The few, the proud: Small group supports each other at BYU football pro day | News, Sports, Jobs

Between drills at BYU football’s pro day at the Indoor Practice Facility in Provo on Friday, former Cougar star running back Tyler Allgeier stretched out on the turf to keep his muscles loose.

When it was time to get going with the next activity, Allgeier looked up to see long-time BYU center James Empey right there to help him to his feet — just as he had so many times during their time wearing the blue-and-white Cougar uniforms.

“It was a good time out there,” Empey said after the pro day drills had concluded. “It was fun to see all the guys out here supporting us. There’s there’s no shortage of support here. And it really is like a family.”

While there were plenty of former teammates, friends and family in attendance for the annual showcase, it was an extremely small group of participants compared to other years.

Just five former BYU athletes — Allgeier, Empey, defensive lineman Uriah Leiataua and wide receivers Neil Pau’u and Samson Nacua — pushed themselves to excel in drills designed to show their athleticism and position techniques to scouts from 29 different NFL teams who had made the trip to Provo.

“It’s just nerve racking (to be out there working out for the scouts),” Pau’u said. “I’m not gonna lie. You have to find your peace, however you find it. The biggest thing was trying to stay calm and be cool and collected throughout each drill because they were moving kind of fast with only five of us.”

The general consensus from each of the five athletes was that they were pleased with how they did on the day.

“Everyone killed it today,” Nacua said.

But one of the reasons the former Cougars felt like they were able to do their best was because the other players were there for them.

During the bench press, for example, the guys who had finished their reps stayed right there to urge on the next man up.

Nacua, who established a reputation as a high-energy guy, said he felt like the camaraderie had a big impact on performance.

“At the beginning of the day, it felt a little quiet,” Nacua said. “Everyone was a little tense. But once I heard my Kid Cudi song Rose Golden, I was like, alright, man, now I’m feeling loose. Now I’m feeling good. I need to start bringing the energy. As long as I’ve been feeling loose, I can start getting a little louder, making everyone feel the energy and it was good. But it wasn’t just me. Everyone bought their own energy too.”

Leiataua had a specific example that came to mind when he was asked about the benefit of having his Cougar brothers out there with him for Pro Day.

“It was really important,” Leiataua said. “I love the energy that our guys were bringing. Samson, Tyler and James were all just cheering each other on. There was like one time in my broad jump where I just heard Tyler yell out and it was like, yeah, that’s what I needed right there. My second jump was way better than my first one.”

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake watched his guys in action and said the best part is that the athletes have an opportunity to show what they can do.

“I just like seeing our guys and the excitement that they have, the look in their eyes to just have an opportunity to represent themselves in front of all the scouts and the NFL personnel,” Sitake said. “I think they’ll have a chance to get into camp.”

He said that while the number of participants was down this year, it will likely be the opposite when BYU’s 2023 pro day roles around.

“You can imagine next year is going to be pretty big and that also shows how young our team is, which is pretty good for me,” Sitake said.

But Friday was about the former Cougars who worked together with the goal of having a future in pro football.

“It was a blast just to be on the field with them one last time,” Allgeier said. “All those guys really were the leaders on the team. They’ll be missed but we’ve got a lot of younger guys coming up. This next BYU team should be good.”

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