Everyone came to see Anthony Allen, Joshua Nesbitt, Mario Butler, and Jerrard Tarrant. But the player that turned the most heads Wednesday was a little-known receiver who caught only six balls all last season: Kevin Cone.
The senior receiver turned in an unofficial 4.37 second time in the 40-yard dash, which would have ranked fourth fastest overall if it had come at the combine recently. Granted, take that with a grain of salt because it was timed by hand and not electronically, and it came on a track instead of on grass. That said however, Cone commented afterwards that he has been putting up times in the 4.4 range while training and wasn't surprised by the 4.37.
Tech's pro-day was quite unusual. Due to the heavy downpours in the Atlanta area Wednesday morning, the workout was moved to the upstairs gym at the Campus Recreation Center. The players ran the 40-yard dash on the track, and then did the position drills on the gym floor.
In attendance were about 10 scouts from a variety of NFL teams, Coach Mike Smith of the Falcons, former players including Derrick Morgan of the Tennessee Titans, and a huge gathering of friends and family.
So how did the headliners do? Anthony Allen impressed at the combine, improving his draft stock tremendously. He didn't do anything on Wednesday to put that improvement into doubt, looking fast and agile in the cone drills and made some nice catches on the short routes that were run.
Joshua Nesbitt doesn't care what position he plays at next level, as long as he gets the chance to play football. His times were on par for a running back, and are even more impressive for a quarterback. He looked good throwing the ball, had great velocity, but did miss on a handful of throws.
Simply put, Mario Butler and Jerrard Tarrant look like NFL players. I will be shocked if they are not playing on Sundays in the future.
Other players that worked out include Dominique Reese, Scott Blair, Nick Claytor, Anthony Egbuniwe, Brad Jefferson, Correy Earls, and Lucas Cox.
Below is a video of some of the workouts, courtesy of Georgia Tech's Sports Information Department.