Heel Tough Blog: NFL Scouting Combine Stock Report

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The NFL Scouting Combine will conclude later today in Indianapolis when the offensive line group takes to the field. For the Tar Heel prospects in attendance, though, their week at the combine ended on Saturday when Omarion Hampton took the field with the running backs. Here is a look at how each of the team’s six Combine are trending after their time in Indianapolis.

⬆Omarion Hampton

Hampton may not have blown anyone away with what he did in the ball carrying drills, but the rest of the day on Saturday was sensational for him. His 4.46 40-yard dash time was an outstanding time for him and he showed a ton of explosiveness by jumping 38” in the vertical (T-7th amongst RBs) and 10’10” in the broad jump (T-2nd amongst RBs). In the drills, he showed just how strong of a pass catcher he is, failing to drop a single ball in the reps that were televised. Today definitely should have locked up his status as RB2 in this draft and could have him even closer to Ashton Jeanty than he was before the event in the minds of scouts.

⬆Jahvaree Ritzie

Ritzie was a bit of a surprise invite to the event and he has a solid day for himself. He did all of the measurement drills that don’t get shown in full on television, jumping 37” in the vertical and 9’7” in the broad and putting up 26 reps on the bench, all of which were top five amongst the defensive tackles that participated in the Combine. Overall, this experience was a net positive for Ritzie that he can hopefully build in his pro day.

➡Kaimon Rucker

Due to the severe leg injury that he suffered in the regular-season finale with NC State, the only thing that Rucker was able to do was the bench press and he put up an impressive 27 reps which ranked him top five amongst edge rushers. Getting to do the interviews was also very helpful for him, but because he wasn’t able to do anything else, we have to leave him as one of the guys whose stock remains the same.

➡Alijah Huzzie

After suffering an injury in the final practice at the East-West Shrine Bowl, Huzzie did not participate in any of the workouts at the Combine, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t go viral. He was on the podium to speak with the media at the same time as Travis Hunter and had just one media member, podcast host Mark Carman, asking him questions. While this was a cool moment of recognition and motivation for Huzzie, his stock stayed even because he wasn’t able to take the field.

⬇Power Echols

Echols was one of the guys that needed this Combine invite the most and he performed equitably. His 40-yard dash time (4.73) and broad jump (9’7”) weren’t great, but his vertical (37”) was a very solid number. He wasn’t bad in the drills, but he didn’t catch the ball well and struggled to keep himself in a straight line through some drills. Unfortunately, this was net negative for him and makes his pro day important if he wants to be a priority free agent.

⬇Bryson Nesbit

Nesbit was the guy that had the roughest time at the Combine and probably did some decent damage to his already struggling stock. His 40-yard time of 4.89 was the second-slowest of any tight end in attendance and his 9’4” broad jump was the worst. Even his vertical (32.5”) ranked near the bottom of the group, showing a concerning lack of explosiveness that many thought would be there for him. The good news is that he caught the ball well in the drills, but there’s no doubt that the testing numbers really hurt him. He needs to test better in his pro day.