By Brandon Tripp, Sports Writer
After establishing themselves as two of the top athletes in Division II, two former Wildcats continued to turn heads in the next phase of their football career: the NFL Combine.
Johnny Knox and Bernard Scott took full advantage of the opportunity to impress NFL scouts and coaches from around the league.
“I think they both did really good, and I think they both helped themselves for the draft,” ACU head football coach Chris Thomsen said.
Knox ran the third-fastest 40-yard dash at the combine, running an unofficial 4.25, which was the fastest until having his time adjusted to his official time of 4.34. Knox also was a top 10 performer in the broad jump and in the 20-yard shuttle. Knox improved his draft stock some 60 slots, according to Sports Illustrated’s writer Tony Pauline.
Scott showed he was one of the most agile running backs in this year’s draft by recording the fastest 20-yard shuttle among running backs and second-fastest overall at the combine at 4.08 and the fastest 3-cone drill time out of all the running backs with a 6.82. Scott also was a top 10 performer among running backs in both jump drills, the vertical with 36″ and broad jump with 10’5″, and posted a 4.56 official 40-yard dash but unofficially ran a 4.47.
“I think I did pretty good, and it was a good chance for the scouts to evaluate me with the big school players,” Scott said.
Knox also put on a show in his positional drills, dropping just a few balls and taking extra reps to make up for the drops he made.
Players who were invited to the combine not only went through a battery of positional, agility and strength drills but also were taken through interviews with teams that were interested in drafting them, as well as the Wonderlic Test, which is the accepted way to determine a player’s learning ability and problem-solving capabilities.
During the combine, not only did Scott have to show teams he was physically capable of playing in the NFL but also that he had moved on from his past. He missed out on his senior year of football in high school because he was kicked off the team for an off-the-field fight; he also was arrested at least five times and has attended four universities since high school. But Scott told teams he was past all that.
“It was at a point in my life where I made some bad choices; I was young and did dumb things,” Scott said. “But I wouldn’t change anything because I know it happened for a reason.”
Knox and Scott are the first two ACU athletes to be invited to the event since Daniel Manning earned his ticket in 2006. Their invitations also mark the first time two Wildcats have been invited to the combine in the same year.
Manning was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 42nd overall pick in the ’06 draft and started in the 2007 Superbowl for the Bears. Knox and Scott are not projected to go quite that high, but both players caught the eye of the combine selection committee and each earned an invite to this year’s premier scouting event.
The consensus coming into the weekend was that Knox would be a middle-to-low round pick and that Scott was a fourth-round talent but would be a low-round pick or a priority free agent after the draft because of his off-the-field issues. After their workouts, both were listed in the NFL Network’s coverage of the combine as top performers at their respective position.
Knox and Scott must now prepare to work out during ACU’s pro day, scheduled for March 13. Both players will join quarterback Billy Malone in working out for NFL scouts and teams again to improve their numbers.
“I’m going to do all the workouts again; I have been told I don’t have to re-do my 40 but I know I can run faster,” Scott said.
