Former Huskers ready for NFL showcase

Several former Nebraska players will get the chance to make their case for NFL teams, as the program will hold its annual Pro Day event on Tuesday.

Former Huskers Dicaprio Bootle, Matt Farniok, Brenden Jaimes, Dedrick Mills, and Jack Stol met with local media via Zoom on Monday to give the latest on their professional pursuits.

Here’s a full recap of what they had to say…

***Mills said NFL teams want to know if he’d gotten faster and how he’d improved his pass-catching ability. He wants to showcase his speed and receiving skills and wants to run in the low-4.5s in the 40-yard dash.

***Mills said Nebraska’s family environment helped shape him as a player and a person over the past two years.

***Mills said he’s been working with his trainers in New Jersey and back in Lincoln, focusing on finer details with his pass-catching, including his footwork as a receiver.

***Mills said his biggest priority by far is the 40 because he wants to show scouts that he’s gotten faster. In the process of trying to improve his 40 time, Mills has learned a lot of technical aspects of running that he didn’t know existed with his form.

***Mills said he was excited to see Nebraska’s running backs this year, but like everyone else, he wasn’t sure who would be the front runner of that group. He said all of those guys needed to approach this offseason like an audition to try and win the starting job this fall.

***Jaimes said he weighed just over 300 pounds and had trimmed up his body fat since the end of last season. “I’m the leanest, fastest, and strongest I’ve ever been.”

***Jaimes said he met with every NFL team while at the Senior Bowl. He played a lot of positions at the event to try and display his versatility.

***Jaimes said NFL teams told him he could play left tackle, swing tackle, guard/tackle, or even center at the next level. They told him his strengths were his ability to play fast and move defenders off the ball..

His biggest weakness was probably his flexibility, and he’s been working on that during his training process.

***Jaimes said he was excited about the potential of Nebraska’s offensive line this season. He said Ethan Piper, Bryce Benhart, and Cam Jurgens would be the group’s leaders in 2021.

***Jaimes said he saw “a lot of myself” in Turner Corcoran last season. Corcoran made some typical freshman mistakes, but he also showed a lot of talent.

***Jaimes said players like him who decided to opt-out before or during the season were just cases of guys doing what was best for them. He said he didn’t even know if the Rutgers game was going to happen and that it was “50/50” when he made his decision to opt-out.

“I gave everything I could to this university and gave my all for four years,” Jaimes said. “It was time to move on.”

***Jaimes said there were many challenges for everyone last season. His goal was just to set a good example and work hard every day. He said he’d never been a natural vocal leader, but he tried to step into that role and push the young guys in the o-line room.

***On the culture at Nebraska under head coach Scott Frost, Jaimes said: “Frost has this program in the right direction, even though it may not look like it. There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes that people don’t know about it.”

***Bootle said his decision to make the jump to play professionally rather than come back for another year was mainly because he’d already made up his mind that 2020 would be his final college season.

He said he did a lot of thinking over his last couple of weeks of the season, and he decided to stick with his plan to move on.

***Bootle said he made it a point not to set any expectations for himself, “only work.” Bootle said he’s just taking everything one step at a time and not looking too far ahead down the process.

***Bootle said he didn’t have any preferences on a team to draft him. He just wanted an organization that would be the right fit for him on and off the field.

***On the 40-yard dash, Bootle said, “I like to say I ran my way to Nebraska. Tomorrow morning I’m going to run my way to the league.”

Bootle said his goal is to run in the 4.3s.

***Bootle said Nebraska’s returning secondary would be even better than they were last year. “Those guys, they’re grown men at this point.”

Training at Exos in Arizona.

***Bootle said he’d watched Nebraska’s Pro Days every year. On last year’s Pro Day in particular, he said he remembered how it was one of the last team events after COVID-19 started to hit the United States.

“It wasn’t scary, per se, but it was uncharted territory just not knowing what was to come.”

***Farniok said he’d been training for Pro Day at the Test Football Academy in New Jersey. He wants to show his athleticism for his size and how well he can move during Tuesday’s Pro Day.

***Farniok said he’d been focusing on leaning up since the end of the season while focusing on strengthening his back and core. He said he’s trying to establish himself as a versatile interior offensive lineman who could play both guard spots or even center.

***Farniok said the central theme of his talks with NFL teams has been “pretty standard” with teams trying to get to know him and gauge his football knowledge.

***Farniok said he’d dropped from around 325 pounds at the end of last season to 312-315 now. He said he cut about five pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of muscle since December.

***Farniok said Nebraska’s offensive line “is heading in the correct direction.” He said he and Jaimes helped lead the unit last year, and now there were other guys ready to take the reins this season.

***Farniok said he looks at guys like Jeremiah Sirles, Brent Qvale, and Zach Sterup as inspiration for how they went from unheralded NFL prospects to having long careers in the league.

***Farniok cut his hair after growing it out through his college career. He donated his hair to Wigs For Kids, an organization that provides wigs for children who face chemotherapy and cancer treatments.

***Stoll said he played in the Tropical Bowl, which had a real game where he could play in front of scouts. Other than that, it’s all be digital meetings.

***Stoll said he didn’t decide to move forward to the NFL until December, and it was a hard choice for him that required a lot of thought. In the end, he felt he was ready for the next challenge.

***Stoll said he was able to play through his injuries, even a knee injury that was supposed to be a four-week recovery that he came back from after missing one game. He said his knee felt better than ever now.

***Stoll said he committed to Nebraska out of high school to play in Mike Riley’s pro-style offense, and he was obviously “thrown a curveball” when Frost took over with a completely different offense.

He said that transition made him a better player because he had to adjust his style and become a more versatile player.

***Stoll said he was “extremely excited” to see what Nebraska’s tight end room does this season. He said Austin Allen “can do it all” and Travis Vokolek “is hard-nosed and brings is every day.”

But Stoll said Kurt Rafdal was “getting slept” on in that discussion because he was “probably the most technically sound” of anyone in that group.