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2017 Pro Day: What They Said

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2017 Pro Day: What They Said

LSU Pro Day Quotes
April 5, 2017

Head Coach Ed Orgeron

Opening statement…
“Today was a tremendous day for LSU football and the LSU brand. We are proud of the 18 young men that worked out. All of them did a tremendous job. Austin Thomas, our general manager, did a tremendous job of organizing the whole day. Talking to a lot of the NFL guys, this has been the best pro day of the whole season, so we’re happy about that. Any time we can have the NFL on our campus, it’s a big day for LSU. As you guys may know a couple of guys really stood out and worked out well, but for Jamal Adams to run a 4.33 (40-yard dash), it was a fantastic day for him. Leonard (Fournette) weighing in at 228 pounds, I know a lot of the guys are excited about that. He looked great in his workouts. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback and a lot of guys really love Leonard. Malachi Dupre did an excellent job today in his workouts. Davon Godchaux looked big and strong out there. He did a great job in his workouts. It was the first time that scouts have seen Lewis Neal and he did a tremendous job along with Tashawn Bower. Duke Riley continues to impress. He continues to do well. Tre’Davious White did some certain drills with certain teams which is good. Some of them wanted him to do this and see him do that. He ran a 4.47 40 (yard dash). Ethan Pocic, again at 6-6, 317 (pounds), did a tremendous job in his workout. A lot of offensive line coaches were here to work him out. It just been a tremendous day. We’ve been with our team the whole day. Our team, if they weren’t in class, was here supporting our players with a lot of energy. It started here at eight o’clock this morning. We watched every drill and we were very glad to be a part of it.”

On how Leonard Fournette looked during his workout today…
“He looked fantastic. When I saw him walk in today without a shirt on, I didn’t know what he was going to weigh, but I saw he lost weight and he looked great and he came in at 228 (pounds). He was smiling. He looked tremendous in the drills that he did. He looked crisp. His ankle, to me, looked like 100-percent. I’m not a doctor, but it looked great. He cut. He changed direction well. He was happy. For a lot of guys, there was kind of a ‘wow’ factor when he ran through his drills.”

On what he will do for the NFL draft…
“Jamal (Adams) asked me and my wife (Kelly Orgeron) to go to Philadelphia in the green room so I am going to be there. It’s a representation of LSU. Obviously, I wasn’t here. I give credit to Coach (Les) Miles and Frank Wilson who recruited those guys and the staff before. Those guys did the work. A tremendous guy and coach on our staff, Corey Raymond, coached Tre’Davious White and Jamal Adams. Frank, obviously I think did one of the best jobs in recruiting history at LSU to get Leonard Fournette along with all the rest of these guys. You have to give those guys the credit.”

On Jamal Adam’s stated Hall of Fame aspirations and if Adam’s has that potential…
“I do (see the potential in him). I do, not only because of his physical makeup, but because his mental makeup, spiritual makeup and his character, his want-to. I think he’s an ascending player. He’s only going to get better.”

On the pride LSU takes in having multiple projected first-round NFL draft picks…
“It’s all a part of LSU. It goes along with winning. It’s part of a great tradition. The teams that I’ve been on, national champions I’ve been with, pro days have been high. Draft day has been high on our list. That’s what we want. We want to have a great pro day. The guys that we recruit want to go to the NFL. You’ve heard the story, one percent of college athletes go to the NFL and get drafted. Well, think about this, we have 10 guys out of 18 that are going to get drafted. That’s a much higher percentage at LSU, which we are very proud of.”

On how seeing this process can help younger players prepare…
“It helps them. It’s motivational. I wanted them all out there to see the exactness, the preciseness, and the details. When you get to the NFL, recruiting is over. They’re not going to ask you to do anything. They’re going to tell you and you’re going to go do it or somebody else is going to take your place.”

RB Leonard Fournette

Opening statement …
“It’s a pleasure being here. Forever LSU, forever a Tiger. I enjoyed my years here. Some of you guys that I first met in high school, I appreciate everything you did for me and those relationships will keep going forward.”

On his weight loss since the NFL Combine…
“My mom has been on me about what I’ve been eating. Basically, I just wanted to show everyone that I could lose the weight. It really doesn’t matter, I’m going to play good at whatever weight I want to. Some people had concerns about me at 240 pounds. Playing at the next level is different, I might be playing at 250, but I just wanted to show them I could stay on course, be disciplined and do what I have to do to get my business in order.”

