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Texas Pro Day recap: 'Horns work out prior to 2013 NFL Draft

Every NFL team had personnel in attendance to watch former 'Horns show out at the Texas Pro Day.

By Wescott Eberts
USA TODAY Sports

Every year, when the Texas Longhorns host representatives from nearly every team in the NFL at their testing facilities for measurements, tests of athletic ability, and position drills, it's a final opportunity for draftable players to increase their stock and fringe players to help their cause as they try to live a fading dream.

With mostly solid performances, at the Combine, there wasn't much for Kenny Vaccaro and Marquise Goodwin to do, though Alex Okafor ended up participating in most of the drills in an effort to help push his stock solidly into the second round.

One of those fringe players in 2013 just happened to be a Longhorn legend -- quarterback Vince Young, who has been on campus this spring working out, helping out with recruiting, and keeping his throwing skills sharp.

Vince Young doesn't work out or interview

The expectation entering the Texas Pro Day, at least here, was that Young would work out to show off what needs to be a high level of conditioning to convince the NFL folks in attendance that he's in good enough shape to still compete at that level as a dual-threat quarterback.

Instead, Young opted to only throw and also declined requests for interviews, a move that wasn't highly received by at least one observer, who described it as more Mack Brown coddling.

It was a day to reflect in some ways, seven years after Young participated in his first Pro Day at Texas. Seeing him back in Texas gear and looking like he was at his college weight was nostalgic, especially considering the current state of the Longhorn program. Brown said it was "kind of exciting." It was.

In terms of his passing, he was as sharp as one would expect going against air, with nearly every pass televised on Longhorn Network. Former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson was there working with LHN and was impressed with Young's footwork, mentioning his work recently with a quarterback coach as helpful in improving those mechanics.

Working through the lower parts of the route tree, there wasn't a ton to see with Young -- those are the easy passes that even middling college quarterbacks should be able to hit nearly every time. But when Young moved up the route tree to the corner routes, he started to show off a little more touch and dropped several nice passes right over the shoulder of his intended receivers, though he did overthrow Luke Poehlmann one of those routes.

In areas in which Young could have helped himself significantly -- in interviews and by testing well athletically -- the Texas legend will have to wait to impress there, but his possible improvement with his footwork was a good sign and he didn't seem to hurt himself with poor accuracy during the televised throwing drills.

Brown called his former star hungry, confident, and grounded on the Longhorn Network towards the end of the coverage on that network, also citing his increased maturity as a message that VY has sent to NFL coaches and general managers about where he is as a player.

When speaking with the media, Brown was even more effusive:

Young may still not take another snap in the NFL, but it won't be because of any major failures with his efforts throwing on Tuesday.

The sights

The testing results

Name Height Weight 40 Vertical Broad jump Short shuttle
 Bench press
Kenny Vaccaro 6-0 217 DNP DNP DNP
Alex Okafor 6-4.5 262 4.89 31 9-4 4.40 DNP
Marquise Goodwin 5-9 177 DNP 42 11-5
DJ Monroe 5-7.5 175 4.38 36 9-11 4.53 15
Luke Poehlmann




20
Brandon Moore 6-5 317 5.1 31 23
Ryan Roberson


33.5
26
John Chiles

4.37
DeSean Hales 5-9 180



7
Barrett Matthews 6-0.25 235



21
Alex King 6-1.5 210


Jeremy Hills 5-10.25 203 4.38 35.5

20

Numbers from Twitter, Hookem.com ($), Gil Brandt, and Orangebloods ($). DNP = Did Not Participate

*The 40 times are all unofficial at this time.

Yeah, so that sad-face DJ Monroe moment went down

As expected, the Angleton speedster ripped off an impressive 40 time -- an unofficial 4.25 that scouts will probably adjust up .1 seconds. Brandt had Monroe at 4.38 and 4.40 flat. Still plenty fast

The reported 4.25 time sparked the inevitable #freedjmonroe sad-face moment:

Sigh.

The former players in attendance

As always, a handful of notable people showed up at Moncrief to watch the Longhorns go through their workouts. Former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson was one of them, doing analysis for the Longhorn Network, along with Ricky Williams.

