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Georgia had their annual pro day on Wednesday, and UGA insider Rusty Mansell joined Dukes & Bell to discuss the players that received a lot of attention from the Falcons and other NFL teams.
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00:00Guys here on The Steakhouse, on Three Sports, and just a good American.
00:03Rusty Manziel joins us to see what he saw and tell us about it at Georgia's Pro Day.
00:07What's going on, Rusty?
00:09Hey, guys.
00:09Yeah, I spent, I guess, the last day and a half in Athens.
00:13One of those cool things, I go into Chuck's.
00:15Shout out to Chuck's in Athens last night.
00:17I'm telling you, Mike, it was like a damn NFL coaching convention.
00:22Every single table.
00:23You could tell the Cowboys, the Bears, the Seahawks, the Bills.
00:27You know, John Lynch, Kirby Smart, one table.
00:30It was just crazy how many NFL people in there.
00:33You know, man, I don't get paid for my writing skills, so I started working the room, you know,
00:37and meeting people and shaking hands and talking.
00:41Listen, I would never kind of break that trust from last night, but let's just say they used to play
00:48a candlestick.
00:49Let's just say that.
00:50I talked to them last night.
00:51They are very, very high on C.J. Allen.
00:54And, man, Oscar Delp, C.J. Allen, Christian Miller.
00:57I think all those guys had a good day, I think, for our audience and who we cover and who
01:02we like.
01:03And I'll say this, and I don't want to put too much into it.
01:07Oh, go ahead.
01:07But you have that many people in the room.
01:11I don't know that I've ever seen that many people at a pro day.
01:14That's just being dead honest.
01:15I mean, there was a ton of media, a ton of NFL people.
01:18And Georgia's had better groups to work out, talent-wise.
01:23But as far as people, I don't know if I've ever seen that many people at a pro day.
01:26That's what I was going to say, Rusty.
01:28Because, yeah, just, you know, the championship years, the back-to-back natties, you knew it.
01:32And this team, it's interesting.
01:34And I saw what you tweeted, and a few folks put it out there, that Kirby talked about the relationship
01:39with Matt Ryan and Ian.
01:40And then, as we said, it sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
01:44Well, I'll say this.
01:45I did notice this.
01:47So, I stood back today, and I kind of watched everybody.
01:49Those guys were there to work.
01:51I'm not putting words in anybody's mouth, but I will tell you this.
01:55When Zachariah Brent started running routes, Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham, they weren't BSing.
02:02They stepped right to the front, and they were separate from each other, kind of.
02:06But they stood there, and I'll promise you, I saw my own eyes.
02:10They had extra interest in that.
02:11Boy, that warms my heart, Matt, because I don't know if he's going to be there.
02:15But I can tell you their attention was a little bit different when No. 1 started running those routes today.
02:21We can talk about Zachariah Branch in just a moment.
02:24But just coming off of social media, it felt like Oscar Delp was a big winner today, too.
02:29Obviously, his 40-time popped and started to see a lot of he can do things in the NFL that
02:36maybe they didn't let him do.
02:37Georgia type of stuff, and the injury stuff plays into that.
02:42But what did you see from Oscar Delp and some of the eyebrows raised when he was working out?
02:47So I asked a guy last night at dinner, and he was sitting right beside me, and this is a,
02:51I would say, a pretty important person for his organization.
02:56I said, tell me the vibe on Oscar Delp.
02:58Where is he?
02:59And he goes, it's a big day for him running.
03:01He goes, I really like his tape.
03:03He said, he's very physical.
03:05You can attach him to the last scrimmage.
03:07He goes, but I need to see him run.
03:08I said, what if Oscar Delp runs a 4-6-0 tomorrow?
03:11Where do you think he is?
03:12He goes, he's probably a mid-third rounder if he runs 4-6-0.
03:16I'm thinking Oscar Delp's a 4-5-8, 4-6-0 guy.
03:20Oscar Delp today, he goes 38-and-a-half on vertical.
03:24I tweet the video.
03:25He does a 10-foot broad jump, which is the magical point for a tight end.
03:29You want to get there.
03:31Then he's anywhere from 4-4-4 to 4-5-0 with all these scouts.
