MORGANTOWN — Former Mountaineers had what will be their final professional audition in front of NFL scouts Monday afternoon at WVU’s Pro Day.
Eight former WVU players tested Monday, headlined by defensive lineman Dante Stills and wide receivers Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Sam James. Other participating were defensive backs Jasir Cox and Wesley McCormick, punter Parker Grothaus, linebacker Exree Loe and tight end Brian Polenday.
Of the group, only Stills and Ford-Wheaton were invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in February.
“This is a big day for several of our former players,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said Monday morning. “I’m excited to watch them, there are some good stories here. I’ve been with them for four years and I’m proud of what Bryce and Dante did in Indianapolis, how they represented themselves and represented the program.”
Ford-Wheaton especially turned heads at the combine, logging a 4.38 40-yard dash and a 41-inch vertical jump. After putting up such great numbers, Ford-Wheaton did not test on Monday but still went through receiver drills alongside James.
“Here I just wanted to show that I’m still a football player,” Ford-Wheaton said. “A lot of people try to take the combine stuff and blow it out of proportion, but at the end of the day I’m still a football player and I can still play football.”
Measuring in at 6-3.5 and 223 pounds on Monday, Ford-Wheaton’s physical traits are enough to earn him some notice. Ford-Wheaton said he has been working with former NFL receivers Anquan Boldin and Pierre Garcon and has learned from them to use his size to his advantage.
“Just to play to my size,” Ford-Wheaton said. “If I’m 6-3 and 225, there’s not too many places or too many instances where the ball’s in the air and I won’t have a chance at it.”
Ford-Wheaton had his most productive college season as a senior in 2022. Catching 62 passes for 675 yards and seven touchdowns.
What Brown thinks will grab scouts’ attention about Ford-Wheaton is his continued growth as a player.
“What I talk a lot about with Bryce is his growth and maturity both as a person and as a player,” Brown said. “If you saw him in the spring of 2019 compared to where he was in the fall of 2022 or where he is now, it’s night and day, it’s not even close.”
Ford-Wheaton, too, admitted that early college tape isn’t anything special.
“I look at my film from 2019 and I just feel sick sometimes looking at the plays I missed,” he said. “I’m so much better than that right now, but I still feel like I’m not a finished product. I have a lot more room to improve and I’m just looking for steady improvement from here on out.”
Stills is going through the pre-draft process just two years after his brother, Darius, did the same thing.
“There’s a lot of advice that he’s given me over these last three months,” Stills said. “I was gone for about two and a half months in Florida training and I was talking to him every day. He constantly encouraged me and told me to take care of my body and stuff like that.”
Stills is coming off an ultra-productive collegiate career where he set a new WVU career record with 52.5 tackles for loss and ranks fourth in sacks with 23.5.
Stills said his mindset as a pro prospect has completely changed since he wrapped up his college career in the fall.
“I did a lot of growing, I matured a lot,” he said. “I don’t have a guaranteed spot on a team anymore, I don’t have a job right now. I’m trying to earn that spot and take people’s spots who have been in the league for seven, eight years and are vets. My whole mentality’s changing, I have to go into a league where guys have families and everything like that. It’s a grown-man’s game.”
Stills participated in defensive drills and participated in the bench press, where he improved from 20 reps at the combine to 26 on Monday.
James said he felt “disrespected” after not being invited to the combine and viewed Monday as his only chance to show his stuff in front of NFL scouts.
“I felt like today was very important for that reason,” James said. “I felt kind of disrespected because I didn’t get invited to the combine and I felt like I should have, but I knew I was going to have another opportunity at this pro day to stand in front of all the same scouts people stood in front of at the combine. It was very important for me to do good and I feel that I did.”
James clocked a 4.50 40-yard dash and a 36.5-inch vertical jump, measuring in at just under six feet at 5-11.2 and 185 pounds.
During the drill portion of the day, several of James’ catches drew cheers from the assembled crowd of friends and family.
“I was mad that I didn’t get invited (to the combine),” James said. “I prayed to God, found my peace and knew that I was going to have the opportunity so I just went with it, stayed down and worked.”
James leaves WVU ranked fifth in career receptions (190) and eighth in yards (2,231). Even with his track record at receiver, Brown thinks James’ best chance at the NFL will be because of his abilities on special teams.
“Sam James is a guy I think has been slept on a little bit,” Brown said. “He’s been productive on film and he has an elite trait that he shows on tape that he can cover punts. He’s done that as well as anybody in the country over the last three years and that’s something the pro guys really pay attention to.”
“I was extremely good at special teams here the last couple of years,” James said. “Being a gunner, I love that — in order to pay that, you have to love it. Going out there and being a gunner was fun, I enjoyed it.
“I did it well so it brought a lot of recognition to my name outside of being a receiver. That’s awesome to have that with me.”
For now, all the former players can do is wait to hear if their name is called at the NFL Draft on April 27. They will meet with and maybe work out for various teams, but Monday was their last chance to showcase their talents in front of a big audience.
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