Former Maryland football stars shift attention to NFL Draft

With 57 scouts and all 32 NFL teams in attendance for Maryland’s pro day inside Jones-Hill House on Friday.

“When you look over the last two classes that we’ve had here, people forget we’ve had three first-rounders in the last six drafts and this area, as well all know, has been really fruitful for the next level and the platform that Maryland gives these players an opportunity to create an opportunity for themselves, you can’t put a price tag on it.”

With 15 Terps in attendance, along with former Terps like Isaiah Hazel and Evan Gregory taking part in drills, Maryland will look to produce multiple NFL Draft picks for the third consecutive year.

Safety Beau Brade noted he could get drafted as early as the second-round and as late as the fifth-round, though a third-round pick to Tampa Bay has been a popular pick in recent mock drafts. “Today I didn’t really do as well as I wanted to do but I know what I’m capable of. You can watch the film. You know what I’m capable of, the teams do too, so I’m not really worried about that,” he added.

In addition to speaking with all 32 teams, Brade noted that the New York Giants, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills are among the teams who “stand out” heading into next month’s draft.

Tarheeb Still noted he “wanted to come out here and run faster” during his pro day and while he wasn’t sure of his time, the former Terps cornerback added that “a lot of people gave me a lot of good responses.”

“I would just say I’m versatile,” Still said when asked about his pitch to NFL teams. “The things I can do. I play inside corner and outside corner. I can play safety, punt return. I can do a lot of different things for the team, contributing on special teams. And then I have a chip on my shoulder when I play the game.”

Jeshaun Jones will look to become the first Maryland receiver drafted since DJ Moore became a first-round pick in 2018, and he had one goal in mind for Friday.

“I’m hoping it’s something good,” Jones said about his 40-yard dash time. “I’m hoping it starts at 4.4. I don’t care what the second number is as long as it’s 4.4, I’m happy with that.”

There’s one NFL receiver that Jones looks to mimic.

“I’ve been watching a little bit of Amon-Ra St. Brown from the Lions. I like his game a lot. He gets in there, blocks, he goes hard and he runs good routes and makes a lot of plays with the ball in his hands and I feel like there’s a lot of things similar to what I do on the field as well.”

It wasn’t always a given that Taulia Tagovailoa would shift his attention toward the NFL after a hectic offseason. After opting out of Maryland’s bowl game, the former Maryland quarterback battled the NCAA over a potential sixth season with Miami (FL) lurking in the background. Weeks later, Tagovailoa’s waiver was denied to mark the official end of his college career.

“Going into college, you always have goals and I just wanted more. I feel like I left a lot of plays out on the field and with another year, I feel like it was going to be another opportunity for me to show what I can do and maybe improve on the things that I didn’t do well in the past couple of years,” Tagovailoa.

Since then, Tagovailoa turned west where he spent the offseason training in California ahead of his potential pro career.

“I feel like I showed them my arm strength. I think that was one of the biggest questions and obviously, they know I can do a lot of things on the run and so I wanted to show a lot of arm strength and movement, show them that I can control with my base in the pocket. Looking right, coming back left, throwing digs, throwing comebacks, throwing deep shots.”

Maryland had multiple offensive linemen working out with Mike Purcell, Aric Harris, DJ Glaze, Corey Bullock, Amelio Moran and Gottlieb Ayedze in attendance.

While Ayedze was confident in his performance, Glaze noted that “it’s pretty mixed” whether teams view him as a guard or tackle, but with three linemen already drafted since Mike Locksley took over the program, Glaze pointed to Brian Braswell as the reason why Maryland has bolstered its pro prospects in the trenches.

“Working with coach Bras, being able to just perfect everything I do. Coming in, sitting down, watching pass blocking with him, watching run blocking. For my sophomore year when he took over to my junior year, just constantly getting better, working on things that I saw that could have helped me take the next step. Constantly doing that. I just feel like each year, just perfecting the small things is what helped me make those big strides.”

Corey Bullock, meanwhile, recorded 18 official reps on bench press and has shed over 30 pounds training in Ohio to maximize his NFL potential.

“We started something called keto, which is like no carbs, no sugar. So at first it was kind of like dang, I’m getting headaches here and there. But as time went on, it’s like I really embraced it. I showed it here today with my body.”

The NFL Draft is set in Detroit this year and will begin on Thursday, April 25.

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