03:38Well, I asked the guy last night, and he told me he's a third-rounder if he runs 4-6
03:42-0.
03:43Well, he shredded that today.
03:44I'm standing there, and I asked the guy.
03:46The scouts don't want to tell you, because I'm not messing with them.
03:49But when he ran by me, I said, damn, he's rolling.
03:52And I looked at the guy, and I said, what'd you get Delp at?
03:56And he goes, he ran really effing good.
03:58He didn't tell me the number.
03:59You know, so Oscar, it didn't take him long to get word back.
04:05While the other guys were waiting to run number two, Oscar took his cleats off and started
04:09hugging people.
04:10He knew he ran well, and he knew he made some money today.
04:13So congratulations to him.
04:15I don't know where he's going to go, but that was from an NFL guy last night.
04:19He said, if he runs 4-6-0, he's a third-rounder.
04:21But the guy ran 4-4-5 for most people today.
04:24Wow.
04:25Hey, man, that's Rusty Mansell giving us the good intel from Georgia's Pro Day today up
04:28in Athens here on the Sweet James Accident Hotline.
04:30How about Christian Miller?
04:32How'd he look, and where is he going to go?
04:34I still think Christian's a little heavy, man.
04:37And listen, I hope he stays heavy, because I'd love to take him at down 48.
04:41I can promise you that for the Falcons.
04:43You know, I don't know what he fissy-weighted in.
04:45I tried to ask around, and that's kind of secret stuff.
04:49I know he was 328 in the combine.
04:51I know he played at Georgia between 305 and 310, and he could play under that weight.
04:56He still, to me, looked a tad heavy today, and I'm okay with that, because I know the kid.
05:01He loves football.
05:02He does all this.
05:04If he were to get to 48, it's going to be because he's a little heavy, and I'm okay with
05:09that,
05:09because we got all summer to run that off of him down here.
05:12But he had a good workout, as far as I know.
05:15I know he has great interviews.
05:16That's not going to be the question.
05:18The kid loves ball.
05:19Looks a little heavy to me, and if we're going to have a chance at getting him,
05:22and we need D-line help, and it's like somebody told me last night,
05:26and I'll remind everybody, there's only so many large humans that can move like those guys,
05:31and that's why they're high priorities in high school and in college and the NFL.
05:35And I would love for us to end up with Christian.
05:37I thought going into pre-combine, no way he's there at 48.
05:43Maybe.
05:44Maybe some teams overthink a little bit, because he did look a little heavy to me today,
05:47and he probably would tell you that.
05:49But 10 pounds, 10, 12 pounds on him, big guy like that, you can lose that in no time.
05:54I want to go back to Zachariah Branch, who Rusty said the Falcons had eyes on.
06:00There's also some questions about him and what he was able to put on tape with the Georgia Bulldogs
06:04and kind of the usage and what they had planned for him.
06:08If you're one of the teams that is interested in him, how do you kind of go about figuring out
06:12how his game is going to translate to the NFL based on how the Bulldogs decided to use him a
06:18year ago?
06:19Well, they just, I mean, that was Gunnar's guy.
06:22I mean, there was no question.
06:23I mean, you're talking about the amount of targets, the amount of making people miss.
06:29You know, one of my favorite new terms that have come up over the last couple years,
06:33it used to be a contact balance.
06:35Now it's short area suddenness.
06:36I think Mike Bell was that in college.
06:38Short area suddenness.
06:40You know, you want to have somebody that can make people miss in small spaces and create.
06:45You don't want third and eight.
06:47I want third and three because he made one guy miss.
06:50I'll tell you this.
06:51Being around some Georgia staff guys today, I said, how good a kid is that?
06:56Dude, we will never get a transfer as good as that kid because of how good he was on and
07:02off the field.
07:03This kid loved it.
07:04This kid couldn't get enough of Georgia.
07:07He was built for this.
07:08He loved it.
07:09And, man, we'd love to have another year with him.
07:11But I'm telling you, the people were raving about him off the field.
07:15I was a tad concerned at his size.
07:18He's not the biggest dude now, I'm telling you.
07:21But he took his shirt off today and he did it on purpose because he's yoked up now in his
07:26brain.
07:26And, you know, the more I heard about him off the field, damn.
