Fackrell headlines solid Aggie group at Pro Day
Kyler Fackrell stood with his wife Elizabeth in a parking lot Wednesday, holding his kid and chatting with his former coach as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened that day.
One would never guess that for nearly four hours preceding this moment, Fackrell and 19 of his former teammates had undergone careful scrutiny while performing a variety of drills and exercises for a crowd of NFL scouts.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the linebacker pairing of Fackrell and Nick Vigil garnered a fair amount of attention at Utah State football’s Pro Day.
Considerably more intriguing were the standout performances from wideout Devonte Robinson, linebacker Torrey Green and defensive back Marwin Evans — all players who needed a good showing to get themselves on the NFL-Draft radar.
“It was really good, I felt really good about it,” Evans said. “It’s a real relief now that I’m done. It’s overwhelming, all that training every day, two times a day. This was like three months, trying to eat right every day and just trying to get my body right and be in the best shape that I can.”
Evans notched the highest vertical leap of the day, with a jump of 42 inches. In the 40-yard dash, Evans clocked in a with a time of 4.40.
Linebacker LT Filiaga was another standout, second-best of all Aggies in the bench press with 27 reps of 225 pounds, and was faster in the 40-yard dash, with 4.60, than fellow linebacker Vigil who ran a 4.62.
The day included a peculiar twist for Fackrell, who worked out both as a linebacker and as a defensive lineman.
“I’m just trying to do everything,” Fackrell said. “One of the strengths of my game I think is pass rushing, so that’s more D-line. We were doing a lot of stuff off the ball which I haven’t done a lot of, at least not in my career here. But I think that versatility, being able to play in space as well as being able to play on the edge and rush is something that is beneficial in my game.”
Fackrell approached Pro Day looking to set high marks in the 20 and 60-yard shuttle and the L-drill, which he did not participate in at the NFL combine due to a tweaked hamstring, adding that working through drills with the scouts and coaches was especially important.
“That’s what it’s really all about, they want to see how you are as a football player,” Fackrell said. “I’ve been working on those drills, so I just wanted to come out and show them what I can do.”
On offense, Robinson was second in the vertical leap, just behind Evans, he hit the 38-inch mark. However, in the 40-yard dash, Robinson was the top performer with a time of 4.29. He was also the best of the day in the broad jump with a distance of 10 feet 8 inches.
Offensive lineman Bill Vavua showed the best effort of any participants on the bench press. He recorded 32 reps of 225 pounds.
Chuckie Keeton participated despite his injury-riddled career at Utah State. Keeton missed five games in the 2011 season, eight games in the 2013 season, 10 games in the 2014 season and six games in his final season as an Aggie quarterback.
Keeton highlighted his day by running the 40-yard dash in 4.63 seconds. He also participated in individual passing drills and threw to his wide receivers for the NFL scouts.
Hunter Sharp ran the 40 in 4.50 and had a big showing in the broad jump with a 9-foot-5-inch jump.
“This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience that most guys don’t get, so it was fun to be out here,” said Keeton. “It’s great to see all these guys again and be able to be on the field and compete with them. A lot of other guys would probably say this too, it’s not overwhelming, but it’s definitely a new experience.”
Twenty-one of the 32 NFL teams had representatives present at USU’s Pro Day.
In all, scouts from the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins were in attendance.
— logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @logantj
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