Tweet me!There were 26 NFL teams who had representatives at Cincinnati's Pro Day on Wednesday. There were a total of 13 Bearcats that worked out for all the scouts in attendance. However most of their attention was on two of UC's more highly regarded prospects in Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard
Pike is just two years removed from being lost on the depth chart and encouraged to graduate; Gilyard in this very decade was living in his car in a drugstore parking lot.
Now, based on helping deliver the Bearcats to back-to-back BCS bowls, they're recognizable names to anyone in a pro personnel department. With both players having that experience and looks at the Senior Bowl and combine, Wednesday's cattle call at Nippert was no big deal.
"I just think you go through it so much and obviously the stage we played on in college-Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma and the other stadium where the atmosphere's amazing-then we went through the Senior Bowl and the combine, it's almost second nature," said Pike. "It's good, anytime there's a big showing on a Pro Day, you're doing some things right."
While Pike can be counted on to give the diplomatic answer, Gilyard's not shy about "tooting his horn" when a microphone or camera's around. Some may call it bragging. I was taught that it's not bragging if you back it up.
"I know one thing-I'll surprise somebody," said the talkative Gilyard. "Someone's going to be surprised because all of my times are good. It's like night and day from the combine. I think I moved up with somebody."
He probably did.
Gilyard's 40 time was 4.47 and he made his typical array of acrobatic catches on the familiar turf at UC. He also was complimentary of his quarterback.
"He was dropping dimes over people's shoulders," said the man in braids. (He pulled his famous mop into a pigtail for the 40.)
Watching Pike, I can verify his comments. I saw very few uncatchable balls out there. I am sure being back in the friendly confines of Nippert clearly helped. Plus, Pike has grown extremely poised for a guy that hardly saw the field the first three-plus years of his career.
"Just from talking to guys right now, they're extremely happy with what they saw," said Pike. "Obviously, they know that the routes that we ran in college might have the same name but they're not the same route. A couple of the guys are just getting back from California-it's an ongoing process getting those routes down and getting on the same page, but I think we did well."
Pike threw to a variety of Bearcats: Marcus Waugh, Alex Daniels, Jacob Ramsey, Craig Carey, and Gilyard. However, it was evident that the eyes were on Mardy Gilyard's strides downfield.
Among those eyes were Bengals personnel man Jim Lippincott, special teams coach Darrin Simmons (accompanied by Kevin Huber) and most importantly, Bengals receivers coach Mike Sheppard. Pike and Gilyard were asked how it would be should the hometown team come calling.
"April 13th, they have the guys from UC come down to work them all out and that's a big day as far as the Bengals go," noted Pike. "If I could go down and have a big day, there could be a chance. For me, staying home and playing for a team I grew up with that would be unbelievable. Any team that's going to take a chance with me, I'm going to help them out and show them they made the right choice."
Again, the diplomatic answer from the quarterback Pike, now the "X-Box/Playstation" answer from the sometimes flamboyant Gilyard....
"Oh man," said Gilyard with a big smile. "It would be a blessing. Just to be able to stay involved in the city because I love the city. Every part of the city from downtown, west side, north side, east side, everybody loves Mardy. It would be a blessing to stay in the city but I don't have any control of that."
Gilyard repeatedly has expressed his desire to play with boys at Paul Brown Stadium. He even noted that he played the Sugar Bowl with a message for "Slim"--deceased Bengals receiver Chris Henry.
There's even a number of on-line attempts to persuade the Bengals to take the young man with small shells peering out of his helmet.
"I never knew that, I didn't know that existed," laughed Mardy. "I mean, I heard a rumor there were guys petitioning for me to get drafted and stay in the city. I didn't even know nothing about that. Shout out to my Twitter fans. That's crazy! Again, that just shows the fans just love me."
Should Pike and Gilyard continue to perform well in workouts and interviews, both could hear their name early in the draft. However, neither has a firm grasp on when their phone may ring.
"Just from talking with people, 80 percent of it is game film," said Pike. "What you do on the field speaks for itself. The combine obviously is big, Pro Days are big-the other part's the interview process-people want to get to know you besides (being) a football player. When they draft you, they want to know you're a good person and that you'll be loyal to their franchise and good to their city."
Pike also had advice and encouragement from several ex-Bearcats now employed by NFL teams. Kevin Huber, Mike Mickens, DeAngelo Smith, Haruki Nakamura and Connor Barwin were all in attendance Wednesday. Barwin has been extremely helpful and even noted to Pike that he worked out for 15-20 teams and then was drafted by a team that HAD NOT worked him out (Houston Texans).
Gilyard, like Pike, downplayed the Pro Day stats (although he was clearly pleased to have improved his numbers from the combine).
"There ain't no team out here going to show their hand," said Gilyard. "It's like a poker game. I didn't understand it at first but I understand it now. If a guy has interest in you, he ain't going to show you. Nobody's showing their hand. They're just telling me, 'Hey, you're working hard-hey, you're looking good,' stuff like that."
They're both looking good for themselves and the University of Cincinnati.
Alex Daniels, Jeff Linkenbach, Marcus Waugh, Brad Jones and Craig Carey probably also turned some heads. The more Bearcats turning heads, the more the NFL comes around and the more notoriety UC gets as a football power.
Wednesday is as populated as I've ever seen for a Pro Day. Visits to the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl can do that. Naturally, Butch Jones was there taking it all in and pressing the flesh where needed.
Times are changing and changing fast with Bearcat football. Pike and Gilyard, as good as they are, are just a small piece of it.
