Maryland Football: 11 Terps participate in Pro Day

The 2016 NFL Draft is a month away.

With that in mind, the Maryland football team held their annual Pro Day in which 11 Terrapins participated in. Representatives from 28 NFL teams were in attendance in College Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Among the 11 participants, cornerback Sean Davis and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue are likely to be drafted in the first three or four rounds of next month’s NFL Draft. Other notable former Terps that took part in Maryland’s Pro Day were kicker Brad Craddock, defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson, and running back Brandon Ross.

“This has always been a dream of mine and now it’s finally hitting me that in less than a month I’ll have the opportunity to be a professional football player,” Davis said. “I’m extremely blessed, I’m embracing everything that comes my way and I’m loving the process. I’m going to be happy wherever I land.”

Davis is being projected as a second to third round pick by most analysts. In NFL.com’s Chad Reuter’s latest five-round mock draft, he has Davis going in the Round 2 (No. 63 overall) to the Carolina Panthers.

One of the biggest positives for Davis is his versatility. He split time between cornerback and safety while at Maryland, which is something that NFL scouts will look at.

Reuter also has Ngakoue going in the fourth round (No. 106) to the Chicago Bears.

“I like stepping up to the challenge, getting a little adversity and showing the scouts my toughness and my heart,” Ngakoue said. “I wanted to put the icing on the cake today and show my diversity dropping into pass coverage and also displaying my power in defensive line drills. It’s a blessing to be here – not everyone is fortunate enough to be in this position so I am very thankful.”

Ngakoue turned heads during the 2015 season when he set the Maryland single-season sack record with 13.5. During his Maryland career, Ngakoue registered 21 sacks and 32 tackles-for-loss.

Ross is an interesting story to follow. The Maryland running back wasn’t invited to the Scouting Combine in February, but did finish his Maryland career fourth in program history with 2,543 rushing yards.

Part of that had to do with the fact that Ross rushed for 418 yards (209 yards-per-game) and six touchdowns against Indiana and Rutgers.

“I feel like my preparation really paid off today,” Ross said. “I felt good catching passes and going through all the drills, so it was a good day. I definitely wanted to show off my skills catching the ball out of the backfield and lining up in the slot.”

In his four seasons as a Terp, Ross caught 40 passes for 401 yards and two touchdowns.

In the 2015 NFL Draft, Maryland saw wideout Stefon Diggs selected in the fifth round by the Minnesota Vikings and defensive tackle Darius Kilgo in the sixth round by the Denver Broncos.

Diggs ended up being one of the more productive rookies in the 2015 class. As a rookie, he caught 52 passes for 720 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games for the Vikings.

With Mike Wallace signing with the Baltimore Ravens, Diggs should have an even more prominent role in Minnesota’s offense in 2016.

Kilgo didn’t play a whole lot for the Super Bowl champion Broncos. In nine games, he registered five tackles and a pass defended.

Next: Maryland Basketball: Grading Mark Turgeon

With guys like Davis, Jefferson, and Ngakoue on the board, the Terps could have even more players selected in this year’s draft.