VALDOSTA — With their NFL dreams just above their heads, four Valdosta State football players exploded off the ground leaping toward the ceiling of the VSU locker room as their fingertips brushed plastic tabs marking both a height and a possible professional future.
Tim Thompson, Richard Collier, Calvin English and Michael Green performed a test of vertical leaps and other physical skills before NFL scouts during a Pro Day at VSU Thursday.
Scouts from the NFL’s New York Giants, Tennessee Titans and Oakland Raiders came to Valdosta after attending Florida State’s Pro Day to evaluate the four Blazers’ standouts.
With agents in tow, the players were measured, scrutinized and evaluated based on their size, strength speed and agility for a shot at professional stardom and money.
A week after eight scouts traveled to VSU to see Collier and Thompson, and a week before the two will travel to another pro day at the University of Georgia, both helped their causes.
While Thompson had the highest vertical of the day for a 34 1/2 inch leap, English also impressed with a jump of 331/2.
The 6-foot-7, 325 pound Collier leaped to a height of 30 1/2.
Having been told about the event Tuesday, English arrived in Valdosta at 1 a.m. Thursday and caught some of the agents and scouts by surprise, testing well in several events.
“I know they’re pleased,” English said. “A lot of them sounded pleased.
“I’m happy I came out here and performed what I performed. I basically had a good day.”
The scouts exclaimed “nice jump” after English leaped to a broad jump of 9-foot-1 inches before his second jump went 9-foot-3 inches.
The scouts were also pleased with the sight of Collier’s giant frame soaring 9-foot-1 inches through the room.
Collier’s broad jump was an improvement on last week’s 8-foot-8 jump.
“I did better than last week,” Collier said. “I’m just trying to improve every week.”
According to scouts’ feedback, Collier seems to be right on track to where he should be heading into next week’s trials at UGA.
There is no stop for a player coming from a Division II program trying to make it in the pro’s.
“He just did a workout last week,” Collier’s agent Jeffrey Jankovich said. “Believe it or not, it takes a few days to recover from that and then a day or two to get back into your training and then all of a sudden here you have to go again.
“It’s tough, but when you’re a small school player you have to take advantage of every opportunity you get, and that’s the difference. The guys at Georgia and Florida State get to sit back and train for one day, but these kids have to be ready to go two, three or four times.”
One of the thing the scouts will continue to look for from Collier will be his feet, where the rather large lineman stands out from others.
They had a chance to see that when the players went outside to Reames field to run a 40-yard dash, perform an agility run and run from side to side in the three-cone drill.
During the 40, the focus was on Thompson where he is trying to improve his time in order to convince NFL teams that he can transition from defensive end to linebacker.
“Overall, the key for Tim is his 40 time,” Thompson’s agent Matthew R. LaVallee said. “That’s what all the scouts are telling us, because he’s going to be most likely playing linebacker in the pros.
“His 40 time was better this week.”
Thompson’s second of three runs was one of his better times so far as he crossed the line in 4.72 seconds.
“Hopefully, that’s pretty good,” Thompson said. “Hopefully when I go again I get a faster time.”
Collier and Thompson have both been getting good reviews so far as Thompson has gotten looks from the Giants, Jets, Jaguars and others.
“We’re kind of just looking at these two pro days as an audition for next week,” LaVallee said. “Because every team in the league will have personnel there.”
Throughout his two pro days and a stint at the Hula Bowl, Collier has heard nothing but positive ramblings from scouts.
“I haven’t talked to one scout — that’s this pro date, the previous pro day and the Hula Bowl,” Jankovich said. “I haven’t talked to one scout that has said anything negative about him.”
The two will remain on a track for a late draft position or a post draft free agent signing.
Local Sports
NFL Scouts evaluate Blazers
Thompson, Collier, English and Green show their stuff for the NFL
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