Long wait pays off for 2019 seniors
Finally get to perform for NFL scouts
Jazzee Stocker got the call at Los Angeles International Airport. Will Gragg was working out in Dallas. Jeff George Jr. was in Florida. And Aaron Mathews, Saleem Brightwell and Amir Watts were training here in town.
Two, maybe three, days before Pitt’s 2020 pro day was supposed to be held on the South Side, it was canceled. Well, at the time it was indefinitely postponed. But every player affected looked around during the early days of the pandemic and realized something — their last chance to prove themselves to the NFL was possibly gone.
“I couldn’t believe it was happening. But that’s how 2020 ended up going with COVID. Everything was shutting down,” said Mathews, a former Pitt and Clairton wide receiver. “It was rough. I never actually thought I was going to get the chance to do the pro day.”
Fortunately for those six former Panthers, they were able to unofficially close out their Pitt careers. It just happened 364 days later than expected.
Last Wednesday, scouts and coaches from all 32 NFL teams descended on the South Side for Pitt’s 2021 pro day. Consensus All-American pass-rushers Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones II, as well as safety Damar Hamlin and opt outs Jaylen Twyman and Paris Ford, were the main draws. But the contingent of Pitt participants went beyond those with guaranteed draft grades.
Head coach Pat Narduzzi, administrator Chris LaSala and the program extended invitations to Panthers who moved on after the 2019 season. Players like Mathews, Brightwell and Watts — contributors who would have nabbed at least rookie minicamp invites last year if not for COVID-19 — were afforded another opportunity.
Watts was “relieved” when Pitt contacted him in January about this year’s pro day. “It was like a breath of fresh air,” the defensive tackle said, after a year in which nothing came easy to the group of undrafted prospects.
Following Pitt’s Quick Lane Bowl win
over Eastern Michigan in December 2019, the Panthers went their separate ways. Those coming back for the 2020 season visited family then returned to campus for winter workouts. Those hoping to latch on with an NFL or Canadian Football League team went somewhere warm
or stayed in town to train.
Mathews competed in the Tropical Bowl in Daytona Beach, Fla., before flying back to Pittsburgh. Watts and Brightwell stayed local and worked out at Grossetti Performance in New Castle. Stocker trained in Calabasas, Calif., Gragg
prepared at Michael Johnson Performance in Texas, and George worked out at House of Athlete, former NFL star Brandon Marshall’s facility in Weston, Fla.
With a March 18 pro day on their minds, they trained six, sometimes seven days a week for two months. All six Panthers received undrafted free agent grades from the NFL. That didn’t deter them from committing time and resources. But those long days made it even harder to stomach the 2020 pro day cancellation.
Stocker called it a “traumatic experience.” Brightwell concurred.
“I didn’t get invited to any senior bowls or anything. No bowls were taking me. So I was banking on that pro day. ... The pro day was what I really needed for teams to see me,” the linebacker said. “I always try to be optimistic. But I knew I was in a sticky situation.”
Brightwell, who started 26 games and made 196 tackles at Pitt, had pre-pro day interest from a few NFL teams. The New York Giants wanted to bring him for a visit and workout. But after pro days were canceled, interest from teams cooled on players who weren’t invited to the scouting combine in Indianapolis a month earlier.
Opportunities for under-the-radar prospects further plummeted when the NFL canceled its June 2020 minicamps. Teams typically welcome dozens of tryout players — those who weren’t drafted and didn’t receive a priority free-agent contract. Brightwell and his former teammates viewed that as their “ticket” to an NFL roster or practice squad spot.
On top of that, the XFL announced last April that it was suspending operations with no plans of a 2021 season. And in August, the CFL nixed what would have been a shortened fall season, focusing on 2021.
Chances to play the game they’ve loved for years were dissipating.
“When I didn’t get a call on draft day, I started contemplating my whole life,” Gragg said with a half-laugh. “But my brother [Chris] played in the league for six years, so he was there right by my side, telling me it was going to be cool, helping me keep my head level, telling me to keep grinding and not lose track of the dream and the goal.”
The unsigned Panthers got some inkling from Pitt that they would be welcome back for its 2021 pro day. So they all kept training. But some also started to turn the page. Brightwell joined a marketing company and moved back to New
Jersey. Stocker, who tallied 100 tackles at safety and on special teams, started a job at Enterprise in his hometown of Coatesville. And Watts, a 26-game starter with 15 tackles for a loss, returned to Chicago to get his leasing license and coach football at his old high school.
Watts said it was “heartwarming” to mentor players from his area. But all along, he was thinking about the pro day.
“It was really mind over matter for me, working and not knowing when it was going to pay off,” he added. “All I need is that one step in the door.”
After Watts’ pro day performance, Narduzzi said he thinks Watts will be invited to an NFL minicamp, as long as teams hold them. Watts clocked a 4.9-second 40-yard dash and a 7.43-second threecone drill, which would have ranked second among interior defensive linemen at last year’s combine.
Mathews, a 13-game starter with special teams experience, recorded a 4.62second 40 with a 1.58-second 10-yard split. Stocker logged a 4.54-second 40 and a 4.23
-second three-cone drill. Gragg ran a 4.7second 40. And George felt comfortable with his quarterback workout, throwing to Gragg, Mathews and wide receiver DJ Turner.
Brightwell didn’t have the day he wanted. A week before his second chance at pro day, the linebacker pulled his hamstring and then strained it again on the first play of defensive back drills. But even though it was a difficult day, Brightwell was appreciative of the opportunity. So were Mathews, Watts, Stocker, George and Gragg.
Regardless of where they go from here, all six former Panthers agreed — they needed the experience of pro day to close out their collegiate careers.
“It was a long time coming,” George said. “It just felt great to get back out on the field and show everybody what we all had been working on.”
“I had a few scouts talk to me about how they went to other pro days and the ’19 guys didn’t have an opportunity to be at pro day. That’s the family we have,” Narduzzi added last week. “Whether they played last season or not, whether they opted out or not, it doesn’t matter. They’re ours. They’re our kids. They’re our players. They’re forever Panthers.”
“I always try to be optimistic. But I knew I was in a sticky situation.” — Saleem Brightwell Pitt LB was ‘banking’ on 2020 pro day