Nineteen former Bama players take part in pro day

Since 2008, Alabama has had 17 first-round NFL draft picks, the most of any school over that span.

According to some of the latest mock drafts, as many as four Alabama players could be taken in the first round of the 2016 draft: A’Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, Reggie Ragland and Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry.

CBSSports.com lists all four of the former Crimson Tide stars among the top-40 prospects in this year’s draft class.

Robinson and Reed are among a packed group of interior defensive linemen. Depending on which site one trusts, as many as 10 or 12 guys have been listed as potential first-round selections.

“I love them. They’re both in my top five,” said NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock. “It’s the best interior line class I’ve ever seen, and both of those kids are going to play early and often and play for 10 years.”

While Tide coach Nick Saban wouldn’t make comparisons between Reed and Robinson to other players around the country, he did speak highly of the two stalwarts from his latest defensive line.

“I know the two players that we have are really, really good players; they played on one of the best defenses in the country; and they were both bellcows and great leaders and affected other guys on the team in a positive way,” Saban said. “I think they have tremendous size, tremendous ability. I think whoever gets them, wherever they get picked, they are going to have a great career.”

All 32 NFL teams were represented, and at one point, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick stepped up and put Reed and Robinson through a drill. Reed and Robinson didn’t run the 40-yard dash, but both participated in position drills.

At the NFL combine last month, Robinson ran the 40 in 5.2 seconds while Reed posted a time of 5.21.

CBSSports.com lists Robinson as the 14th-best prospect while Reed checks in at No. 20. The duo has trained together during the pre-draft process, and appear to be as close as brothers, even doing interviews together.

“We push each other day in, day in. (Alabama defensive line) Coach Bo (Davis) took nothing less from us,” Robinson said. “Us two being side-by-side, we’ve been the two best players in the country since he (Reed) came in before my sophomore year. We always push each other to be the best in the country. We came out here and the coaches saw that we could do everything. We showed explosiveness, quickness off the ball, great effort. I feel like we did a great job out here.”

Center Ryan Kelly is projected as the best at his position, and most mocks have him going in the second round.

Nineteen former Alabama players were scheduled to participate in Alabama’s pro day.

The list of 19 draft-eligible Crimson Tide players participating includes: Jake Coker, Kenyan Drake, Denzel Devall, Ty Flournoy-Smith, Derrick Henry, Dominick Jackson, Cyrus Jones, Kelly, Darren Lake, Dillon Lee, Geno Matias-Smith, Richard Mullaney, Michael Nysewander, D.J. Pettway, Ragland, Reed, Robinson, Bradley Sylve and Jabriel Washington.

Sylve suffered an injury on Tuesday that forced him to miss the event. Drake sat out because of an injury as well.

While the potential first- and second-round picks have already made their impressions on NFL teams, some lesser known Tide players used the day to showcase their abilities to scouts, most notably linebacker Dillon Lee.

“He comes out here and runs a 4.78. He’s a big athletic kid,” Mayock said. “Special teams coaches are here taking note of it. To me, those kinds of things are more important than whether Derrick Henry is going to do whatever he’s going to do.”

Lee, who played both outside and inside linebacker throughout his career, finished the year with 27 tackles, one sack and two interceptions.

“He’s got a lot of toughness. He can run. Smart player and great special teams player,” Saban said. “So if you’re looking for a guy on your team to be a backup/special teams player that you could develop into a potential starter someday, especially in regular, he would be a great candidate for that. He played a lot of roles here for us and did a really good job.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Nineteen former Bama players take part in pro day."