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Former YSU players show off skills for pro scouts
youngstown
A handful of former Youngstown State football players put on a show for professional football scouts at YSU’s Pro Day on Tuesday at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
At least 15 NFL scouts and one CFL scout were either coaching or evaluating players like Avery Moss, Derek Rivers, Jody Webb, Martin Ruiz, LeRoy Alexander, Brock Eisenhuth and Dylan Colucci.
Professional teams in attendance included Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Tennessee, Dallas, Jacksonville, Green Bay, New England, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Baltimore, the New York Jets and Winnipeg.
Moss and Rivers were coached and drilled by two NFL defensive line coaches — Cincinnati’s Jacob Burney and Detroit’s Kris Kocurek.
“I feel like I did well,” Rivers said. “We’re going to find out.”
Fresh off a strong performance at the NFL Combine, Rivers said nothing stops after showcasing his talents in Indianapolis and during Tuesday’s workout.
“[Avery and I] have got private workouts with teams and visits. We’re going to go to those together,” Rivers said. “The biggest thing I’ve been told is to not stop. You have to continue to keep working and get better. You want to keep going because that guy you’re competing with could be sitting on the couch.”
Rivers said he’s talked to teams who run both a 3-4 and a 4-3 base defense, and he could fit in with either system.
“I’ve heard a lot of 3-4 teams say I’d be an outside linebacker while some 4-3 teams say I could be a LEO rusher and other teams say I could play sandbacker. It’s a whole bunch of different positions, but I have no preference.”
Both Rivers and Moss had a large contingent of former teammates, scouts and coaches around them while doing any sort of drill. But Moss said he had hoped to perform better, especially from a conditioning perspective.
“I’m never satisfied,” Moss said. “I think I did [poorly] at the combine and I definitely think I could’ve done better here.
“I’m glad I have Derek here but I’m competing with him. I’m down on my knees breathing heavy and he’s standing right up and I’m like, ‘God dang I’ve got to get myself into gear.’”
Tailback Jody Webb said he thought he opened some eyes with not only his speed [4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash], but his strength as well.
“They wanted to see where I weighed in,” Webb said. “I came in at 186 which is a plus for me. I put the bench press up 15 times too. They may think I’m small but that speaks a lot about my strength. I wasn’t upset about my performance.”
Alexander called Tuesday, “the biggest stage I’ve ever played on so far.” He said he was just hoping to show off for the scouts a little and hopefully get a response soon.
“I wasn’t was much nervous as I was just anxious to see what I could do,” Alexander said. “I just wanted to put on a show and put myself out there. Hopefully I’ll get a couple phone calls and see where it goes from there.”
BIG-NAME COACHING
Rivers said he and Moss had some time to meet some big-name instructors at the NFL Combine — former Pittsburgh Steelers players Joey Porter and Kevin Greene.
“I met Porter first and it was weird just talking to him,” Rivers said. “He was like ‘Hey, I’m Joey Porter.’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, I know exactly who you are.’ ”
Greene — now an assistant with the Jets — wasn’t afraid to show off his new jewelry to the new class of pros.
“Me and Avery sat down with Kevin Greene and he was talking to us and we were like ‘Man, that’s a big ring. That’s a Super Bowl ring?’ And he was like ‘No, you’ve got to play a long time to get one of these,’ and it was a Hall of Fame ring.”