The Daily Campus

February 27th, 2008

Huskies at the Combine

Both Tyvon Branch and Donald Thomas worked out at the NFL Combine this week, posting impressive numbers that ranked right up there with some of the elite talent in this year’s Draft class. 

 Thomas was one of 48 offensive linemen invited to Indianapolis and the former UConn offensive guard ran the second best 40-yard dash time of the bunch, sprinting to the finish in 5.00 seconds. According to ESPN.com’s Matt Mosley in his Hashmarks blog, Thomas also has the best time in the first 10 yards, or 10-yard split, with a time of 1.72 seconds, and also the third best 20-yard split (2.89). In addition, Thomas also finished fourth in the three-cone drill, with a time of 7.45 seconds. 

 I talked to Thomas last Friday and he said that he put up 29 reps on the bench press, which would have placed him tied for fifth; however, he was not listed under the top performers for that section on NFL.com/combine. My guess is he probably ended up one shy of 29 because he didn’t get a complete rep on his last try — something that happens often when lifting. Nevertheless, he said he hopes to break the 30 barrier at UConn’s Pro Day on March 26th. 

Branch also turned some heads this weekend. While there were 13 defensive backs who ran sub-4.4 40s, Branch topped them all by finishing the sprint in 4.31 seconds. His time was actually second best out of all Combine participants, as he finished just 0.7 seconds slower than the fastest man in Indy, running back Chris Johnson of ECU, who posted a time of 4.24. 

The corner also finished tied for fifth on the bench press, putting up 225 pounds 19 times. 

While the workouts won’t push either player into the first round, it will cause scouts to take another look at both players. I was watching one of the daily top 10 videos on the Combine website and one of the analysts said he was going to have to go back and study Branch some more on tape because of the blazing 40 time. With the results, expect to see more scouts and NFL reps showing up in March to look at these guys. 

Linebacker Danny Lansanah was not invited to the Combine, but is currently training in Florida for the Huskies’ Pro Day. 

 

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 3:05 pm and is filed under All Sports, Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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