PULLMAN, Wash. — WSU held their annual NFL Pro Day on Wednesday in Pullman, with three players taking center stage: Andre Dillard, Gardner Minshew, and James Williams.
We caught up with all of them today after the event, and highlight a few storylines for all of them below.
ANDRE DILLARD
28 out of 32 NFL teams were at WSU’s Pro Day today, and most of them showed up to at least take a look at Dillard. Dillard opted to keep his numbers from the NFL combine and not do any tests, but he did do position drills for all the teams.
The most interesting person watching Dillard today was the Panther’s GM Marty Hurney, who also spoke to Dillard after he did drills.
“I was just honored for him to be here with us and it felt really good to put on a show for him,” said Dillard of Hurney being in attendance. “It’s great to meet him for the first time and felt really good to talk to him. It felt amazing to hear kind words from him.”
GARDNER MINSHEW
Like Dillard, Minshew opted to not redo any of his combine testing. He did throw today to a wide variety of receivers. There were some drops, but overall he felt pretty good about his performance.
“I thought it was good, definitely could be better,” said Minshew. “Always feel like that no matter how well you do but we did good things. I think our receivers and running backs really helped themselves, I really helped myself so all in all it was a good day.”
“I’m kind of working on everything right now,” said Minshew of what he’s looking to improve. “Trying to be the best I can be. I felt alright with how I threw the deep ball today. Our guys were a little tired and that’s just how this thing goes. Sunday we were 60-for-60. Today we only threw 46 and I’m not sure how many we completed, but we felt good about it. Definitely something I’ll continue working on.”
JAMES WILLIAMS
Williams did participate in a few testing drills today, including the bench press. Williams did not do the bench press at the NFL Combine because of a shoulder sprain. He completed 15 reps this time around.
Williams also participated in running back drills, which the Saints’ Running Back’s coach Joel Thomas ran. Williams told the media after Pro Day that he met with the Saints last night.
“It was intense. It was nerve racking,” said Williams of Thomas running drills. “I’ve got an NFL coach coaching me through drills, but everything went well.”
“I’m glad all of this over because I’ve been stressing,” said Williams of getting one step closer to draft day. “I’m about to stress a little more, being curious of where I’ll end up. I don’t care where I get drafted, even if I don’t get drafted, I just need an opportunity. That’s all I need.”
The NFL Draft starts on Thursday, April 25th.