Auburn football: It's Pro Day on the Plains

Tigers to audition for NFL scouts

By ANDY BITTER

abitter@ledger-enquirer.com

AUBURN, Ala. — A half dozen Auburn football players will audition for a group of NFL scouts at the school’s Pro Day this afternoon.

The group includes six seniors from last year’s roster — running back Ben Tate, defensive end/outside linebacker Antonio Coleman, cornerback Walt McFadden, quarterback Chris Todd, tight end/defensive end Gabe McKenzie and defensive tackle Jake Ricks.

They’ll go through a series of drills, including the bench press, 40-yard dash, broad jump, high jump and shuttle drills.

The highly anticipated event starts at 2 p.m. EST at Auburn’s John H. Watson Indoor Fieldhouse and will move outside later in the afternoon for individual position drills.

Of the participants, Tate might do the least work.

Tate had a tremendous showing at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis at the end of February, finishing tied for first among running backs in the bench press (26 reps at 225 pounds) and broad jump (10 feet, 4 inches), second in the vertical jump (40.5 inches) and 20-yard shuttle (4.12 seconds) and third in the 40-yard dash (4.43 seconds).

Coleman, who projects as an outside linebacker or rush end in the pros, has more to prove. He didn’t run the 40 at the combine because of a quad strain and underperformed in the bench press, finishing with only 18 reps at 225.

McFadden didn’t get a combine invite, making today’s workout more meaningful. He’s projected to be a late-round pick in April’s draft.

Todd, McKenzie and Ricks aren’t expect to be selected in any of the draft’s seven rounds, but they could catch the eye of teams that want to sign them to a free-agent contract.

Several Auburn players from past seasons also could attend.