts, recording several strong marks. His 6.56-second showing in the three-cone drill matched the best number put up by an defensive back at the NFL combine. Musso's effort of 40.5 inches in the vertical jump would have ranked third among all DBs at the combine and his 128.0-inch mark in the broad jump would have been fourth-best among the safeties. Musso also ran a 4.57-second 40.
It was a similar story for Wheelwright, whose time of 6.68 in the three-cone would have been the third-best mark by a wideout at the combine. His 38.0-inch vertical also would have ranked fourth. Wheelwright logged a 4.54 in the 40 and put up 15 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.
Trezy ran a time of 4.51 in the 40 and added a mark of 40.5 inches in the vertical jump as part of an impressive effort.
