Erik McCoy, Texas A&M, Center
The Aggie had himself quite the day. He ran the fastest 40 yard dash at 4.89 seconds and benched 29 times. However, his 3-cone drill was far from impressive at 8.28 seconds and he only jumped 31 inches in the vertical jump. In the position specific drills, he showed good movement, but nothing compared to the likes of Jonah Williams, Garrett Bradbury, or even Kaleb McGary. However, all these times and measures prove what we thought we would do at the combine.
McCoy has a lot of good tape. He’s physical at the point of attack and he doesn’t lose his balance against other defensive linemen. His agility was always in question and that proved the case with his 3 cone drill, but his body at 6’4″ and 315 lbs and technique allow him to play against big defensive tackles that usually cause problems. McCoy is athletic enough to play at the next level, and even with his agility “concern,” he should be a Top 60 pick in this draft filled with many centers.
Alex Barnes, Kansas State, Running Back
This guy had the best combine amongst running backs. Outside of his 40 yard dash, which was 4.58 seconds, he excelled in every other drill finding himself at the Top or Top 5 in each event. Barnes had 34 reps on the bench, 12 more than his teammate Dalton Risner, 4.10 seconds on the 20 yard shuttle, and 6.89 seconds on the 3 cone drill. That placed Barnes 2nd and 1st respectively for those events. Might I also mention he jumped 38.5″ vertically.
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It’s no question Barnes seems to be the workout warrior. With athletes like DK Metcalf, Noah Fant, and TJ Hockensen in this draft, I don’t want to give Barnes the Combine champion trophy just yet, but there’s no doubting that he helped his draft stock from an athleticism stand point.
On his film, Barnes is a patient runner with very good agility. There are many jukes to enjoy on his highlight reel and his ability to break tackles is apparent. He’s strong and he stands at 6’0″ and 226 lbs. By no means is that an easy task for any defender looking to bring him to the ground.
Barnes would’ve been a solid middle round selection for any team and hopefully his combine showing impressed some teams enough to consider pulling the trigger earlier on the redshirt junior.
Tomorrow, the quarterbacks and wide receivers will be participating at the combine. With prospects like Kyler Murray, DK Metcalf, and MeCole Hardman, we will hopefully have some fun watching the running drills. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see Dwayne Haskins impress everyone with his 40 time that we’ll have to be convinced he is more of a runner than a passer?