Fresh off their pro day performances on Monday, five UNC football standouts offered their thoughts on how those workouts went in front of NFL coaches and scouting personnel.
Running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams joined receivers Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome alongside linebacker Chazz Surratt in trying to raise their stock ahead of April’s NFL Draft.
Williams showed his combination of strength and speed by doing 22 bench press reps at 225 pounds while also running a 4.55-second 40-yard dash. Many media outlets have Williams as the third-best running back in the class behind only Clemson’s Travis Etienne and Alabama’ Najee Harris.
“I just wanted to go out and compete in front of the scouts and let them see me for the first time in person without my pads on and all that,” Williams said. “And, honestly, I felt like I had a pretty good day overall.”
Carter was often viewed as the speedier of the two UNC running backs, but his 40-yard-dash time of 4.50 left some to be desired. His outstanding career for the Tar Heels still has him generating plenty of interest throughout the NFL.
“I think the most important thing is just being in front of these GMs and these scouts and just being able to compete and show that you love football,” Carter said. “Because you can definitely tell if someone loves football by the way they play.”
Brown ran a 4.46 in the 40-yard dash, which was the fastest of any Tar Heel participating on Monday. Speed and prowess catching deep passes were Brown’s main skills highlighted in the UNC offense, but his most important takeaway from the process was showing the other aspects of his game.
“My film is basically all deep routes and I’m more than just a deep threat,” Brown said. “I can do it all and that’s what I wanted to show today. That was a key component for me and I wanted to show every team that and that’s what I did.”
Pro Football Focus currently has Brown as the No. 9 ranked receiver in the class.
The other Tar Heel receiver performing on Monday, Newsome, struggled to show the speed he typically plays with–posting a somewhat disappointing time of 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard-dash. Without showcasing top-end speed, his size of 5-foot-10 and only 190 pounds could hurt him come draft day.
“I could have done better in testing, but I’m not really that great of a testing guy,” Newsome said. “But that’s all. There’s not really too much I didn’t expect.”
Surratt was the only defensive player on the field for the Tar Heels during pro day and he did not disappoint. The former quarterback ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard-dash while blowing away the rest of the team in the short shuttle–completing that drill in 3.16 seconds, or 0.82 seconds faster than Carter finished it in as a running back.
He is the No. 10 ranked linebacker heading into the draft, according to Pro Football Focus.
“It was a good experience to come out here and perform,” Surratt said. “I did the drills well, tested well, so it was overall a good day for me and I think a lot of the guys that participated in it.”
Of the 32 NFL teams, all but the Los Angeles Rams had representatives in attendance.
The 2021 NFL Draft is scheduled to run from April 30 to May 2 in Cleveland.
Photo via Jeffrey A. Camarati (UNC Athletics)
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