BYU NewsNet - Cougars try to impress NFL scouts at Pro Day

With the NFL draft a little over a month away, former BYU wide re-ceiver Austin Collie and others worked out for NFL scouts Wednes-day at the indoor practice facility for BYU Pro Day.

Former BYU linemen Travis Bright and Ray Feinga, and other former Cougars and players from Southern Utah University joined Collie in tests such as bench pressing 225 lbs, 40-yard dash, shuttle run and position skill workouts.

“It’s a little nerve-racking, just like a game.” Collie said. “The key is to relax and know you did everything you could up to this point to get where you’re at.”

Current BYU players Max Hall, Jan Jorgensen and other players encour-aged their former teammates as the drills progressed.

Collie announced he would forgo his senior season at BYU and declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft. Collie’s 106 receptions, 1,538 yards and 15 touchdowns allowed him to be a 2008 All-American and All-MWC first team. He also led the nation with 118.31 receiving yards per game. Col-lie felt he improved from his perform-ance at the NFL combine in February.

“There’s definitely a huge benefit in working out in your own place; not being on such a tight schedule,” Collie said. “I just feel comfortable here, coming back home and being able to workout in the indoor practice facility, the place where I practiced for four years of my life.”

Collie stated he performed just as well as he did at the Combine. He ran a 4.55-second on the 40-yard dash and 17 reps on the bench press at the Combine.

“I felt I did better on my position work than I did at the Combine, and that’s something I needed,” Collie said.

Bright performed similarly at Pro Day as he did at the Combine. He ran a 5.28 40-yard dash and bench pressed 34 repetitions at the Combine. At Pro Day, Bright improved his bench press to 35 repetitions. He was named to the All-MWC second team and led an offensive line that only allowed 1.54 sacks per game.

“I did just as well there as I did here,” Bright said. “It was good to show what I could do one more time.”

NFL scouts from New England, St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Washing-ton, Arizona and Indianapolis at-tended Pro Day. With only once chance to impress the scouts, players carried the burden to showcase why these teams should invest in these players and draft them.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” Bright said. “You know you can do better; you’ve been testing better and then you muff up. You only get one chance. That kind of pressure is good and I’m able to feed off that.”

With Pro Day completed, Collie can only work out and get in shape before the NFL Draft April 25-26.

“It’s wait and see,” Collie said. “No one has any idea no matter what the agent of the NFL says. You have to wait until draft day.”