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INDIANAPOLIS — Earlier this week, when it turned clear that Rome Odunze was the very best rated prospect who would really take part totally on this week’s NFL scouting mix, the Washington Huskies wideout fielded a query that has basically change into a defining North Star for the elite gamers at this 12 months’s occasion.
Why do it?
All three of the highest quarterbacks declined to do on-field work, with LSU’s Jayden Daniels refusing to even be weighed or measured. The highest tight finish, Brock Bowers, skipped all of his positional drills and the 40-yard sprint. Similar for the draft’s presumed prime two wideouts, LSU’s Malik Nabers and Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., who no-showed his scheduled media look. By Saturday, it successfully left the mix with Odunze because the final elite standing after he dedicated to doing actually the whole lot.
By the top of Saturday night time, he not solely confirmed up — he starred. And in a twist, he did it longer than anybody realized.
After the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Odunze put up very good scores within the vertical leap (39 inches) and 20-yard shuttle (4.03), he ran a powerful 4.45 seconds within the 40-yard sprint. He adopted that up with an impeccable slate of drills, highlighted by a near-perfect gauntlet, showcasing his capability to remain on a line whereas operating at full pace and catching passes in speedy succession. Then he did one thing that caught the eyes of NFL expertise evaluators.
With Lucas Oil Stadium practically empty, Odunze was on the sphere repeatedly re-running his three-cone drill. Regardless of already notching the fourth-highest rating (6.88) of his receiver class, he had clipped a cone whereas making an attempt to get a greater rating. So he went once more. And once more. And once more. 5 occasions in all, till NFL Community cameras seen he was doing a drill in a stadium that was successfully deserted.
#Washington wideout Rome Odunze lingered on the Lucas Oil Discipline late Friday, lengthy after the stadium had emptied out, making an attempt to interrupt 6.6 seconds within the three cone drill. This dude. pic.twitter.com/K6F1ZqN9Jn
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 3, 2024
It was a second that caught the eyes of evaluators, too.
“Wow,” one scout mentioned. “Rattling. Yeah, he’s a stud. The most secure choose on this draft, I suppose apart from [Harrison], however Marvin in all probability wouldn’t have examined like Odunze did. Additionally an insanely good child.”
“Unanimous All-Juice Staff,” one other scout texted.
With out query, it was a telling second to finish an excellent day — and nice week — for Odunze, who has additionally drawn rave opinions in his interviews with groups. A lot so, there now appears to be a rising chance that he may unseat Nabers because the presumed second wideout of the board after Harrison. That wouldn’t be a large upset, on condition that Odunze has been a first-round choose in ready since his 2022 season with the Huskies.
As for that query about why Odunze did the whole lot — when he simply may have joined Harrison and Nabers in doing nothing — he answered it himself earlier this week.
“That’s what it’s about — saying you’re one of the best and going and competing for it, proper?” Odunze mentioned. “I do really feel that approach, so in fact it’s a contest. But additionally, all these dudes are ballers. I’m simply tremendous honored to be part of the dialog and tremendous grateful to have the ability to compete in opposition to guys like that. I’m followers of their sport as properly.”
“For me, [this is] about having the ability to compete in opposition to generations earlier than, generations to come back and be capable of see the place I stack up in opposition to all these folks. I really feel prefer it’s a one-time factor, a factor you possibly can solely do as soon as in your life, so I simply wished to do it to the fullest. It’s one thing I really feel like I can excel at, in order that’s why I made a decision to do it.”
He lived as much as that Saturday. However what has been most attention-grabbing about him this week is that groups have lastly been in a position to take up his persona. To not point out see how he has mingled with different stars. One personnel man famous that he has seen USC quarterback Caleb Williams gravitate towards Odunze on a couple of event this week, a actuality that has possible fed into some buzz over the course of the mix that has steered the Chicago Bears may take Williams with the No. 1 general choose, then try to maneuver up from their No. 9 spot to pair Odunze with him.
That is likely to be a bit tougher after Saturday, when Odunze simply cement himself contained in the draft’s elite wideout trio with Harrison and Nabers. Early within the week, he’d met with the Bears, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, though that checklist had possible doubled by Saturday. How far he can climb on this draft stays to be seen, particularly on condition that he is already doubtlessly inside the highest six general. However as Odunze mentioned earlier this week, he believes he’s one of the best wideout on this draft and he got here to Indianapolis ready to show it.
“I simply assume my versatility on the sphere [is why I’m the best],” Odunze mentioned. “I believe I’ve proven all the talents that may translate to the NFL at a excessive stage in numerous aspects of my sport. And I believe who I’m as an individual, who I might be to a locker room, who I might be in the neighborhood, are all A-plus. … I’m at all times keen to study, at all times keen to grasp that there’s room for enchancment no matter the place I’m at in my profession.”
Even when that time in his profession is on a Saturday night time on the mix, operating a drill for the fifth time inside a stadium that is able to prove the lights.
