UCLA Football Hosts Pro Day For Big Group of 2022 NFL Draft Hopefuls
With the 2022 NFL Draft just over a month away, over a handful of Bruins got one last chance to show out before teams make their picks.
Alec Anderson, Brittain Brown, Greg Dulcich, Obi Eboh, Ethan Fernea, Jordan Genmark Heath, Paul Grattan Jr., Datona Jackson, Cam Johnson, Qwuantrezz Knight, Quentin Lake, Otito Ogbonnia, Kyle Philips and Sean Rhyan were the recent UCLA football alums who took part in the team's pro day at Wasserman Football Center on Tuesday. Nearly three dozen scouts were in attendance for the event – the first fully in-person pro day hosted by the Bruins since 2019 due to COVID-19.
Philips, Dulcich, Rhyan, Ogbonnia and Lake took center stage at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis earlier in March, so this was not the first time pro scouts got a look at them. Philips and Lake had also played at the East-West Shrine Bowl, while Dulcich and Ogbonnia participated in the Reese's Senior Bowl and Eboh, Knight and Brown took part in the NFLPA Bowl.
For Anderson, Fernea, Genmark Heath, Grattan, Jackson and Johnson, though, this was their first chance in the spotlight.
The scout running the drills called out the vertical and broad jump results from the group of Bruins as they were getting ready to run the 40-yard dash, but he mostly out of earshot from the designated media area. The one player whose results we were able to make out was Brown's, who apparently recorded a 34-inch vertical jump and 10-foot-2 broad jump.
Philips and Dulcich did not run the 40-yard dash after putting up 4.58 and 4.69 results at the Combine, respectively.
The media was not provided the times from the 40-yard dash participants, although Fernea and Knight looked notably fast. According to our hand-timer from the across the field, Fernea ran a 4.37 and Knight ran a 4.48. We also had Jackson at 4.97 seconds.
Of course, no NFL scouts will be looking at the SI All Bruins scale, so take those numbers with a slight grain of salt.
Rhyan ran the 40-yard dash, but pulled up early since the only mark he was looking to show scouts was his 10-yard split. At the combine, Rhyan ran a 5.28 with a 1.80 split on his first attempt.
Ogbonnia did not appear to participate in the 40-yard dash, with the head scout citing right hamstring tightness. In later drills, Ogbonnia was seen wearing a wrap around the area, although he was a full participant in dummy and pad drills. At the combine, Ogbonnia pulled up early in the figure 8 drill with a hamstring injury.
The first position drills Tuesday were for pass-catchers. Philips did have two drops, but caught everything else thrown his way and ran tight routes. The L-drill caused Philips some problems, but when he posted a clean run on his third attempt, his teammates and scouts all seemed impressed with his quickness.
Philips said after the workouts that he thought he ran his short and intermediate routes well, while also showing scouts that he could go deep as well. The prototype slot receiver caught passes from UCLA backup quarterback Ethan Garbers.
Dulcich had former Washington State quarterback and recent NFL practice squad member Anthony Gordon throwing him passes, and he caught pretty much every ball. There was another tight end switching off with Dulcich – University of Ohio's Armani Rogers, who is from Los Angeles and initially went to UNLV.
The offensive linemen went next, followed by the defensive linemen.
Defensive backs went last, and they all showed solid hands and footwork. Genmark Heath ran with that last group, which could be notable considering his past at Notre Dame.
While with the Fighting Irish and back in high school, Genmark Heath played some safety, but he moved to linebacker full-time with the Bruins. It's unclear if him practicing with the defensive backs is because he is trying to move back to safety, or if it's just because he was the only Bruin linebacker taking part in drills Tuesday and needed other players to work alongside, but he was looking slimmer than he did in the fall.
Lake was wearing a backpack and slides during these drills, signifying that he may have been hurt at some point.
There were a few other wildcards in attendance Tuesday, outside of the 14 players who were on UCLA's roster in 2021, including Gordon and Rogers. One was defensive back Raheem Moore, who played for the Bruins from 2008 to 2010 and got picked up by the Denver Broncos in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
Linebacker Tyree Thompson was present as well, a few years removed from his last appearance at Wasserman Football Center. Thompson played for UCLA in 2018 and 2019 before transferring to Buffalo in 2020.
Lee Pitts, brother of veteran Bruin Shea Pitts, made an appearance, taking part in drills, the 40-yard dash and the 3-cone drill. Lee was a walk-on at Arizona before transferring to Azuza Pacific and then University of Sioux Falls.
Shea was wandering around the field hyping up his brother, and he wasn't the only active UCLA player there.
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson streamed some of the opening moments on IG Live, while running back Zach Charbonnet, linebacker Bo Calvert, offensive lineman Jon Gaines II and offensive lineman Sam Marrazzo appeared to be in attendance the entire time.
While scouts were running the drills and barking orders, coach Chip Kelly was calmly hanging out on the outskirts of the workout areas. Kelly wasn't sporting his signature visor, but he did have his dog with him – it appeared to be either a Bernese Mountain Dog or a Bernadoodle.
Cornerback Devin Kirkwood gave the pup some pets, taking some pictures with his coach's dog and taking the leash for a few minutes.
But for all the attention Kelly's dog drew on the hot turf field, it was the departing Bruins who made waves and connected with the top NFL scouts in the business.
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