Tony Hills was also there, watching his younger brother, Jeremy. So was Johnathan Gray, getting an early look at what a Pro Day entails several years in advance of his own. And a staple around Texas these days -- Mean Joe Greene, who spoke with the team last fall.

Former players Michael Griffin, Blake Gideon, Aaron Williams, Michael Huff, and Earl Thomas were also there, part of a sizable DBU contingent. The Longhorns may not have as much high-level talent at their Pro Days recently, especially not on the offensive side of the ball, but there is still some pretty incredible recent tradition, especially in producing defensive backs. It's not the real DBU for nothing.

Star Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles showed up partway through the event and was joined by teammate Derrick Johnson.

Important NFL types

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was in attendance, sparking speculation that the Steelers could be interested in Vaccaro with their 17th pick, though Longhorn network pointed out that speed threat Mike Wallace departed, so there's a chance that Tomlin is there taking a hard look at Goodwin.

The Steelers also put Okafor through linebacker position drills as they attempt to judge whether he could play a 3-4 outside linebacker position, though the film isn't going to help the Pflugerville product there, as he wasn't able to make plays in coverage as a senior. As a result, it's hard to see Okafor making that move.

As evidenced by the picture above, Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer was also there, with Vaccaro also a potential target for Cincinnati in the first round with safety a pressing need. Yahoo Sports! also lists defensive tackle as a late-round need, so perhaps Brandon Moore was receiving a hard look from Zimmer.

The Jets defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman was also on hand.

The Longhorns will have a player drafted in the first round for the first time since Earl Thomas in 2010, so some of the top-level talent is there for Texas with Vaccaro, Okafor, and Goodwin, but the depth, especially on the offensive side of the ball, just isn't there this year and hasn't been for some time -- a sign of the struggles the program has gone through over the last couple of years.

Odds and ends

-- Vaccaro was planning on running his 40 today, but suffered a little bit of a hip flexor and didn't run on Tuesday after suffering a tweak right before he ran at the Combine. In the position drills, Vaccaro didn't show any ill effects, looking fluid with his hips and explosive out of his breaks.

-- The Brownwood product was worked out by Zimmer during his position drills, which could have been extremely important with the Bengals perhaps deciding between Vaccaro and Florida safety Matt Elam if both are still on the board at no. 21 come April. Vaccaro also admitted on Longhorn Network that while he wouldn't get out of the way of Ricky Williams coming out him in the open field, he might "get rolled up." I would totally get out of the way. Self preservation, yo.

-- Even though Vaccaro didn't have a chance to improve on his Combine 40 time, he did say that he has tested well in workouts:

-- Luke Poehlmann worked out some at tight end and had decent feet for a player of his size, though he doesn't have the explosiveness to catch on as any type of receiving threat.

-- DeSean Hales helped out Young with a couple of diving catches.

-- It was tough to get a great read on DJ Monroe and his ability catching passes with a rather grainy feed, but he didn't seem to drop any during the televised portions of the workout and made a couple nice adjustments to pull in passes. His relatively slow short shuttle time is evidence of his lack of lateral movement. As the chart above notes, Okafor had a short shuttle time that was quite significantly better than Monroe.

-- Brandon Moore physically looked good, but out of pads it was easy to see the narrow base that has some scouts concerned and didn't look like he had great body control in the position drills, which probably hurt him significantly and could have knocked him out of the late rounds of the draft.

-- Mack Brown said Goodwin had a 44-inch vertical disallowed because he was moving his feet before his leap.

-- After the workout in the Bubble was finished, Goodwin went outside and was running some more routes and catching passes, suggesting that at least one team in attendance wanted to see more of Goodwin before leaving.

-- The Athletic Freak award from an unexpected source is probably Jeremy Hills, who may have cracked the 4.4 mark with an unofficial run that will probably end up more towards the 4.5 range when the official numbers come out, but also threw up 20 reps in the bench press and had a good vertical leap. At best, it may be enough to earn a workout or two, but it's hard to see Hills having a strong chance of making a roster.

-- Oh look, John Chiles was back for the third straight year. There's got to be a cap of three years in a row working out at a Pro Day, right?

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Texas Longhorns Pro Day 2013: 'Horns work out to prepare for the NFL Draft

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