The University of Florida held their annual pro day on Tuesday and while Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin had to reportedly miss it due to both being in Boca Raton, Florida for the league’s annual meetings, at least two members of the teams coaching staff were in Gainesville to watch several of this year’s top draft prospects from that school go through their workouts.
According to Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports and Tony Pauline of draftinsider.net, Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter celebrated his 39th birthday on Tuesday by attending the Florida pro day in Gainesville along with defensive backs coach Carnell Lake.
ETA: A reader has now stated that he observed Colbert in attendance as well on the television coverage of the event.
According to Zach Abolverdi of SECCountry.com, 15 players from Florida’s 2015 roster were scheduled to work out Tuesday for league coaches, scouts and general managers in the schools indoor practice facility. That list of players included: CB Veron Hargreaves III, S Keanu Neal, DT Jonathan Bullard, LB Antonio Morrison, RB Kelvin Taylor, WR Latroy Pittman, WR Demarcus Robinson, WR Valdez Showers, TE Jake McGee, OL Mason Halter, OL Trip Thurman, DE Alex McCalister, LB Anthony Harrell, CB Brian Poole, and LS/WR Roger Dixon.
Hargreaves, Neal and Bullard all probably had the attention of Porter and Lake at Tuesday’s pro day as they are all considered early-round draft prospects. Hargreaves, however, is expected to be long gone come time for the Steelers 25th overall selection in the first round. According to several internet reports, Hargreaves chose to stand on his numbers that he posted several weeks ago at the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. He reportedly looked tremendous in position drills, however, according to Pauline.
Neal, however, reportedly improved his 40 time from the combine on Tuesday by more than .1 of a second, according to Pauline, who went as far as to suggest on Tuesday that the young safety is still in the conversation as the first-round pick for the Steelers. Neal, who measured in the combine at 6004, 211-pounds, recorded 94 total tackles and one interception last season.
According to Gil Brandt of NFL.com, Neal ran the 40 in 4.59 and 4.63 seconds and also did the short shuttle in 4.32 seconds. He goes on to say that Neal “was outstanding in the positional drills, and did such an excellent job that he has a chance to be a high second-round choice in the draft.”
