Clemson football’s 2022 Pro Day is in the books. Here’s who stood out the most
Nolan Turner and James Skalski weren’t afraid to admit their feelings on not getting an NFL Scouting Combine invite.
Skalski was Clemson’s leading tackler with 100, and Turner was the fourth-leading tackler with 69. The two used the perceived slight as motivation and had strong showings during Clemson’s on-campus Pro Day on Thursday where all 32 NFL teams were represented.
Turner, listed a 6-foot-1, 202 pounds, had arguably the best day of all the Tigers. He impressed with a 37½-inch vertical to start the morning, the highest out of the seven Tigers to complete the jump. The safety then had a 10-2 broad jump, logged 17 bench press reps of 225 pounds and had official 40-yard dash times of 4.47 and 4.46 seconds. He made sure to send those times to brother Cole, a Clemson signee.
“(Head coach Dabo Swinney) loves to say how much more athletic and faster he is than me, so I got to send out my numbers today and see if he can match that coming in,” the elder Turner joked. “So, we’ll see.”
Turner credited the training he’s been doing in Florida with XPE Sports, run by Matt Gates and Tony Villani, with helping him to prepare for the showing.
“They do a great job (with) their program and training for this stuff, a lot of the combine drills, touching up on position work and stuff,” Turner said. “(They) put a big emphasis on speed and explosiveness, and those kinds of things I thought I need to work on a lot.”
Skalski had been back home in Georgia while nursing a foot injury until February when he went to Tampa, Florida to begin training. The 5-11 ⅞, 228-pound linebacker had a chip on his shoulder after not getting an invite to the NFL combine, which helped to fuel his performance Thursday.
Skalski had the most bench press reps of the day with 26, ran 4.73 and 4.70 in the 40 with a 34-inch vertical and 9-6 broad jumps.
While neither Skalski nor Turner have appeared in any mock drafts, they believe they’ve shown what it takes to compete at the next level between how well they competed and what’s on film.
“There’s so much anticipation for today,” Skalski said. “It’s just kind of a big weight off your shoulders for it to be over. Now I can really just focus on ball, talk ball and just get to what it’s really about.”
Health update
Tigers cornerback Andrew Booth was present for Pro Day but only supported his teammates, sitting out of competition as previously reported. His physical listed measurements were 5-11⅞, 196 pounds. Fellow cornerback Mario Goodrich decided at the last minute to complete the 40-yard dash and had times of 4.62 and 4.60. It was the only activity he completed at the NFL combine a couple weeks ago before reaggravating broken ribs sustained at the Reese’s Senior Bowl on Feb. 5.
Goodrich, measured at 6-0⅛ and 191 pounds, went through all but two drills and recorded 31 inches and 9-11 in the respective vertical and broad jumps. While he said his rib injury was still lingering, he gets daily treatment to try and keep the aggravation down.
Goodrich is projected to be a Day Three draft pick, but that’s the least of his worries.
“I don’t really care what they got to say,” Goodrich said of the projections. “I mean, most of them (are) sitting in their mama’s house somewhere. Whoever they’ve got in front of me in the mock draft, I really don’t care. It’s about getting in there and then once you get in there, it’s about staying there. I just feel like once I get in there, I’m going to be able to produce. I feel like I’ll have longevity as long as I do the right things and stay healthy.”
Tigers wide receiver Justyn Ross reaffirmed that he is 100% healthy and went through most of the drills and exercises Thursday. He said he’s spoken with some NFL teams but mostly with the Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers, calling Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin a “real good dude.”
“They just want to see me play ball, really,” Ross said, “just want to see me move around, show that I can get in and out of breaks and run good routes.”
Clemson 2022 NFL Pro Day Results
Vertical Jump (height and weight), in inches
- Nolan Turner (6-1, 202), 37 ½
- Baylon Spector (6-1 ⅛, 231), 36
- James Skalski (5-11 ⅞, 228), 34
- Braden Galloway (6-4 ⅛, 239), 33 ½
- Darien Rencher (5-7 ⅝, 192), 32
- Justyn Ross (6-3 ⅝, 210), 31 ½
- Mario Goodrich (6-0 ⅛, 191), 31
- Jack Maddox (6-3, 235), 26 ½
Broad Jump, in feet
- Nolan Turner, 10-2
- Baylon Spector, 10-2
- Braden Galloway, 10-2
- Darien Rencher, 10-0
- James Skalski, 9-6
- Mario Goodrich, 9-11
- Justyn Ross, 9-8
- Jack Maddox, 9-0
*Will Spiers didn’t participate
L-Drill, in seconds
- Darien Rencher, 6.82
- Baylon Spector, 6.93
- James Skalski, 7.02
- Braden Galloway, 7.32
- Nolan Turner, 7.00
*Justyn Ross, Mario Goodrich, Will Spiers and Jack Maddox didn’t participate
Pro Agility
- Baylon Spector, 4.23
- Darien Rencher, 4.28
- James Skalski, 4.37
- Nolan Turner, 4.41
- Braden Galloway, 4.45
- Jack Maddox, 4.6
*Mario Goodrich, Justyn Ross and Will Spiers didn’t participate
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 4:26 PM.