07:32Right.
07:33It'd be hard for me to pass him at 48.
07:36I'm looking at some of the video that Rusty's posted at Rusty Manziel underscore.
07:41And you see it's like a who's who of NFL executives, coaches who recognize the faces in the background at
07:46Butts Mirror.
07:46Hey, man, Rusty, we were talking about, you know, this squad next year.
07:51Gunner's going to have a chance to be a first-round pick.
07:53You know, maybe not.
07:54Maybe.
07:55He wasn't throwing today.
07:56I know I asked you about that yesterday.
07:57So who was throwing to the receivers trying to impress?
07:59Was it –
08:01No.
08:02No.
08:02So both guys were in class.
08:04Hey, shout out to Georgia.
08:06All the heat they take, they go to class in Georgia.
08:09Right.
08:09I guess Notre Dame, you go to class.
08:12Rob Pelese in class today.
08:13Gunner stopped in class.
08:15Okay.
08:15Jake Fromm throws today.
08:17Ah, no way.
08:18And I walked up to him and I said – I put a tweet out on him about three weeks
08:22ago.
08:22I said, listen, if Jake Fromm want to lower your up, I'm not sure that he couldn't get his fourth
08:26year – his fifth year back.
08:28So that took off.
08:29But that was just a joke.
08:31You know, I got like 500,000 views.
08:33Jake said people were hitting him up, you know.
08:36So I walked up to him and I said, hey, you know, I was kidding about that.
08:39My fifth year, you know.
08:40He goes, man, they called me on Monday and said, listen, do you want to throw a pro day?
08:44So he threw a former Grayson High School quarterback, former Clemson quarterback, former Duke quarterback, former App State quarterback, and
08:52current Canadian League quarterback, Chase Bryce.
08:56He threw today.
08:57So they had two guys that threw.
08:59And I promise you right now, Jake Fromm's not brushing his teeth the more.
09:02He is going to be sore after the balls he threw.
09:05But it was fun to see him bend there and throw those guys.
09:08But interesting enough, Iglesias and their quarterbacks, they're in class today.
09:13Cool.
09:13Kind of an off-the-field question for you, Rusty, but you mentioned that a fair percentage of the NFL
09:19world descended upon Athens last night.
09:21And you ran into a number of people in the restaurant.
09:24Was there anyone that stood out to you in terms of like knowing you through social media or through interviews
09:32that you've done or just coverage in general that you were like, man, it's pretty cool that this guy knows
09:38who I am?
09:40I didn't have any.
09:42I've known some NFL people through the years.
09:45I don't want to burn this bridge, but I met somebody last night, and I told him a story about
09:50C.J. Allen.
09:51Gotcha.
09:51Well, this morning, standing in the middle of the field, he brought his boss, who is a very well-known
09:57person to get NFL, over to me.
09:59He said, tell him what you told me last night about this guy.
10:02And I told him.
10:03And he goes, who are you?
10:04What do you do?
10:04This is what I do.
10:05I've been done a long time.
10:06And he goes, thank you for that story.
10:08He goes, wow.
10:09And I said, I'm just telling you now, in my 17 years, honest to goodness, I don't know that I've
10:16had two kids wired like Dick Chubb and C.J. Allen.
10:19Like, these two are super elite humans on and off the field, and they love football a hell of a
10:24lot more than they love the media recruiting and all that.
10:27These guys are wired to play.
10:29And, you know, listen, I don't think C.J. Allen is going to end up here in Atlanta.
10:32I would love to have him.
10:33But just knowing him from the 10th grade on is so fun to watch.
10:38I mean, Oscar Duff, all these kids.
10:39I talked to his parents this morning.
10:41You know, talked to Monroe Freelings' parents last night.
10:44By the way, if Monroe Freelings goes past eight or nine, I'll be shocked.
10:48I mean, he has really helped himself.
10:50And, you know, I think when the first initial feedback on him was early, second, maybe, maybe late first, he
10:59has played himself and worked himself into literally millions of dollars in the last 45 days.
11:06Right.
11:06It is, Rusty, giving us some great stuff.
11:08Rusty Manziel here on the Sweet James Accident Hotline from the Georgia Pro Day.
