College: Several Ualbany football players try to impress at Pro Day.
Simon, Kelly, Easton among Danes at workout
COLONIE — Amitral Simon Jr. is willing to reach the NFL any way he can. At any position.
The several NFL scouts who showed up Tuesday inside the dome at Afrim’s Sports Park didn’t want to look at Simon solely at defensive end, the position at which he excelled for the University at Albany last season.
Simon, who is 6-foot-1 and 260 pounds, was also asked to perform linebacker drills and drop into coverage during Ualbany’s Pro Day.
“Wherever they want me to play at,” Simon said. “Special teams, whatever.”
Simon, who goes by “AJ,” also drove to the University at Buffalo’s Pro Day March 14. There he tried out as a fullback. He ran a 4.59 40yard dash and benchpressed 225 pounds 34 times. He had a 31-inch vertical leap and 9-foot, 8-inch broad jump.
“The scouts are saying some positive things,” Simon said. “You just never know. It’s time to play the waiting game. Just stay in shape. My chances (of being drafted), I feel like they’re pretty high.”
Simon, who had 121⁄2 sacks last season, was among 10 Ualbany players who worked out Tuesday in front of representatives from the Giants, Jets, Bills, Commanders, Patriots, Brown, Ravens and Titans. The Arena Football League’s Albany Firebirds were also there.
“When we bring them in, we know what their dreams are and we want them to have this opportunity,” Ualbany coach Greg Gattuso said. “I think this is a culmination of a lot of hard work in college. We don’t let everybody work out on a Pro Day. It’s an honor and a privilege to do this.”
Ualbany limited the workout to its own players after allowing athletes from other colleges to attend in previous years.
The other participants were: linebackers Dylan Kelly, Brian Abraham and Ori Jean-charles, wide receivers Brevin Easton and Julian Hicks, defensive backs William Hackett and Larry Walker Jr., defensive lineman Billy Martin and running back Nate Larkins.
Kelly tweaked his hamstring on his second try at the 40-yard dash, though he felt he did well in individual drills.
Kelly, a former walk-on, was the runner-up for the Buck Buchanan Award for the top defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision.
“All I need is that one opportunity,” he said. “Coming into college as a walkon, just get that one opportunity to show yourself and then just never look back.”
The 6-2 Kelly, who played at 224 pounds last season, said he still has to overcome doubts.
“It’s obviously being FCS instead of FBS, people don’t look at you as high,” Kelly said. “So just making sure they know I can play with whoever I go up against.”
Easton had 57 catches for 1,086 yards and 13 touchdowns last season to help Ualbany make its first appearance in the FCS semifinals before losing to South Dakota State. After the season, he trained at TEST Academy in South Florida for 21⁄2 months to prepare for NFL workouts.
He ran a 4.5 40 at Syracuse’s Pro Day on March 18. He did not run the 40 again at Afrim’s. He caught passes from Ualbany wide receivers coach Will Fiacchi, a former Great Danes quarterback.
“I definitely felt it was a great opportunity to get out here and compete,” he said. “Just to get out in front of some of these scouts again. I know they were around last season because of how much success we had.”
The NFL draft is April 25-27 in Detroit.
“I could see AJ Simon sneaking into a round late,” Gattuso said. “I think from this level, it’s traditionally the (undrafted) free-agent market. I talked to a couple of (players), don’t worry about your 40 times. Worry about getting into camps. It’s football then when you get into camp, and I think we have a bunch of good football players.”