Former Badgers perform in front of NFL personnel during annual Pro Day

MADISON—NFL personnel from far and wide came out to the McClain Center on Wednesday morning to watch former Wisconsin Badgers perform in UW’s annual Pro Day event.

Thirteen former Badgers from last year’s team, along with two other Wisconsin players from seasons prior and a UW-Whitewater standout also attended the event.

A couple of weeks ago, eight Wisconsin standouts—offensive linemen Beau Benzschawel, Michael Deiter and David Edwards, fullback Alec Ingold, linebackers Ryan Connelly, T.J. Edwards and Andrew Van Ginkel, and safety D’Cota Dixon—took part in the 2019 NFL Combine in Indianapolis. They were all inside UW’s facility for Pro Day.

Running backs Taiwan Deal and Chris James, offensive lineman Micah Kapoi, tight end Zander Neuville and nose tackle Olive Sagapolu—all who were not invited to Indianapolis—were able to display their skillsets to some extent in front of all 32 NFL teams (according to UW).

Former Badgers Serge Trezy and Rachid Ibrahim, along with standout Division III offensive lineman Nate Trewyn from UW-Whitewater, also participated.

Below are the official results from UW for over half of the drills performed during Pro Day. These include the updated times for the 20-yard shuttle, 60-yard shuttle and 3-cone drill.

Also check out our Instagram page for more photos throughout the next day.

New episode dropped late Wednesday night with Wisconsin Pro Day interviews and more! Be sure to follow Bucky’s 5th Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and pretty much everywhere where you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Thoughts

• D’Cota Dixon drastically improved his 40-yard dash time at 4.62 seconds. In Indianapolis, he was officially timed at 4.81 seconds, second lowest out of all safeties who ran the 40. “That’s more what I was doing [during] training so I feel that’s who I am.”
• Dixon did state he ran 4.62 in his second 40-yard dash in Indianapolis, so that’s an interesting tidbit there.
• The senior safety also ran a 4.00-second 20-yard shuttle and 6.70-second 3-cone drill. That would have placed him second among all safeties for each respective drill at the Combine.
• T.J. Edwards told reporters he ran low-4.7s in the 40-yard dash during his training, but he said “it is what it is” and he’ll “take it.” He also confirmed his ankle is “100 percent” back.
• More from Edwards on teams trusting his film rather than his numbers: “I’ve always been one of those guys, I’m not going to wow you in a T-shirt and shorts but I’ve always been a guy who when you put the pads on, I’m the best guy out there. That’s what I strive to be, so it’s one of those things where I know they’re going to watch the tape and the chips will fall where they may.”
• Edwards also ran a 4.15-second 20-yard shuttle, which would have placed him seventh among linebackers from the Combine. His 6.99-second 3-cone drill would have also placed him eighth among that position group in Indy.
• Zander Neuville’s 27 reps of 225 pounds at bench press would have first among tight ends if he tested at the NFL Combine. For running back Taiwan Deal, he pushed 24 reps on the bench, which would have tied for fifth among backs in Indy. Both only did the bench on Wednesday.
• Nose tackle Olive Sagapolu looked good returning from injury. He said he weighed in at 324 pounds, down considerably from what he was listed at UW, and also jumped 30.5” in the vertical. He performed a few drills but did not bench, run the 40-yard dash or perform the 60-yard shuttle.
• Ryan Connelly improved his 20-yard shuttle time to 4.02 seconds from 4.31 ran at the Combine, which would have placed him first among linebackers who performed the drill in Indianapolis a couple weeks’ back.