On feedback from pro scouts on playing hurt and not being 100 percent his junior season…
“They understood the situation I was in and that I kept playing with an injury, they respected it. They always ask me if I’m 100 percent now, and I give them the right answer.”

On his game plan for today…
“To show up and prove that I can lose weight. Some people made a big deal about my weight at 240, but that doesn’t matter. If I put mind to it, I can do it. With faith in God, he helped me through this journey, losing weight and sustaining it.”

On Adrian Peterson comparisons…
“Adrian Peterson is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He dominates the game as an individual, who wins 1v1’s and makes guys miss. To me that’s a little too much credit though because he is where I want to be.”

On ability to catch out of the backfield…
“Yeah I can. I’m running routes with the receivers today.”

On having a preference regarding which NFL team drafts him…
“It doesn’t matter what team I go to. I’m going to do what I have to do, play my part, help the team out and hopefully win a Super Bowl.”

On using this process to be able to provide for his family…
“It’s very important. I had a son on March 6, and my daughter, just spending as much time with them as I can. My daughter is grown now, she’s two going on 20. It’s the sacrifices, I take them every day for them. Even though it hurts me sometimes not being able to see my children everyday, I know at the end of the day, their livelihood depends on me and I’m not going to let them down.”

S Jamal Adams

Opening Statement…
“It feels good to be back and see familiar faces. Believe it or not, [the media] is family as well. Coach O and the staff put on a great pro day for us. A lot of guys came out here and competed hard. I also had my man in the audience JJ (Jarrius Robertson), that’s like my little brother, so to see him picked up my step a little bit. I just wanted to come out and put on a show, compete hard, and perform for LSU.

On 40-yard dash solidifying his draft position (Adams ran a 4.33)…
“I sure hope so. I felt like I had something to prove in the 40, and that was to run a faster time [than the combine]. 4.5 [seconds] wasn’t me. I worked hard at it and had a great outcome.”

On reasons for faster 40-yard dash…
“Definitely technique. I had two friends of mine, Tremayne Acy and Mo Wells, help me with my 40 as far as my drive phase and staying low. At the combine, I popped straight up and lost a lot of time, so I improved that.

On exceeding personal expectations…
“Most definitely. I know my father clocked me before I came to LSU at 4.39, and I was in my backyard and felt very comfortable. I felt like I was going to put on a show. I just stayed confident and relaxed and ran a faster time.

On celebrating with Tre’Davious White
“It was unbelievable. (Tre’Davious) is like a brother to me. The funny part is, we trained in Arizona together, and we would run starts, and he would mess with me. I would run a 40 and he would say I ran 4.3 when I ran a 4.4, so when he ran over to me, I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not this time.”

On the pre-draft process…
“It’s just a process that you have to go through. The combine was the one that kind of got you. You can’t really prepare for it, you just have to be yourself and go through the process and wear you down. I’m looking forward to getting back to football. Now I’m taking visits, and eventually will hear my name called at the draft.

On the impact of a safety in the NFL…
“The game is changing to where tight ends are much more like receivers. They’re coming out in different personnel to get the safety to come down and cover. I feel like I’m versatile and can play anything. I can blitz, cover in the slot, I can run sideline to sideline, and that’s what I feel separates me from the other defensive backs in the draft. There’s lots of talent in the draft, but hopefully I make history and go top four.

On others taken in the top five…
“Now that I’ve moved on from high school and college, I’m turning the page and plan to be a Hall of Famer at the end of the day and put on a yellow jacket. Hopefully I will be speaking to some of ya’ll in the audience. That’s the main goal, but as a rookie, I want to come in and earn the respect of my teammates and coaches, doing whatever they ask me to do, whether that’s running down the field as a gunner, taking helmets and water, whatever they need me to do. I’m going to earn their respect and stay grounded.”

OL Ethan Pocic

On his pro day experience…
“I did everything at the combine. I put up some solid numbers there. I wanted to stick with those numbers. I just focused on drills for pro day, and getting bigger and stronger. I gained about seven pounds. I felt like I had a pretty good day. Drills went pretty smooth.”

On the pro day process…
“I have had a lot of fun with it. I would say the bad part is that I really just want to play ball again. I am not part of a team right now. That is probably the worst part of it. I have been hanging around up here in my off time with the guys. I go to practice a little bit, go to meetings, workout six days a week. I try to be a pro, eat right, and work hard every day.”

