By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Clipboards and stopwatches were on hand in abundance on March 30 at Appalachian State’s Sofield Indoor Practice Facility, as well as in the North End Zone facility and Kidd Brewer Stadium. That’s because 27 National Football League scouts were on hand, as well as representatives from the Canadian Football League and NASCAR’s Stewart-Haas Racing organization for the Mountaineers’ 2023 “Pro Day.”
Ten seniors and “super seniors” were put through their paces in various performance tests and skill drills, some generally for all positions but others that were position specific.
Notably not represented among the participating observers were the Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers and New Orleans Saints, according to the list compiled by the university’s Strategic Communications team. All of the others had one or more scouts or coaches on hand to evaluate the 10 candidates, all hoping to continue playing football at the next level by being selected during the NFL Draft, April 27-29, or at least signing a UDFA (undrafted free agent) contract. From the CFL were the British Columbia Lions. An interesting wrinkle to the representatives evaluating the talent was in Stewart-Haas Racing. Many of the pit crew members in NASCAR are former college football players as the teams have gotten more athletic over the years.
The testing results, as compiled by App State Sports’ Strategic Communications team:
“Pro Day continues to emphasize the growth of our program and the quality of our student athletes,” Appalachian State athletic director Doug Gillen noted to High Country Sports on the sideline of the event. “They come to App State to play at the highest level of college football so it is great to see all of the NFL scouts here today. Our student athletes are having an opportunity to showcase their skills.”
The growth of Pro Day is not lost on Gillen either.
“We are seeing more and more scouts come every year for Pro Day,” Gilllen said before adding, “but really we see them come through every week, so we know there is a lot of interest in the quality of college football here at App State. This is just another testament to what we are doing and the opportunities we provide for teams to recruit some of our players.”
App State’s strategic communications team added miscellaneous notes and perspective on some of the student-athletes’ individual performances:
- Running back Cameron Peoples and edge rusher Nick Hampton were back in Boone after playing in the Reese’s Senior Bowl and participating in the NFL Combine, in Indianapolis. For Pro Day, those two primarily focused on position drills after going through the comprehensive testing portion at the Combine.
- Steve Jones, Jr. ran the fastest 40-yard dash, at 4.47, but the 6 fee, 5.625 inchs, 301 lb. Anderson Hardy drew perhaps the most cheers when the offensive lineman posted a 40 yard dash time of 4.96.
- Tight end Henry Pearson’s 30 repetitions on the bench press of 225 lbs. would have ranked him highest among the tight ends at the Combine.
- Peoples did not test on the bench press at the Combine, but is 19 reps on Pro Day would have been good enough for No. 4 at the Combine.
- Brice showed off his arm strength, accuracy and leadership by directing an extensive outdoor throwing session with several on-the-money deep throws, including one that resulted in a smooth, over-the-shoulder catch from Pearson. Both running backs also ran routes for Brice, as did some veteran receivers on the 2023 team, and Hodges delivered a few snaps as a center after starting at tackle for the Mountaineers and playing guard in his all-star game appearance.
