By Tony Catalina
NEFJ Correspondent

STORRS, CT – The NFL world convened inside the UConn football facility for the Huskies’ Pro Day on Thursday in what will be a busy time around New England for NFL scouts.

The UConn Pro Day was sort of the kick off to the rest of the week where Bryant, Holy Cross and Boston College will also host Pro Days the next few days.

Christian Haynes and the rest of the Husky pro-hopefuls looked to capitalize on one final opportunity ahead of next month’s NFL Draft. An impressive 31 of the 32 NFL teams were in attendance with the only exception being the Tennessee Titans.

While most were there to see Haynes – the Huskies offensive lineman projects to hear his name called early on draft weekend in April – there were other intriguing prospects in attendance that showed out as well.

When it comes to the specific combine-type workouts, Haynes and teammate Eric Watts forwent activities such as the bench press, and vertical leap in favor or focusing predominantly on the position based field work. However, UConn linebacker Jackson Mitchell chose to do everything on Wednesday.

Mitchell put up an impressive 17 reps of the bench press which would’ve been tied for fifth in his position group at last month’s NFL Combine. Mitchell also clocked an unofficial 4.84 on his 40 and jumped 34 inches on the vertical leap, before rounding it all out with a 9’5” on the broad jump.

As for Haynes, he was mostly an onlooker until it came time to show off on his own in front of the entire crowd. Haynes and a staff member of the Jets went through a rigorous position based workout that lasted about 15 minutes.

“I’m very confident in anything I do,” Haynes said when asked about his versatility up front. “Center or guard, just showing coaches that I’m confident and able to be versatile.”

Watts also joined in for position work and spent most of his time listening to instruction from a staff member from the Green Bay Packers as he went through the workout that showcased his agility and pass rushing ability.

Although he did not come with much fanfare leading up to the day, Huskies wide receiver Geordon Porter turned heads when he reportedly ran a 40 in the low 4.3’s. His type of speed and burst opened eyes. Even if the on-field production wasn’t there during his college days, his traits were definitely noticed by onlookers on Wednesday.

Outside of just UConn players, there were also prospects from Yale, Wagner, and New Haven participating throughout the afternoon. The biggest name of them all was Kiran Amegadjie, the massive Yale offensive tackle, who projects to be the second best NFL prospect in attendance behind only Haynes.

Amegadjie participated in the bench press only, where he put up 21 reps, then spent the rest of his time supporting the other players and speaking with scouts and officials in attendance. The former Bulldog reportedly already has three top-30 visits scheduled with the Washington Commanders, Cleveland Browns, and Chicago Bears and that list will likely grow over the next month.

Surprisingly, Haynes said he doesn’t have any official visits lined up so far, but it could be a sign that the teams around the league are comfortable with his evaluation and don’t need to learn much more regarding his draft profile.

Conversations between the players and the teams will continue on until the draft commences, but in the meantime these prospects will continue to work and hone their craft in hopes of hearing their name called during the upcoming NFL Draft.