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ROCK MAYOCK’S PRO DAY NOTES: SAN DIEGO STATE AND STANFORD

By Rock Mayock 4:30 p.m. |  Mercifully the last three weeks of road warrior binge drinking and eating came to a conclusion on Thursday with the completion of Stanford’s pro day. This week in particular was a busy one for your man Rock Mayock. The first part of the week was spent in the Gas Lamp District buying the beautiful, and of legal drinking age, coeds of San Diego State and USD drinks before drinking in SDSU’s pro day. The second half of the week was spent gorging on La Note pancakes and dim sum in the Bay Area before indulging on a stellar pro day performance from Andrew Luck. Without further ado, here is my final pro day notes entry before posting my mock draft later next week.

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San Diego State

The weather was favorable for San Diego State’s Wednesday pro day work outs. I estimated 17 NFL teams were on hand to take in the action from what is quickly becoming another West Coast football factory. Here is the Readers Digest version of what happened.

• QB Ryan Lindley and his lumberjack beard were the main attractions for the day. Lindley performed a full compliment of on field drills including 70-80 passes. His arm strength looked good and it was apparent he was been focusing in footwork and ball placement with personal position coaches. Although there was a slight, and I emphasize slight, breeze Lindley still underthrew a couple balls. Ultimately he will be picked up late second/early third day of the draft as a developmental project.
• RB Ronnie Hillman also participated with drills. Hillman was prolific during his two seasons with the Aztecs putting up 3,243-yards on the ground to compliment his 36 rushing touchdowns. He is a powerful back for his size and will be a great value pick in a draft that is devoid of top tier talent post Trent Richardson. Hillman is a good pick late early fourth round and will see playing time on special teams and situational downs.
• LB Mile Burris looked to make up ground he lost at the Combine due to a blown out hammy. Burris showed up looking pretty fit and fleet of foot for a 6’2” 235 lbs. linebacker who has been nursing a bad hamstring. Nonetheless he ran his 40 in 4.68 seconds and claimed to be 100% recovered from the hamstring issue.
• Other odds and ends. UCLA receiver Rosario Nelson made his second pro day appearance by participating in throwing/receiving drills with Lindley. Apparently he is trying to get in a last couple of looks before the draft. Joining the list of non SDSU participants was Hawaii WR Royce Pollard. Personally I would have had Norm “The Guru” Chow write me a letter of recommendation instead of flying 2,500 miles from Hawaii to San Diego.

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Stanford

The San Francisco Peninsula is one of my favorite areas in the Bay. The food is good and the women are tender. In fact Mrs. Mayock version 3.0 came from the Peninsula. Another great draw for the are is the sprawling Stanford campus and revitalized workout facilities. The full compliment of 32 NFL teams were on hand to watch the Andrew Luck Show. Here is the run down of what happened.

• QB Andrew Luck was impressive. All questions about his arm strength were put to rest when he zipped a Carson Palmer like spiral 75 yards down field into a head wind. Only one word can sum up my reaction to the throw: BOING! Aside from the arm strength component the velocity and spin on the ball demonstrate Luck’s throwing mechanics are impeccable. Accuracy and velocity are a function of stance, stride, hips, arm motion, release point and follow throw. Luck has all of these components down. His accuracy throughout the exercises, albeit scripted exercises conducted by his former QB coach, was impressive and did nothing to shake his position as the lock #1 pick. There should be no doubt who Jim Irsay will look to be the new face of the Colts franchise come April 26. Hell make it April 2 and sign the kid today. He’s that sure of a thing.
• TE  Coby Fleener was very impressive in his workouts. Put this into perspective. Fleener is 6’6” 247 lbs. By my watch he ran his 40 in 4.7 seconds. Rob Gronkowski is also 6’6” but 260 lbs. and he his 40 time is 4.65 in good conditions. In league that is moving to big athletic tight ends Fleener’s size, speed and soft hands are an offensive coordinator’s wet dream.  He will be off the board in the early second half of the first round.
• David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin did nothing to usurp the apple cart and knock themselves out of the top half of the first round.
• WR Chris Owusu continues to make a questionable decision to play in the NFL after sitting out the majority of the 2011 season due to a succession of massive concussions. As we learned during Jaboner Jackson’s discussion with Dr. Riaz regarding Michael Vick’s concussion, head trauma should not to be taken lightly. Best of luck to you Chris but I honestly hope that you do not get drafted because it’s not in the best interest of your long term health.

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That’s it. Pro day travel is finished and the FOOTBALLPHDS will now start piecing together our mock draft. Check in late next week for Mock Draft version 1.0. We will revisit the Mock Draft accuracy after the April 26 NFL Draft.

rock@footballphds.com

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