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PROVO — BYU wide receiver Mitch Mathews had one goal going into pro day Friday morning at the school’s Indoor Practice Facility: leave it all on the field.
He definitely did that.
Mathews and 10 former Cougar teammates, as well as former BYU receiver Ross Apo, Southern Utah alums Justin Brown and Ammon Olsen, Mesa Community College’s Tigi Hill and Idaho State’s Madison Mangum, showed off in front of a crowd of 24 NFL scouts, one representative of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, as well as friends, family and the media as they each try to pursue a career of pro football.
For Mathews, the morning proved to be worth it. The senior 6-foot-6, 225-pound receiver put up personal-best results in the vertical jump, broad jump and 40-yard dash as he tried to impress scouts from organizations ranging from Atlanta to Green Bay to Oakland to take a chance on him in April’s NFL draft.
“They were really impressed, from what they told me,” Mathews said after a lengthy sit-down with one rep. “They said I did everything I could, and everything they thought I could do, I did. It exceeded my expectations, for sure.”
Mathews out-jumped the field with a 38-inch vertical leap and a 10-foot, 9-inch broad jump — both personal bests. He then blew away the crowd of onlookers with his 40 time, finishing in an unofficial time of 4.42 seconds.
The recent BYU receiver from Beaverton, Oregon, finished 12th in BYU history with 152 career receptions for 2,083 yards and 24 touchdowns — the latter the fifth-best mark all-time in Provo. But he still had work to do ahead of Pro Day.
Mathews didn’t receive an invitation to last month’s NFL Combine like teammate Bronson Kaufusi, who brought arguably the largest throng to Provo for Friday’s event. That gave the former Cougar wideout a chip on his shoulder — and one he felt he needed to validate when given the chance.
He trained at St. Vincent Sport Performance in Indianapolis since the new year, trimming down and bulking up while adding noticeable speed from his senior season, in which he caught 54 passes for 737 yards and 11 touchdowns, all team-highs.
“It’s three months of a grind, I can assure you,” Mathews said of the offseason. “Mentally, it’s tough.
“I got back, and I wondered where the other guys were training and doing. I wondered how my ranking was, where I’m at. I believe it’s as much mental as physical.”
Kaufusi’s crowd was perhaps the longest. The projected draft pick performed well in the 40, shuttle runs and jumps at the combine, and used Friday to show off his agility in defensive lineman-specific drills at the end of the session.
Hopefully the scouts walked away with a little more than Kaufusi’s numbers, Olsen quipped in his first official return to Provo since transferring from BYU two years ago.
“I think Bronson brought a big crowd, and it was good to perform in front of a lot of people,” Olsen said. “Overall, it was just a great experience, and I was happy to be here. I think a lot of guys did really well, and impressed a lot of scouts here for BYU.”
The defensive lineman had a few tricks to add to his repertoire, too.
“Mainly, I just wanted to show them I can move,” said Kaufusi, who was a top DL performer in the 3-cone drill (7.03) and 20-yard shuttle (4.25) at the NFL Combine. “I’m big and tall, but I can still move well while being heavy. I weighed in at 285, and being able to do some agility drills, I think things went well.”
With the end of Pro Day comes a quick breather for each player. It’s not over for Kaufusi, Mathews or any other college player trying to make an NFL roster between now and this summer’s official team activities.
Mathews, for one, knows one area where he needs to improve — running crisp routes, a particular challenge for large-framed receivers. But that’ll come, too.
“Now I just focus on football,” Mathews said. “I’m done focusing on running, jumping and cone drills. I get to focus on football; I had some scouts tell me today I need to work on running routes — the measurables are there, but I’m a big guy and the routes will take a lot more for me than a guy who is 5-10.
“That’s just football. I can run and jump; now I need to focus on football-specific stuff.”
