Last year, much like every other platform, we at The Gridiron Review vouched for a Winners and Losers of the Combine article. However, we knew we wanted to do something different. This year we will be changing our Combine coverage to a short series we are calling “2024 Combine Scout’s Notebook”. Essentially rather than gather our thoughts and organize them we will give you an inside look at what our notes end up looking like while watching the Combine. You will be able to see our thoughts and reactions, things we were happy with and things we weren’t. Let’s dive into Day 2!

Cornerbacks

• Terrion Arnold 40 isn’t as shocking as it will be to others. It sounded like people though he was going to run 4.4’s or faster, 4.51 is maybe a hair slower than we would’ve thought but roughly right 
• Cam Hart’s 40 right around where we thought it’d be
• Khyree Jackson’s 40 is right around where we thought, worried it might’ve been slower based on tape
• Holy hell, 4.61 for Kalen King. His fall from the graces continue
• Max Melton 4.39 is a bit slower than we would’ve thought
• Max Melton looks faster than Quinyon Mitchell running, but somehow Mitchell had faster time…. Don’t get it
  • Mitchell does not show 4.33 speed on tape in our opinion, so that is shocking
• Josh Newton 40 is definitely faster than we thought he’d run. He loses serious ground on tape when it becomes a foot race
• Ennis Rakestraw’s first 40 a bit underwhelming for us
• 4.29????????? Holy hell Nate Wiggins, what a freaky prospect.
  • We had him pinned as maybe a high 4.4/low 4.5
  • Wiggins hurt… S.O.B. Wanted to see him go through drills. But apparently he thought he could run 4.2? Would’ve loved to see that, would’ve been nuts. Despite popping and “being on fire” hopefully it’s nothing super super serious.
    • Wiggins injury not as serious as originally believed…Awesome, best news of the day!
• Andru Phillips… yikesssss. That’s a big difference in his 40 times. 
• Upset Tampa didn’t run… okay with Lassiter not running
• Smooth rep, fluid hips by Hart
• Isaiah Johnson hips look tight
• King’s line drill rep didn’t look bad
• Lassiter’s hips don’t look tight like our tape evaluation would’ve thought, but drifted off the line a lot
• Sainristill may have a little tightness in his hips?
• Josh Wallace line drill rep very smooth
• Chau Smith-Wade is a prospect we need to go look at. From Senior Bowl to early combine thoughts seems like he is doing well
• A lot more of the CBs hips look like they have some tightness than we would’ve thought 
• When they showed the Simulcast between Arnold and Mitchell doing the line drill. It looks like Mitchell is either slow in a back pedal or slows down when he has to react to the coach telling him to flip. Rep did not look the same as Arnold
• In the W drill, Hart, Mitchell, Sainristil look like they take too many steps to break
• Josh Newton footwork in W drill and 90 degree break drill looks much better than it did on tape, not as many steps to break
• Terrion Arnold’s rep in Teryl Austin 1 drill looked awkward
• Jarrian Jones, Renardo Green continues to look good in drills
• Lassiter’s rep in Teryl Austin 1 drill looked smooth and natural. Hip tightness seems like less of a concern. 
• Daequan Hardy having solid day all around
• Mitchell’s rep in Teryl Austin drill 2 didn’t look good
• Josh Newton stock up with improvement to footwork
• Tyler Owens broad jump… Holy hell. First to get close to Jones since he set the record
• Terrion Arnold rep in box drill not great. Had to restart and then still stumbled 
• Hart is probably the best looking corner when you consider his size and length
• Kalen King footwork looks much improved compared to tape
• Marcellas Dial, Renardo Green gauntlet run the best of the group so far. Ran through it, stayed on the line, caught everything
• Melton having himself a day all around 
• You saw the WR background for Sainristil’s gauntlet run
• Already liked Wallace more than most, but for everyone else Wallace’s stock trending up for sure

Safeties

• Cole Bishop with solid 40, better than we would’ve thought
• Javon Bullard 40 seems to fit what we saw on tape
• Caleb Bullock 40 is a little disappointing. We thought he had really good straight line speed, was thinking at least low 4.4’s
• Kamren Kinchens… Yikesssssssssss. We didn’t think he was going to run fast, but 4.65 is roughhhhhhh
• Tyler Owens hurt during 40. Damn it, wanted to see what he could do after hearing about his jump
• Josh Proctor 40 time continues to make us believe he’s a LB convert
• Jaylin Simpson is 179 for a safety????
• Sione Vaki 40 was slower than we would’ve thought, definitely disappointing
• Oh yeah James Williams is definitely going to LB
• Definitely didn’t have speed concerns with Evan Williams. That 4.6 range is definitely rough, not where we thought it’d be at all
• Jaden Hicks Back Pedal and 45 break drill started strong, but ended exactly the way we would’ve thought. Fluid back pedal and hips, then couldn’t track and locate the ball at all
• Bad misjumsp by Tykee Smith on the back pedal and 45 break drill
• Dadrion Taylor-Demerson killing it right now. Have to scout him post-combine
• Jeremiah talking about Bullock at CB… called that one
• Vaki footwork looking much better than his film
• Bishop Inability to locate ball on the 90 degree break drill was bad
• Demani Richardson feels like someone who’s going to get converted to LB, doesn’t look as natural in the DB drills as the “true safeties”
• Bishop stock DEFINITELY trending up
• With the exception of back pedal and 45 break drill, can’t lie Jaden Hicks has actually looked pretty good in the positional drills. Definitely need to take another look, don’t remember him looking like this on tape
• Josh Proctor really looks better in DB drills than we would’ve thought. We still think he’s a LB convert candidate, but him playing as a primary box safety isn’t looking as bad as we originally thought
• Nooooooooooo, hopefully Bishop injury isn’t serious…. Shitttttt
• Millard Bradford really not having that good a day
• Holy hell Jaden Hicks, he may have had the best run of the gauntlet of any of the safeties. Caught everything, stayed on the line… beautifully done
• Tyler Nubin, Tykee Smith, Sione Vaki, and Evan Williams also in contention for best gauntlet run 
• Really disappointed with not seeing Beau Brade at all

Tight Ends

• Theo Johnson runs amazing time for weight. Will likely be a better pro than college player if 40 time shows athletic upside
• Jared Wiley runs good time for height
• Ja’Tavion Sanders has disappointing 40 but definitely plays faster
• Holker has really rough sled rep
• Theo Johnson amazing sled rep
• Tip Reiman very good sled rep
• Cade Stover amazing rep (likely best of the group)
• Jared Wiley not a great sled rep
• Tip Reiman drops multiple passes though he is not expected to be a pass catcher
• Jaheim Bell has great day in regards to catching the ball
• AJ Barner hands look shaky (immediately proceeds to prove me wrong in the red zone drill)
• Theo Johnson is the biggest winner at the position. Showed better athleticism with great 40 and 2nd place in both jumps (more than tape showed), good hands, and great sled rep (which shows on film). 
• Ben Sinnott surprisingly has best jumps of the tight ends.