BEAUMONT, Texas – It has been four years, and in some cases five, of hard work at the collegiate level but the Lamar University class of 2015 saw that hard work come to fruition during LU Pro Day at Provost Umphrey Stadium. Several LU players, including a few from the 2014 class, worked out for scouts along with a handful of athletes from other schools. Five NFL scouts representing the Oakland Raiders, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers and St. Louis Rams were on hand to grade the athletes.
 
The Cardinals class of 2015 who participated in the workout included Reggie Begelton, Devonn Brown, Cody Elenz, Seth Ellis and Brent Nicholson, while the 2014 senior class consisted of Keith Curran and Caleb Berry.
 
"This is a once in a lifetime experience that you can't understand until you get to participate in it," said Begelton. "I knew ever since the day I stepped on campus that I didn't have an advantage over anyone so I had to work hard. You can either hurt yourself on a day like this, or you can really help yourself out. All I want is a chance to compete with those guys on a bigger stage."
 
The scouts put the players through several drills, but before any workouts began each player took part in the wonderlic test. The test is used to gauge an individual's cognitive ability. Following the test, all players started in the weight room doing a bench press followed by the broad jump. The players then tested their vertical jump before heading outside to run the 40, shuttle and L runs.
 
Elenz impressed everyone with his work in the bench press finishing the day with 28 reps (all marks according to the LU strength and conditioning staff). Begelton recorded a broad jump of 10-feet, six inches, while fellow receiver Devonn Brown posted a mark of 10-2. Begelton also recorded a vertical of 39.5 inches, and posted a time of 4.53 in the 40.
 
The workout ended with specific drills for the quarterbacks, receivers, deep snappers and then offensive linemen.
 
"Just to get an opportunity at the next level would mean a lot to me," said Nicholson. "It might be an overused statement but not many people ever believed in me. Coming out of high school I really didn't get much help from the coaches and went the junior college route. At my junior college, there was one coach who had faith in me and really worked hard to get me a shot at the next level. I'm very grateful for the coaches here for given me that shot. Teams don't normally bring in too many deep snappers so just to have that opportunity would be pretty amazing."
 
-LU CARDINALS-