Pro Day Outstanding for Jenkins, Up and Down for Others
STILLWATER – This was the most unique Pro Day in Oklahoma State history and this is the most unique draft season in the history of the National Football League. There were only 10 participants in the Cowboys Pro Day and five of those were designated by the NFL as virtual combine participants. Offensive tackle Teven Jenkins, wide receiver Tylan Wallace, running back Chuba Hubbard, cornerback Rodarius Williams, and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga had NFL Combine invites, but instead of Lucas Oil Stadium in late February, their combine came in the Sherman Smith Training Center where they have worked out hundreds of times in their collegiate career.
I classified the big three as Teven Jenkins and Tylan Wallace as they appear the highest on mock drafts that I’ve seen and those are the two that I get asked about the most. I put Chuba Hubbard in the top three as he was probably number one before his production fell off last season and some questioned his offseason activism that at one point, had him retiring from social media.
If you are judging days, Teven Jenkins had a sensational day and headlined by his 36 reps on the bench press and his 5.03 and 5.01 times in the 40-yard-dash. Those times come courtesy of Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy as he pulled times from NFL scouts. There were no official times as each team was responsible for clocking the timed drills on their own. However, all other results were official and shared among the 32 NFL teams which all had representatives in Stillwater on April 1.
Jenkins measured what he was expected to at 6-5.7 and 317-pounds. His arm was 33.5-inches and his wingspan was 81-inches. He even pulled off an amazing vertical jump at 32.5-inches. His 4.66 seconds in the 5-10-5 agility drill gets attention too.
“I think I put up pretty good numbers today, especially on my bench,” Jenkins said after his workout. “I basically had three PRs (personal records) today with my bench, my forty time, and my L drill. I feel pretty good about that.”
“I do know that Teven Jenkins hit 225-pounds (bench press) 36 times and ran 4.9 (forty). I would be shocked if he were around in the second round after the testing he did today,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said of Jenkins efforts. “The truth is with Teven, gor guys that have been in the program, he has just scratched the surface for what he can do. He didn’t get serious about football until about a year and a half ago. The future is bright for Teven if he makes that decision and I’m sure that he will.”
Jenkins is on most mock drafts as a first-round selection and his performance on Pro Day only helped him. His performance in the post Pro Day Zoom conference was borderline bizarre as he referred to himself three times as a mother ****** and that he needed to be more of a d***head in order to play better and do his job on the offensive line.”
“A tough, physical, mother (expletive) that will not shy away from hits once it gets physical, and a dude that is going to bust his a**,” answered Jenkins when asked what the team that drafts him will be getting.
Jenkins has always been a little awkward in some ways. He is by no means the classic offensive line profile such as Josh Sills on the Cowboys offensive line currently. I don’t know how his interviews have gone with teams, but I can tell you plays like him driving Texas defensive end Joseph Ossai onto his back on the Longhorn sidelines. In the end Jenkins’ play and whether NFL teams feel he can consistently duplicate at their level will be the determining factor on whether he is going to live up to the mock draft projections.
Wide receiver Tylan Wallace had a solid day, maybe you call it expected. Wallace, who made some news as he excited his EXOS Training Center in Frisco last month and clocked a 4.39 in the forty. Wallace was timed in 4.52 and 4.48 by an NFL scout according to the Senior Bowl’s Jim Nagy. He measured 5-11.3 and 194-pounds. His hand was a 9 3/8-inches. The vertical was 33-inches and he had a 4.25-seconds in the 5-10-5 agility and a 6.97-seconds in the 60-yard L cone drill. I’m not overly concerned about the 11 reps on the bench press. Wallace has shown he can and will block.
“Overall, I think it went really well and may have fallen off some at the end a little bit,” Wallace said of his workout. “I think overall it was a good day.”
If I’m an NFL team then I’m drafting Wallace purely because of what he has shown on the field. He has beaten the best corners in the college game and done it consistently. His ball skills are not just good, they are sick good.
“I think the aggressive attitude that I play with whether I’m attacking the football or blocking,” Wallace said of what he’s hearing NFL teams like about him. “I think those are the most common things if you ask me.”
Finally, it comes to Chuba Hubbard, who along with fellow Canadian and Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga trained in California. While we had Hubbard on some watches at around 4.4 and one time even in the sub 4.4 but he ran a 4.5 and a 4.48 according to a pro scouts watch. Chuba measured 6-0 and 210-pounds. He had 20 reps on the bench which is strong. Overall, he was solid but not spectacular.
“I felt good. You know there is always room for improvement, but overall, I felt it was a solid day,” Hubbard said in his Zoom conference.
Where Chuba winds up in the draft is somewhat of a mystery now and likely not as high as many of us had thought after his outstanding All-American season in 2019.
“I think I’m one of the top running backs, if not the top running back,” Hubbard said of his opinion on where he stands. “I know some people may think I had a down year, but they don’t know that I was coming off a bunch of surgeries and a lot of different things going on with my body and my health. The biggest thing for me at the end of the day was helping my team win. I know when it is all said and done I have faith in God that everything will work out. No matter where I get drafted after the first round, seventh round, undrafted free agent; I just need a shot and I will be ready for it.”
“I know that the workouts that they had from what I was told, and from what I was seeing watching from a distance that our guys competed very well in their (position) workouts,” added Gundy.
There is nothing left now but to wait and see. The job interviews are over.