Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert was present for the 2012 University of Alabama pro day Wednesday as were reps for 29 other teams in the league. While several draft worthy players worked out for all in attendance, one could easily speculate that Colbert was there to mostly watch linebacker Dont\’a Hightower, who reportedly only went through a few of the drills and focused more on the position workouts. Hightower did improve his combine vertical jump by one inch Wednesday, as he leaped 33 inches. He also turned in a 9 foot 9 inch broad jump as well. He did not bench press Wednesday and said that he intends to do that at a second pro day that is scheduled for March 29. In addition to the jumping, Hightower had a 4.68 short shuttle time and a 7.55 cone drill time.
Tony Pauline reported for Sports Illustrated that Hightower showed some stiffness in his change of direction abilities during the drills and that he was not quick in coverage drills either. Pauline believes Hightower did nothing on Wednesday to dispel the belief that he\’s only a two-down linebacker.
Another player that Colbert might have had a talk with on Wednesday was nose tackle Josh Chapman, who is still recovering from a torn ACL. Chapman did not participate in the drills, but did do 29 reps on the bench press. He was quoted as saying that his knee is healing well and that he hopes to be 100 percent by June.
Below is the interview that Hightower gave to the media following his workout and here are the reports from Gil Brandt and Mike Mayock from Wednesday.
