All eyes were on some of the Utes’ most promising athletes heading into Utah’s Pro Day, and Nate Orchard, Dres Anderson and Kaelin Clay all said they were able to accomplish a lot that they may not necessarily have shown at the NFL Combine in February.
RELATED: BLECHEN AND THE REST OF THE UTES PUT IN ALL ON THE LINE FOR PRO DAY
Defensive end Orchard ran a 4.80 40-yard dash at the Combine and has had private workouts with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Houston Texans since. He is trying his best to keep his mind open with the NFL Draft coming up.
“I get lots of compliments from a bunch of different teams, but you never know,” Orchard said. “On draft day, anything can happen.”
Orchard was feeling a little nervous about how his results would end up on Thursday, but he wanted to show the scouts his versatility.
“It went great, good to get it over with,” Orchard said. “Been anxious about it. Just keep meeting with teams and [continuing] the process.”
One thing that helped calm Orchard’s nerves was the fact that many of his close friends and family were watching. If he could have, he would have filled up the entire facility with people supporting him.
“It’s great to have family and friends here,” Orchard said. “[My daughter being here] alleviates [the pressure]. She’s the youngest one in here, you can always see her crying, running around. It’s been fun.”
Although a majority of the players were stressed out about today, Clay said he was more at ease being at home.
“Got a decent amount of sleep,” Clay said. “Stress level wasn’t there because we’re at home, performing in our own facility. It felt good. I felt a lot better today than I did in Indy. I was more comfortable.”
Clay was able to perform better today than he did at the NFL Combine, saying his 40-yard dash definitely saw an improvement, which was one of his goals. He ran a 4.51 40-yard dash at the Combine, but Clay said this cannot be the lone thing he focuses on.
“I felt a little bit better [today],” Clay said. “Forty looks good, but that’s not everything. You have to be able to catch, block, you just got to be able to improve in everything. I’m progressing and trying to get better and better every day.”
While Clay improved in a number of areas on Thursday, it didn’t come without incident.
“Towards the end I was battling a tweaked hamstring, but when you get opportunities like this, you just gotta fight it through and do the best that you can,” Clay said.
Clay said one thing the scouts were looking for today was how they were going to do things that didn’t necessarily go their way, in addition to requesting the players not keep chattering while others were being looked at.
“[They looked at] my composure. How we interact if something doesn’t go right. That’s something they want from all of us, to see how we’re going to move forward if something doesn’t go the way you want it to go,” Clay said.
Anderson did not compete in a lot of the events at the Combine, registering 13 reps in the bench press, but he said he has been in talks with a majority of the teams and thinks he was able to put on a good show in addition to sharpening up some of his other skills. Anderson, who didn’t perform on Thursday in Utah’s Pro Day, is focused on shoring some things up and feeling healthy while doing it.
“I’m feeling great, really good,” Anderson said. “I’m running 100 percent now, but I just want to make sure we’re cutting and running routes, crisping up on that sort of stuff.”
Utah will continue its spring football schedule on Saturday with a practice from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
@kbrenneisen