11:12Falcons, again, we've got a lot of needs.
11:14By the way, I know we could take a flyer in the later rounds.
11:17Is Dalen Everett, I know we talked about, you know, maybe needing a corner.
11:20Maybe somebody could project starters in nickel and eventually.
11:23What's Dalen Everett's market value?
11:26Well, he helped himself running a 4-3 in Indianapolis, I can tell you that.
11:30You know, and I say this, Dalen Everett, for as highly recruited as he was, I don't know that he
11:35played that way until this year.
11:37And, you know, and he had those really good games against Texas.
11:39He was a Texas killer.
11:41Then he played really good against Alabama.
11:43He wound up having to be the number one corner.
11:45And after Georgia got really shredded in Tennessee, they took Daniel Harris and set him on the bench.
11:51And then they went to Ellis Robinson.
11:52And nobody really threw back at Dalen Everett again.
11:55They went after the young kid.
11:56And when he grew up, they were a lot better defensively.
11:59I mean, I don't know where he is projected, but I know he's tough.
12:04And that means so much.
12:05I don't think people put a perspective on a DB having to tackle, having to take on blocks.
12:11You know what I mean?
12:11I mean, it happens, and that's one of the things, I think, that separates these teams that are really, really
12:16tough.
12:16And Dalen Everett's a kid.
12:18Look, the Georgia coaches, man, they've raved about him today.
12:21I've known that because I've done interviews with him for Fox 5.
12:24When Kirby trots you out time after time after time, and some of the media get tired of that,
12:29but when Kirby's comfortable saying, who's doing media today, Dalen Everett's going.
12:35So you can count on him.
12:36That, to me, says a lot.
12:38And he's one of those guys, man, if he stays tough, he's got legit size.
12:41He's probably six foot and a half.
12:42He ran 4'3".
12:43I asked him out today, I said, did this guy ever run 4'3 here?
12:46They go, no.
12:47He was a 4'4", 5' kid.
12:49And so it tells you he's working.
12:51He's got better.
12:52He looked good to me today.
12:53He'll probably wind up being one of those third or fourth rounders.
12:56He probably would have been a fourth or fifth rounder.
13:00And I'm not just saying this because I cover Georgia.
13:02I think the value right now on a Georgia player is as high as it's ever been.
13:06And it's not because Trayvon Walker and all those guys.
13:09It's because N'Kobe Dean.
13:10It's because Chaz Chambliss.
13:12It's not Stackhouse.
13:13Warren Brinson.
13:14These are undrafted free agents going to make teams, and they're playing.
13:18I think the quality's there for Georgia right now.
13:20That's great, man.
13:21Again, Rusty, you said basically a who's who with the NFL.
13:23You throw a rock, you're going to hit somebody in Athens.
13:26Well, it's a testament to how Kirby has kind of taken the baton from Nick Saban,
13:31and he's putting guys in the league.
13:32I know we've talked about it.
13:33We talked about it earlier when we sat down with Jalen Walker last year after the draft.
13:36It's like you're talking to a CEO.
13:38I mean, they represent and the guy you want is a leader,
13:41and hopefully he's going to get a chance to be healthy from the jump this year for the Falcons.
13:44And you mentioned Cash Jones, the plucky white receiver slash running back running a 4-3,
13:49which some guys had him on a 4-3 today.
13:52So the guy beside me, I'm standing there, and the guy beside me, I look at his watch.
13:56He had 4-4-3.
13:57And the guy to my left, he has 4-4-1.
14:00And I'm sitting there thinking, Cash Jones is going to play a long time as long as he'll play every
14:06special team.
14:07He can pass pro and he can run.
14:09And that's a guy, if you pick him in the seventh round, nobody's going to give one damn about it.
14:14And you want to turn around, and that guy winds up getting seven years in the league.
14:17You wonder how it happens.
14:18Right on.
14:19Great stuff, Rusty, man.
14:20We could do an hour, but Data's going, you've got to do a commercial break.
14:22You've got to pay the bills.
14:23Hey, man, good stuff, brother.
14:24We'll hear you on the Steakhouse.
14:26Appreciate it, man.
14:26Thank you all.
14:26Check out Rusty, all the stuff he's been tweeting about what he saw.
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