Slaton, Reynaud speed up at Pro Day

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, March 19, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

West Virginia Mountaineers
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Steve Slaton, NFL wide receiver? It could happen.

Slaton worked out as much at pass receiver as running back on West Virginia's March 13 Pro Day at the Caperton Indoor Center on the WVU campus, attended by a large contingent of NFL scouts and coaches that included Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin. And according to reports, he caught everyone's attention with a couple of difficult catches.

Both Slaton and Mountaineer teammate Darius Reynaud -- a wide receiver, period -- improved on their 40 times at last month's Combine, Slaton running a 4.47 and Reynaud a tick faster.

Fullback Owen Schmitt posted a 4.7 and performed well in the various shuttle drills.

"I didn't do those at the combine," Schmitt said. "I had a little problem with my knee."

If the numbers are correct, Slaton stands 5-10 and weighs just shy of 200 pounds. Yet he's most often compared to Jacksonville's Maurice Drew-Jones and herded into the "small back" corral.

Perhaps the reason why he intrigues pro scouts so much as a potential wideout is not that he's too small or brittle (another knock on Slaton, given his WVU injury history) to be an every down back as that he has an soft pair of hands and would be extremely dangerous running after a catch. The Pittsburgh-area native also has "hops," as they say in basketball, displaying an exceptional 37-inch vertical leap.

Running backs rarely need to jump, unless they're leaping over a pile at the goal line, and Staton probably wouldn't be a red zone back, anyway. Yet that ability, while largely wasted on a back, is invaluable for a receiver.

Other Mountaineers performing on Pro Day were DT Keilen Dykes, QB Adam Bednarik, DB's Vaughn Rivers, Eric Wicks and Larry Williams and LB Marc Magro.

NOTES: According to the Pittsburgh Press, Pat White -- who''s coming back to play quarterback at WVU for another year -- held a stopwatch for Slaton, who's leaving a year early.

A few days after Pro Day, the Pittsburgh Steelers invited the 6-5, 295-pound Dykes for a vist.

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