The Daily Gamecock

A look at Deebo Samuel’s combine performance ahead of NFL draft

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On March 2, former South Carolina football player Deebo Samuel participated in the NFL scouting combine along with 47 other wideouts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Samuel participated in the bench press, broad jump, vertical jump, three-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle and 40-yard dash in front of NFL general managers, coaches, scouts and fans. 

Deebo Samuel’s combine results

Bench press: 15 reps

Broad jump: 122.0 inches

Vertical jump: 39.0 inches

Three-cone drill: 7.03 seconds

20-yard shuttle: 4.14 seconds

40-yard dash: 4.48 seconds

In addition to combine performance, a prospect’s interview during the draft process and collegiate production can determine whether NFL organizations deem the prospect a good fit on their rosters, where the player sits on a team’s draft board and, ultimately, how high they are selected in the draft.

Of the 47 wideouts besides Samuel who worked out at the combine, nine played for a school in the SEC in 2018.

Among all SEC players last season, Samuel ranked fourth in receiving yards, fifth in receptions and trailed only Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy in touchdown receptions. His 570 kick return yards for the Gamecocks last season were tops in the SEC.

Samuel, who was measured at 5’11” and weighed in at 214 pounds at the combine, was named a captain for the South team at the 2019 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Like any NFL draft season, many mock drafts have found their way onto the internet for eager fans to observe and critique in the months, weeks and days leading up to this year’s draft.

Since the 2018 college football season concluded with Clemson defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the title game, mockers have predicted many different wide receivers to go in the early rounds of April’s draft.

Nobody will know for sure which teams select which players or how many wide receivers will get a phone call from an NFL organization notifying them they are about to be selected until the draft. 

“I’m just blessed to be here — any team — just going out there being able to keep playing the game I love," Samuel said to the media at the scouting combine.

Where Samuel and the other players in the draft class are selected will be revealed when the selection of the last pick occurs at the end of the draft on April 27.

Besides Samuel, former South Carolina football players Bryson Allen-Williams, Zack Bailey, Dennis Daley and Rashad Fenton were invited to the scouting combine and are eligible for selection in the 2019 NFL draft.

Five fast facts

  1. Samuel is the first wide receiver from South Carolina since Pharoh Cooper to receive an invitation to the NFL scouting combine. 
  2. Hayden Hurst, the 25th overall pick in last year’s draft, was the first South Carolina pass catcher chosen in the first round since Troy Williamson (Vikings, 2007).
  3. Samuel did more than twice as many reps on the bench press than new Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. 
  4. Ten total SEC wide receivers have been selected in rounds 1-2 of the NFL draft in the last five years (Mike Evans, Odell Beckham Jr., Jordan Matthews, Jarvis Landry, Amari Cooper, Dorial Green-Beckham, Laquon Treadwell, Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, D.J. Chark)
  5. Out of those ten, only three played for a school in the SEC East. Matthews played for Vanderbilt, Green-Beckham for Missouri and Ridley for Georgia.

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