Yesterday was the first of two days that Missouri Tiger seniors could work out in front of NFL scouts.  16 seniors ran a 40 yard dash, ran shuttle drills, broad jumps, and vertical leaps, as well as position drills. 

There were scouts from 17 NFL teams that gather around time, watch, and evaluate potential NFL talent.  Running back Tony Temple ran the 40, three times, and on his last run broke 4.5 coming in with a 4.47.  Cornerback Darnell Terrell was asked by scouts to switch to wide receiver drills.

There was one player in my mind that stood out about everyone else.  That was wide receiver Will Franklin.  He ran a 4.37 at the NFL combine and there was no need to do that again.  His standing broad jump of 10 feet, 11 inches would have been good for second best at the NFL combine and he improved on his 34 1/2 combine vertical jump by six inches when he reached 40 1/2 inches.

What stood out was his explosive first steps in receiving drills.  Scouts had each receiver run about 10 different pass routes, catch the ball, and then head up field.  Look, all the guys who were catching balls looked fast, but there was something about Franklin’s first steps that you could see was something special.  My videographer Jon Allison had the quote of the day when talking about Franklin’s calf muscles.  He said "those things are as big as my head."

Click on the link to listen to Franklin talk after his workout in which he had nothing but a big smile on his face afterwards.  There’s no doubt after his Pro Day performance, he raised some eyebrows.  Expect to see Franklin playing in the NFL.

Download/listen to Will Franklin (5:30 MP3)