2023 Nebraska Pro Day Review

The 2023 Nebraska Pro Day is in the books as ten former Huskers participated in both timed and position drills in front of representatives from all 32 NFL teams. For guys like Trey Palmer, Travis Vokolek and Ochaun Mathis this was a chance to improve on their times and showcase skills that they didn’t get to at the NFL Combine. While others like Garrett Nelson, Caleb Tannor and Omar Manning it was their shot to impress NFL teams to gain training camp invites. Here is a look at how the day went for

Timed Drills

With Trey Palmer resting on his Combine performances that left the door open for another Husker to really step up and steal the show. That person ended up being Oliver Martin who had outstanding results in the vertical leap and broad jump. So much that Martin’s 41” vertical leap would have been the best at the Combine while his 11’2” borad jump would have been tied for second.

***At the time of writing, no other official times have be released***

Positional Drills

While timed tests are nice, players can really stand out while doing positional drills showing actual football moves.

Defensive Line

For the defensive line drills former Huskers Garrett Nelson, Ochaun Mathis and Caleb Tannor had their drills ran by a Dallas Cowboys scout. One may think that Ochaun Mathis would be the star of these drills, but instead it was Garrett Nelson. Nelson was able to showcase his athletic traits while also displaying good bend in the bag drills.

While Caleb Tannor and Ochaun Mathis didn’t look bad, they didn’t stand out as much as Nelson during the drills. Tannor still looked a little stiff at times trying to bend and make quick changes of direction. Mathis showcased some nice burst but wasn’t as bendy as I thought he would be.

Linebackers

Four players worked out at linebacker as Chris Kolarevic and Eteva Mauga-Clements were joined by Caleb Tannor getting some extra work in while defensive back Brandon Moore joined them as the only defensive back working out.

For the linebackers nobody really stood out. It was interesting to see Caleb Tannor go through drills since he was mainly an edge defender for the Huskers but did drop into coverage at times. Tannor is not a bad athlete but he’s not great in space and it showed with him being a little tight in his movements.

Receivers

Former Husker Matt Masker was the quarterback throwing to Trey Palmer, Travis Vokolek, Chancellor Brewington, Omar Manning and Oliver Martin. Palmer’s speed and quickness were on displaying running routes. His burst off the line and quickness out of breaks stood out compared to the rest of the pass catchers. I was anxious to see how he would do on short hard breaking routes. While Palmer looked better than anticipated, he still be used primarily as a vertical threat in the NFL.

Outside of Palmer, it was Chancellor Brewington that really stood out to me. You can tell he’s a former receiver in that he looked more explosive and faster than Vokolek (who is also much bigger too). But Brewington ran good routes and showed the ability to get in and out of breaks pretty quickly. With his position flexibility he should get a long look from NFL teams.

One negative was Omar Manning appeared to suffer an injury during drills. Manning fell down a couple of times and then sat out the ending of the receiver workouts. Manning had a disappointing 2022 season where he didn’t see the field much. Already possessing an NFL body, this was an important day for Manning. Hopefully it’s just a minor injury.

Travis Vokolek had a strong showing but really didn’t do anything that wasn’t expected. Vokolek isn’t an elite athlete but moved well and showcases strong hands, catching everything in sight.