seniors impress scouts
? booker solidifies his
status as a potential
1 first-rounder.
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
A group of speedy defensive backs,
including two converted linebackers,
stood out Tuesday as 25 to 30 NFL
scouts evaluated several Nebraska se
niors at Code Pavilion.
Gathered in preparation for April’s
NFL draft, the scouts took special no
tice of comerback Michael Booker,
who is projected by many analysts as
a mid-to-late first-round pick. But
Terrell Farley, Jamel Williams, Mike
Minter and Eric Stokes also turned
heads, causing one scout to label the
NU group among the nation’s best
batch of defensive backs.
“It’s as good as you’re going to
find,” said Kent McCloughan, an
Oakland Raiders’ scout who lettered
at Nebraska from 1962 through 1964.
“Tliey’re all going to be drafted in a
pretty good round.”
Booker, 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds,
ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash and
drew the day’s largest crowd during a
series of agility drills.
Everybody would love to go in the
first round. That’s a given,” said
Booker, who started 23 games over the
last two seasons and earned second
team All-Big 12 honors as a senior.
“But if you perform at first-round sta
tus, which I think I’m doing, then
you’ll go in the first jound.”
Last month in Indianapolis,
Booker and several other former
Comhuskers performed for a much
larger group at the league’s annual
scouting combine. Although Booker
preferred Tuesday’s workout in a fa
miliar environment, he said, the scouts
remained difficult to read.
“They’ve got that stem look and
smile at every player,” Booker said.
“They don’t say too much, but every- -
body likes to see an athlete come out
here and try fo better himself.”
Williams, 6-2 and 210 pounds, and
Farley, a 6-1, 205-pounder, played
linebacker at Nebraska, but because of
their size and speed, a spot in the sec
ondary — perhaps at safety — best
suits the duo at the next level.
“You can see Farley and Williams
have no idea how to really pedal as a
defensive back,” McCloughan said, j
“They think as a linebacker, so they’re
i
going to have to be really good spe
cial teams players for a year or two
before they leam to play. But they’ll
be drafted in pretty good position.”
Williams led Nebraska with 97
tackles last season, and Farley — de
spite missing four regular-season
games and the Orange Bowl because
of two DWI arrests recorded 43
tackles, including 10 behind the line
of scrimmage. McCloughan said he
lid not know how Farley’s off-the
Eield problems will affect his draft sta
tus.
Minter, Stokes, I-back Damon
Benning and offensive linemen Adam
Freu and Chris Dishman also im
pressed McCloughan, who played de
fensive back for the Raiders after
graduating from NU.
Many of the scouts return to Lin
coin next TUesday, primarily to watch
Jared Tomich, who McCloughan
called “an important item to see.”
Tomich suffered a fractured right
ankle during a January practice for the
Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. He
missed the scouting combine and
watched Tuesday’s workout from the
sidelines. ,
Projected as a middle linebacker in
the NFL after twice earning All
America honors as a rush end at NU,
Tomich wore a cast on his ankle for
four weeks. He’s now running on the
leg and said he will be ready for the
scouts next week.
“It was something that I had no
control over,” Tomich said of his un
timely injury. “When’s there’s noth
ing you can do, it’s pretty rough. Hope
fully, it won’t hurt me too much.”
Ryan Sodeklin/DN
MIKE FULLMAN takes a break ea IbesCay at Ceek Pavillea. NFL sceets
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