Several Ute players show off their skills to NFL scouts

Jesse Boone considers "Pro Day" a transformation of sorts. One, the all-conference center added, that turns football players into track athletes.

"The past eight weeks that's all we've been trying to do. Football is out of the picture," Boone said. "Now we've just got to learn how to jump high and run fast."

NFL scouts ran Boone and several other departing Utah seniors through a variety of strength, speed and skills tests Monday at the Smith Athletics Center and Rice-Eccles Stadium. Strong showings could lead to inclusion in next month's NFL draft.

"There's just so much pressure coming out here in front of all these guys with their stopwatches. Everyone's got a stopwatch," Boone said. "Everyone's watching you perform and you've just got to show up and do your best."

Evaluating athleticism, he added, is what "Pro Day" is all about.

And in that regard, Boone said things went well. He matched or exceeded personal bests in almost everything.

"It was a good day," said Boone, who improved his vertical jump by two inches.

Though caught a bit off guard when he wasn't invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, the Millard High (Fillmore, Utah) alum is taking a philosophical approach to his professional future.

"The way I look at it is I only need one guy to like me, one team to like me," Boone said.

Utah's auditions went well. So much so, in fact, that several scouts plan to come back for a second look on March 29.

That's when receiver John Madsen, who is recovering from a broken ankle suffered in Utah's loss to New Mexico on Nov. 12, plans to fully participate. He'll spend the next three weeks training with other athletes in Houston.

"I'm about 95 percent. I can push it to 100 percent. I just haven't trained at full speed for more than a week so I didn't feel like I was ready to get my times down and stuff like that," Madsen said. "I feel like I need about another month and I should be there."

Defensive lineman Steve Fifita may do the same. He bench-pressed the required 225 pounds a whopping 38 times, but did not do any of the timed drills. Fifita is getting back to full strength after slightly straining a hamstring while working out several weeks ago. His roommate at a California training facility is former Wyoming quarterback Corey Bramlet.

"Everything's good," Fifita said.