TOLEDO, Ohio - More than 50 scouts and team representatives from all 32 NFL teams were on hand to watch recent graduates of the Toledo football team run drills at the annual Pro Day at the Fetterman Training Center on the campus of The University of Toledo on Tuesday.

Nine players from last season's MAC West Division champion Rockets participated in the 40-year dash, the vertical jump and other drills under the watchful eyes of NFL reps. Joining those 10 were a select group of former Rockets from previous seasons as well as a handful of invitees from other schools.

Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, a two-time All-American who is projected to be a first-round draft pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, did not work out but was on hand to cheer on his teammates. Mitchell said he was satisfied with his performance at last month's NFL Combine in which he earned a total score of 90, which ranked first among all cornerbacks. He ran a 4.33 in the 40-yard dash at the Combine, the second-fast of all the cornerbacks, had a vertical jump of 38", and completed 20 reps on the bench press, the best of any cornerback.

"I feel like I accomplished everything I needed to at the Senior Bowl (Feb. 3) and the Combine," said Mitchell, who is the only Rocket in school history to be named to all five major All-America teams in a career. "I'm here to support my teammates. I feel like it was a great day for them."

Linebacker Dallas Gant said that Pro Day is a great chance to make your case to NFL scouts as well as a chance to get on the football field with former teammates one last time.

"The goal is to run fast and jump high, get back to a football mindset and get ready to make an NFL team," said Gant, a Toledo native and a two-time first-team All-MAC selection. "At the end of the day it's just running and jumping. There are a lot of scouts here, there's a lot of noise surrounding it, but honestly it's just doing what you've been doing all your life. It's also awesome seeing these guys trickle back in. It's fun to have one last go-round here at Toledo with all these guys."

Head Coach Jason Candle said he takes satisfaction knowing that the young men he and his staff recruited four or five years ago are at the culmination of outstanding careers at Toledo.

"This is the endpoint you try to project when you sit in the living room of high school kids and paint a picture of what it's going to be in the next four or five years for them," said Candle, who was named MAC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career in 2023. "I'm thankful to have a coaching staff that pours everything into these guys from start to finish. To be able to watch these guys come out and compete one more time in the Fetterman Training Center in front of all these NFL scouts is a really cool experience and very fulfilling as a coach. It's an awesome tool to use in recruiting because it paints a picture of what can be done, has been done and what will continue to be done."

The 2024 NFL Draft will take place April 25-27 in Detroit's Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza. Toledo has had nine players selected in the NFL Draft in the past seven years, and had 13 players on NFL rosters at the end of the 2023 season. The highest Rocket ever selected in the NFL Draft was defensive lineman Dan Williams, who was taken No. 11 over by Denver in the 1993 draft.

2023 Toledo Rockets participating at Pro Day
Nate Bauer, Safety
Judge Culpepper, DT
Dallas Gant, LB
Devin Maddox, WR
Chris McDonald, Jr CB
David Nwaogwugwu, OL
Devan Rogers, OL
Nick Rosi, OL
Terrance Taylor, DE/OLB