On his best position…
“Interior. Guard or center. Then, I think I can be an emergency tackle. I just need the reps at it.”

On his weight…
“Some teams want me around 310-315, some at 305. The good thing is that I can gain or lose weight easily. Especially now that I have all this free time. I do not have class so I can eat right the whole day. I am not in a rush going to class and workouts. I am really putting everything I’ve got into it.”

On the feedback he is getting from teams…
“I have been told I need to work on keeping my hips in with the block a little more, and I need to work on my punch. I have been told I can bend well. I can play low. A lot of teams like me being 6-6 as a center, just because of the length. It is a passing league, so as long as I can bend. They like my flexibility.”

On his family…
“I have to impress my family back home and play for them. They love watching me play. Those are definitely the people I play for.”

On LSU’s pro day…
“It gets bigger every year. Now that it is on TV. It is the culture of LSU. We put out some good players every year and that is who we are.”

On Jamal Adams‘ 40 time…
“He shot out of the gate. As soon as he hit the first 10 yards, I knew it was going to be in the four-threes.”

On improving his time…
“Each drill, if you change things up, you can take a tenth off your time. It is crazy. These running things, a lot of it is technique. You would be surprised. If you are a freak athlete, then you are a freak athlete. But if you do it with technique, then you are even better.”

WR Malachi Dupre

Opening Statement…
“It was a pretty exciting day. It was closing the chapter on my time at LSU. It is the last time a lot of us will be together for a while so for the most part it was exciting. I felt like I had a great day.”

On his lack of production in college…
“I would say we had a lot of great players on a great team. We had a great backfield with Leonard (Fournette) and Derrius (Guice). We had great receivers. We ran the ball more than we passed it and the coaches felt that it was the best thing for us to win football games, so you cannot question that. I enjoyed my time here.”

On rooting for his teammates during pro day…
“I root for them just as much as myself. I want everyone to do well and (perform) to the best of their abilities. I know everyone sets a bar high for themselves. We are brothers, we want everyone to do well. You need to be a teammate and friend to help pick your brothers up.”

ATH Cyril Grayson (4-time national champion track athlete at LSU)

Opening statement…
“The experience today was unreal, but what else do you expect from LSU? Ever since I stepped on campus for my recruiting visit it’s been electrifying. What more perfect pro day is there to go to than one with Leonard Fournette, Jamal Adams and Tre’Davious White coming here and bringing in all 32 teams. It was a great day to be here and I’m appreciative of the opportunity. I know a lot of question marks were raised when I came in because I haven’t played football since 2011 at Archbishop Rummel. So why should I even be here? It’s always been a passion of mine and it’s always been the plan to play, but because of scholarships and other reasons with compliance I wasn’t able to play. I’ve been training on my own and doing things I need to do to stay in shape and stay ready for an opportunity like this. Today was a great day. When I lined up I put up really good numbers. I can’t complain.”

On what his plan is between now and the draft…
“Tomorrow Seattle is flying me out and I’m going to see them. My plan is to get better at my craft; running routes, being more smooth, getting in and out of breaks, and staying fast.”

On the feedback he’s gotten today…
“It seemed like everybody loved me. The people talked to me. I’ve been talking to some agents and different scouts. Everybody has been showing real love and I’m appreciative of it. I had nothing to lose coming here.”

On how and when he made the decision to do this…
“When I was four years old. It’s always been a dream of mine. People take different routes to get different places. I came here and ran track. Nobody here today has the resume that I have. Nobody else is a seven-time All-American, six-time All-SEC, and four-time national champion. It speaks for itself. I’m a hard worker and the ultimate goal has always been to get to the NFL and pursue that dream. I miss it every day. It was hard to go to Tiger Stadium and watch the games. I go to sleep every night and dream about it and wake up and not actually live it. I always wanted to do it and I miss it every day.”

On how impressive it is that he ran a 4.3 as a track guy and Jamal Adams ran a 4.33…
“It was super impressive, but I was disappointed in myself. I wanted to go faster, but that’s super impressive for Jamal and I’m happy for him because he’s an LSU guy and he’s going to be a top-three pick.”

On if he thinks he would be one of the fastest guys in the NFL…
“Some guys clocked me at 4.27, and they talked to me. I don’t know if I would be one of the fastest guys but I try to be.”