If the biggest mistake Brad Kaaya made at his pro-day workout Wednesday was a brief slip in etiquette, he surely wowed a 32-team assembly of NFL coaches and scouts.
After all, this wasn't a convention on proper social greetings.
"I said 'What's up,'" Kaaya said of his pre-workout meeting with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, per the Palm Beach Post. "I actually called him 'Bill,' I didn't call him 'Coach' on accident. He's so iconic."
Hey, maybe Belichick thought it showed an impressive comfort level Kaaya has with meeting people. Certainly foremost on Kaaya's mind was showing Belichick and others the passing skills that made him one of the ACC's top quarterbacks. He's also considered something of a developmental prospect, but his private coach, former Buccaneers and Cowboys QB Rudy Carpenter, pointed out a few NFL clubs for whom Kaaya could be a fit.
By then, he could be on a first-name basis with his coaches, anyway.
Here are a few other things we learned Wednesday from Miami's pro day:
2. Njoku retests. TE David Njoku put together an impressive performance at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he didn't rest on his numbers at UM's pro day. Instead, he re-tested in various combine events, giving scouts another close look at his athleticism, and went through a positional workout as well. He roughly matched his combine 40-yard dash clocking of 4.64, per NFL Network's James Palmer, and improved his vertical jump by 2.5 inches with a 40-inch jump. After first saying he wouldn't perform a shuttle run, he decided to oblige scouts on that as well. "(Njoku is) a guy that's got all kind of ability, and isn't even full grown yet. I think he's got more of an upside to him," said UM coach Mark Richt, per ESPN. "Gosh, he's only played tight end for two seasons in his whole life."
3. Turf toe woe. A turf toe injury on his right foot prevented Kaaya from running a 40-yard dash at both the combine and the pro day, per the Palm Beach Post. It didn't stop him from throwing, but it does create a question that interested clubs might want an answer for in a private workout, if they haven't gotten it already.
4. Elder flashes speed. CB Corn Elder clocked unofficial times of 4.43 and 4.44 in the 40-yard dash, a significant improvement from the 4.55 time he recorded at the combine. Elder also revealed that he's had a private workout with the Carolina Panthers.
5. Eyes on you. Detroit Lions DB Quandre Diggs, who played in college with UM's Adrian Colbert before Colbert transferred from Texas, had an eye on his former teammate Wednesday. Diggs sent a congratulatory tweet Colbert's way after an unofficial report of a 4.25 40-yard dash surfaced.
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