USU football pro day 2019 recap

The 2019 Utah State football pro day has come and gone, and overall, it was a success for the Aggies. Invited were 17 former Utah State players, along with a couple of familiar faces. Free agent NFL running back Robert Turbin was in attendance, and while he didn’t weigh in or measure, he ran drills and caught passes in front of the 28 NFL scouts who turned up to the event. But I’m sure Aggie fans are more interested in who off of this past year’s squad performed well and who didn’t, so I’ve broken it down into a few categories to go over a couple of the names that stood out.

Gold Medalists

Jontrell Rocquemore

Former USU Safety Rocquemore shined at today’s pro day, showing that he can back up a good senior season with some equally impressive measurables. This past year, Roquemore was a terror in the secondary for the Aggies and found himself all over the ball. He finished third on the team in tackles for a loss and second in interceptions, earning him a second team all-conference nod. However, today he finished first on the team with a 39.5 inch vertical jump. Add that to a second best broad jump of 10’5” and a 40 time of 4.57 and you’ve got a productive day. The word I heard most about him from scouts was, “this guy is just smooth.”

Justen Hervey

Now, Hervey wasn’t nearly the contributor that Roquemore was — only rushing for 122 yards last season — but he made his presence felt today by putting up some insane numbers. Hervey finished in the top three of the big three drills. With a blistering 4.46 40 time, he was second fastest of the day. When it came to the bench press, he beat out everyone in the skill positions but his backfield mate Darwin Thompson, by putting up 20 reps. And to top it all off, Hervey recorded a 38 inch vertical, third of all former Aggies.

Silver Medalists

Aaron Wade

I flirted with putting the former USU safety on the podium with gold, but he ultimately came just short. But no one should scoff at his 40 time of 4.47 — third on the team — or his 19 reps on the bench. But his vertical I thought was a little lacking. 33 inches is still plenty of explosiveness — I mean he ran a 4.47 forty — but at 6’1” the combination of speed, strength and the ability to high point the ball would make him an absolute monster at the next level. Also, the hair almost pushed him into the gold category. Incredible hair.

Darwin Thompson vs San Jose on Novemeber 10, 2018, the last home game of the season. USU wins 62-24.

Darwin Thompson

Okay, so I might be over exaggerating a little bit by not having him in gold. But let me explain. By his own admission, he wasn’t happy with his vertical because he had been doing better in training. And not that his 40 time was bad, but it wasn’t what he needed to get into that next level of running back evaluations. But, let’s be honest, he’s still an absolute beast. Thompson led all players — not skill positions — all players with 28 reps on the bench and was second with a 39 inch vertical jump. The one area he could have improved is on his 4.48 forty. But I’m being picky. If invited to the combine, he would have finished sixth among all backs with that time, and blown away the competition in bench and vertical — second and third, respectively. “I think it went okay. Today was a pretty good day for me. I feel like I showed everyone that I’m one of the top backs in this draft,” he said.

Jalen Greene

The graduate transfer receiver from USC really shined late in the season for the Aggies and torched the Mean Green for 151 yards in the bowl game. His numbers today were pretty good as well. Greene’s 4.64 forty is not jaw dropping, nor was his 32 inch vert. But, at 6’2” he’s intriguing. His best showing of the day was in the receiving drills. Greene ran the crispest routes and was the only participant not to drop a ball if I can trust my memory at all. At one point he ran a deep post and almost outran the pass from quarterback Troy Williams, but slowed up enough to make a great catch.

Photo by Megan Nielsen

Ron’Quavion Tarver

I wasn’t sure what to do with Tarver, but I gave him the nod to silver because of his insane measurables. At 6’3” and 225 pounds with a 79 inch wingspan, Tarver is essentially a mobile throwing net on the field. But one thing that he’s struggled with is drops, and he dropped a few today. But, he didn’t look discouraged at all, and that’s a great sign. What really stood out to me was for as tall and big as he is, he put up a pretty solid vert and 40 time. Tarver joined fellow receiver Greene with a 4.64 forty, but beat him slightly with a 33.5 inch vertical.

Bronze Medalists

This will be something like a melting pot of all the guys who didn’t put together a consistent workout, but stood out for one thing or another. Let’s start with Dax Raymond. All his measurables were good. Good size (6’4”), explosiveness was okay (33 inch vert, 4.61 forty), but he didn’t excel in anything. He still ran routes the way he usually does, which is part of what makes him a mid round pick at worst.

Eltoro Allen started the day with a very exciting vertical jump of 39 inches, but didn’t match that with any of the other drills. Aaren Vaughns ran a ridiculously fast 4.43 forty, the best of any player participating. Gaje Ferguson posted a pretty impressive 34 inch vertical and also ran a respectable 4.65 forty. But that about wraps it up from Utah State football pro day 2019.

Photo by Matt Halton

But just one more note, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but Darwin Thompson was getting a lot of attention from the scouts. And rightfully so. He had a few words to say about how his performance was and how he came to the decision he did to declare.

“After a successful day today, I don’t feel like I’ll drop past the fourth (round),” he said.

“I’ve never looked back. Once I made that decision, I knew I had to keep going, there’s no going back. I mean it was kind of like jumping off a cliff.”

He may have been joking when he talked about jumping off a cliff, but his nutrition is something he took very seriously in preparation for today.

“I feel like that was really the biggest thing to seperate me, eating right and hydration,” Thompson said. “I used to never drink water before I started training, really. I drank Pedialyte and sweet tea. Water was never my thing, but that’s what’s going to seperate us.”

Twitter: @dren_sports