BOONE, N.C. — With a lengthy, regimented throwing circuit complete,
Zac Thomas took a deep breath and flashed a big smile before exchanging fist bumps with the receivers who had caught his passes.
Years of hard work and months of drill-specific preparation led up to Thursday's Pro Day for Thomas,
Shemar Jean-Charles,
Ryan Neuzil and
Noah Hannon. That can be an intense and stressful scenario, but the four App State football alums fared well while working out in front of personnel from 18 NFL teams.
"It was a dream come true just to have this opportunity to perform at a pro day," Jean-Charles said. "This is something we've all been looking forward to since we were kids, especially coming in as true freshmen, seeing the older guys performing at their pro day and being able to showcase their skills."
If the arm strength, tight spirals and in-stride catches weren't proof enough, Thomas' end-of-workout reaction confirmed that he, like his teammates for the last four-plus years, had enjoyed a productive morning.
"When you think about it, it's a long process," Thomas said. "It's hard on your body. It's hard on your mind. And you have to be dedicated to it. I was (training) for a little over three months, away from everyone I knew, and it was ball grind. Every day we went in there and worked out, ran and did the same things over and over, and it's mental.
"When you go out there and perform, there's obviously some things I wish I could have done a little bit better here and there, but at the end of the day, I was pleased with my numbers and very pleased with the way I threw the ball."
Helping lead App State to a 42-10 record with four bowl wins and three Sun Belt titles over the last four seasons, the four Pro Day participants all had stellar individual careers.
Jean-Charles (cornerback) and Neuzil (interior offensive lineman) were both named All-Americans in 2020, with Jean-Charles picking up first-team recognition from the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Thomas went 32-6 as a starting quarterback at App State, and Hannon started at center in all 52 games that the Mountaineers played after he enrolled as a true freshman in 2017.
Operating at a weight closer to what he carried when taking the field as an undersized true freshman for his first college game against Georgia, Hannon worked out as a 248-pound fullback for NFL scouts Thursday and even showed off his long-snapping abilities.
Jean-Charles weighed in at 184 pounds and still managed 19 reps in the 225-pound bench press. A physical corner who had an FBS-leading 17 passes defended in 2020, he displayed his athleticism with a 35-inch vertical leap and a time of 4.47 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
A two-year starter who ended his college career by getting better and better, Jean-Charles was projected to run in the 4.55 range, and he nearly reached 20 bench-press reps after starting the training process in single digits.
"For me, it's just repetition on my end and repeating everything over and over on the things I mess up at that most," he said. "Everybody can do the things that they're great at over and over, but if you work at the things you need improvement on, you'll get better overall, and that's something I take pride in."
Neuzil started the final 44 games of his college career at left guard after competing with Hannon for the starting center spot in the 2017 preseason, so he's capable of playing any of the three interior positions.
Neuzil has added roughly 15 pounds since the end of the 2020 season, as he reached 305 before weighing in at 301 on Thursday, but his times and measurements were still extremely good for an offensive lineman. He had 30 bench-press reps, knocking out the first 20 in rapid succession, and completed the 40-yard dash in 5.09 seconds.
For reference, 30 reps ranked in the top five for offensive linemen who attended last year's NFL Combine, and a 40 time under 5.10 seconds ranked in the top 10 for offensive linemen at the same event.
"It was really good to be able to show I was able to put on about 15 pounds and still perform very well and still be able to do the drills with the added weight," Neuzil said.
Thomas showed the ability to make every throw required of an NFL quarterback as he connected with a host of receivers, including App State alums Malachi Jones (a CFL receiver with NFL preseason experience) and Ike Lewis (a CFL prospect). Invited to Boone by Thomas even though he finished his college career a year before the quarterback enrolled, Jones knows what it's like to pursue a pro career and said he was happy to help a fellow Mountaineer try to achieve similar goals.
Whether it was the velocity, accuracy or spin of the ball, the 205-pound Thomas made a strong impression Thursday. His time of 4.56 seconds in the 40-yard dash offered more proof of the speed that enabled him to rush for 1,301 yards and post four rushes of at least 50 yards during his App State career.
"When I was training up in (New) Jersey, we'd have mock pro days getting ready for everything, and I PRed (today) in everything, from the 40 to the 5-10-5 to the 'L' drill," Thomas said.
"It's very promising to see that, because you get a lot of feedback from scouts on where I've needed to improve in my game. I took that to heart, and when I sat down with my quarterback coach, Coach Tony (Racioppi), I just laid it out there and said that these were the things I needed to get better on, and that's what we worked on most. I was very pleased with the way I threw the ball — I thought it was coming out of my hand really well."
Too small to play offensive line in the NFL, Hannon used his intelligence and work ethic to not only excel in college football, but to develop professional aspirations outside the sport as an App State graduate with a variety of interests and skill sets.
The proposition of giving pro football a shot as a fullback appealed to Hannon, and targeted with roughly 15 throws from Thomas on Thursday, he caught every one of them as an on-the-move route runner. A player who delivered the ball to Thomas via snaps for several years was now catching passes from his college roommate, even impressing bystanders with one difficult grab.
"This whole time, even during training, I've been preparing for that next step in life, interviewing for jobs, having stuff potentially lined up if this doesn't pan out," Hannon said. "I'm really committed to using that other part of App's education that it gave me and that experience here and the connections. I'm grateful for that and the opportunities I've had to showcase my talents outside of football in this time period, but when it came down to it, I felt like there was going to be a little bit of regret in my head if I didn't at least give it a shot."
