The NFL Draft is exactly one month away, but that didn't stop a handful of Spartans from smiling inside Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center on Tuesday afternoon.
It was NFL Pro Day and Detroit Lions head coach Steve Mariucci and Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman, along with numerous coordinators and scouts, were on hand to watch MSU players display their talents in hopes of being drafted.
Senior quarterback Jeff Smoker, senior linebacker Mike Labinjo, senior defensive end Greg Taplin, senior guard Paul Harker, senior tackle Joe Tate and junior defensive tackle Matthias Askew were the bigger names that worked out on Tuesday. All seemed pleased with their showings.
Smoker has been listed as the Spartans' most prized talent with the possibility of going anywhere from the second round of the draft to the seventh.
The 6-foot-3 Manheim, Pa., native threw for 3,395 yards and 21 touchdowns last year, guiding MSU to a 8-5 record and the Alamo Bowl.
"I thought I threw the ball the best I've done yet," Smoker said, adding he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds.
Those were the two areas Smoker said he'd been focusing on and trying to improve. When asked why he felt it was his best throwing day in a while, Smoker replied, "I completed more passes." It also helped that MSU wide receivers were his targets.
Labinjo was arguably the biggest surprise. The Toronto native wasn't invited to the NFL's combine nor was he asked to participate in any of the special games for seniors.
Instead of letting that get him down, the 6-foot-1 linebacker wanted to be the biggest surprise to every scout. Listed as a player around 265 pounds and running a 40-yard dash in the high 4.7 seconds, Labinjo admitted he was off the NFL radar, and that didn't sit well with him.
On Tuesday, he ran the 40 in 4.56 seconds, weighed in at 243 pounds - the lowest he can remember weighing - and had a 40-inch vertical leap.
"Nobody knew what to expect," Labinjo said. "It was great to come out here and prove them wrong. I'm very happy with what I did here today. I hope it leads to better things."
Askew has been said to be climbing up the draft charts, but he isn't paying any attention to that.
"I feel if they (the scouts) are smiling, you're doing something good," Askew said, adding that he and Taplin will be working out with the Miami Dolphins next week. "When you feel like you did your best, that's all you can do."
But all the players realized college and the professional game are on opposite ends of the football spectrum.
"To them, you're a worker. You're going for a job interview," Smoker said. "You go to the (NFL) combine with a number on your back, and they call you by your number. You can be here today and gone tomorrow.
"It's a cutthroat business."
Askew, who declared for the NFL after his junior season for private family reasons, finished the 2003 season with 69 tackles and six sacks. He was also known as the glue in MSU's defensive line.
Still, he echoes Smoker's feelings as to how scary this time of year is.
"Don't know where you're going to spend the next four, five years of your life," Askew said. "Have to wait until April 24th, see if we'll be doing this for a career or part-time."
