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The university of Georgia held it's pro day this week which featured no less than 6 or 7 NFL bound players. Several of those guys like Jarvis Jones, Alec Ogletree & John Jenkins are sure fire first or second round picks.
The guy most scouts were on hand to see was All American LB Jarvis Jones, who opted to not work out at the combine preferring to save his workout for his pro day.
This was a decision that perplexed a lot of scouts because it can really only hurt you. Typically scouts will take the best measurements from all of your workouts and use them in their book on a player. So if you ran a bad 40 at the combine, but a good one at your pro day then they'll use the pro day time. Point is, if you work out at both you get two shots. If you only work out at your pro day you're putting all your eggs in one basket.
That's what Jarvis Jones did and reports are that it was a mistake. Russ Lande said scouts were "shocked & disappointed" with his workout.
Those I spoke to afterwards were shocked and disappointing in his performance. It started off badly when Jones ran in the low 4.9's on his first 40 and the high 4.8's on his second attempt and then only vertical jumped 30 ½ and broad jumped 9' 9. Amazingly, the highlight of Jones' day was likely the 17 reps he did on the bench press and while this was not a great showing compared to other linebackers at the Combine it was more than many people from Georgia expected. Unfortunately, after doing the Combine testing and moving over to the positional drills, the day did not get any better for Jones. He did both pass rush drills, from a down 3-Pt stance and from an upright 2-Pt stance, and went through complete linebacker drills. While Jones looked smooth and comfortable throughout the linebacker drills, an NFL source in attendance said that Jones did not show any quickness or explosiveness during the linebacker drills. In the pass rush drills, Jones lacked burst off the ball from an upright alignment, but did flash some of the explosiveness he showed on film from a down 3-Pt stance. Overall, for Jones this was not a good day as sources told me his workout was "adequate at best" so he needs to hope that NFL teams put more stock in his on-field play than his Pro Day workout.
The lack of speed & explosion is certainly a concern since that's more or less his entire game. He's not very big or super strong, he doesn't have long arms to fight off blockers... But he's racked up 28 sacks over the past two seasons because of a great first step and superior short area quickness.
Jones revealed after the pro day that he has a private workout scheduled with the Chiefs, Eagles & Lions. I would think a lot of teams would be interested in taking another look at him because the workout doesn't really match up with the tape.
Teams will also be interested in getting their doctors to examine him. He left USC after he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and wasn't allowed to play football. After transferring Georiga, who did let him play, he suffered no ill effects whatosever. Then, before the combine a leading orthopedist examined Jones again and said that he never had spinal stenosis.
Otherwise at the Georgia pro day, Jones' fellow LB Alec Ogletree impressed as did big NT John Jenkins, who has shed another 20 pounds and is down to 330. The lost weight has improved his stamina and he reportedly did not show any signs of tiring as he went through the entire battery of defensive line drills.