According to Flames coach Danny Rocco, 12 NFL scouts were on campus Tuesday for the Flames’ annual pro timing day, which ended up being a showcase for LU seniors not named Rashad Jennings. The teams I saw: New England, Washington, New Orleans, Denver, Carolina, Tennessee, Indianapolis and the New York Giants.

Jennings only ran the 40-yard dash Tuesday. He didn’t do the bench press or any of the various shuttle and cone drills. He said he’s comfortable with the numbers he put up at the NFL combine. And that makes sense. Honestly, he probably can only hurt his stock by doing the bench press again. Say he’s not feeling well and only puts up 22 reps at 225. That puts the 29 reps he put up in Indianapolis in questions.

But he wanted to run the 40 just to prove to himself that the times he recorded in Indy were fluky. Jennings ran the 40 Tuesday in 4.38 seconds, 4.39 and 4.42. He ran in the 4.6 range at the Combine.

A quick Q&A with Jennings after his workout:

N&A So you were comfortable with what you did at the combine?

Jennings I feel good. They look at a lot more than the drills, and how you do this, or how fast you run straight a line. How often are you going to do that anyway? There’s a lot of lateral movements and stuff like that. I just ran the 40 for personal reasons. I wanted to prove to myself what I can do. I worked way too hard to put up some numbers that supposedly were out of line. It was all personal.

N&A What did you learn from the Combine, going through the interview process, meeting scouts and GMs?

Jennings I could write a book. (Laughs) Seriously, I could. The way you carry yourself, they look at that a lot. How you present yourself, what you stand for, eye contact. Little things. They scrutinize everything as much as they can. They’re looking for reasons not to pick you, as opposed to picking you. They want reasons why they don’t have to pick you early, and why they can get you in the later rounds. It’s a fun process. You understand it. I’m constantly learning. I’ve got open ears, and I’ve been blessed to have my agent (Adisa Bakari) to teach me a lot, my brother, my family.

N&A What’s next?

Jennings Private interviews, teams flying in. I’ll stick around for that. I’m just going to train here. I’ll be here. I’ll be watching on TV like everyone else.

Jennings was expected to work out at Pitt’s pro timing day, but he said he’s not going to now.

I also spoke to quarterback Brock Smith and center Mike Godsil, both of whom have more on their minds right now than timing day. Both are getting married soon, Godsil this weekend and Smith in 11 days.

Godsil put up some eye-popping numbers in the bench press. Coming off a weekend in which he set a Virginia state with a 600-pound bench press at a meet, Godsil did 45 reps at 225 pounds Tuesday, six more reps than anyone did at the Combine.

N&A So you and (Liberty strength and conditioning coach Bill) Gillespie have been training together?

Godsil Yep. First meet was last Saturday. I put up 600 pounds, broke a Virginia state record. So I was feeling pretty good about that.

N&A Do you have to give yourself extra wrist support when you’re lifting that much weight?

Godsil We’ve got wrist straps, not as much for support, but to keep you from rolling (your wrists), because that’s an advantage. So that locks you in there. But yeah, I guess that’s support, too.

N&A What happened to your knee? (Godsil’s right knee was swollen to the size of a small canteloupe)

Godsil I don’t know. I busted by bursa sac after the Elon game. It blew up on me, so I had to take some time off. I was going to have surgery on it, but I decided not to, so I just asked them to drain it. That was like three weeks ago. And it’s been fine. Saturday I had my bench press competition, and it felt great. Then the next morning, it blew up. I don’t understand. Hopefully get it drained tonight and be ready for the 20th (Liberty will hold another pro day that day.)

N&A What have scouts been telling you about what you need to show?

Godsil I don’t know. I need to do better than I did today. They’re pretty vague at this point.

N&A You hoping to latch on somewhere as a free agent?

Godsil I would love to get an opportunity there to show off my capabilities on the football field, a little more than a 40 speed. Give them a sense of who I am and what I can bring to the table.

N&A The process Rashad has gone through, has that helped the other guys at all?

Godsil It’s nice to see somebody we’ve played with and know real well get that opportunity to compete against the best in the country. It kind of puts a reality check on all the hype that the media pumps out. You see there’s not that big of a difference (between a good player at Liberty and a good player at an FBS program). You know, I can play with this guy. It gives a sense of confidence in the other guys.

N&A You wanted to try to get to 60 in the bench?

Godsil I wanted 55. Came up 10 short. That’s the first time I’ve done max reps in a long, long time. Me and Bill are doing shorter repetitions. The bar goes all over the place and I had to re-adjust. That takes a lot out of you. I’ll have to do it a few more times before the next time I do it. I know I’m more than capable of getting that number. We maxed on Thursday. We maxed on Saturday. Then we went up to 500 pounds for a few reps today. My body probably just needs a little break. I know 55 is well within my reach.

N&A You know 39 was the highest number at the Combine?

Godsil It was. I feel I can lay down any day of the week and do 39. I was pretty surprised with myself today for only doing 45.

For Smith, Tuesday was a bit of a letdown. The Williams Stadium FieldTurf is being replaced, and there’s snow on the ground on the grass practice field, meaning he couldn’t get outside and throw for the scouts in attendance. Most of the work was done inside at the school’s indoor track.

Smith said he ran a 4.84 40, 4.34 in the shuttle and 7.7 in the three-cone. He didn’t do the bench press on the advice of his agent, Joel Turner, noting that a good bench number is rarely a deciding factor in evaluating a quarterback.

N&A How much did it hurt that you weren’t able to get out on the field and throw?

Smith I don’t think it hurt too much. They can watch film. They can see the throws I made.

N&A Have you gotten any feelings from your agent on where you stand in this process?

Smith There’s definitely interest from guys who said if I put up some good numbers, which I definitely felt I did today, I should be getting more interest down the road.

N&A What are the things you’ve been working on since the end of the season?

Smith The first six weeks were explosion. The last two weeks we’ve been working on my sprinting, my starts, my jumps. The past few months, me and (Matt) Lambros have been going out every other day, at least an hour or two a day, trying to get ready for today. Which of course we didn’t get outside. But that’s OK. The Lord has a reason for everything, for the snow. I mean this is the worst snow we’ve had here in my four years, and it was the day before our pro day.

N&A What’s next?

Smith I’m getting married next week. That’s what’s next. (Laughs). But my agent is setting up another pro day, and I believe the rules have changed, so I’m allowed to go to other pro days. So I’m going to try to make Furman’s. If those go well, then we’ll get some individual workouts with teams.

Two Liberty seniors—Nick Hursky and Dominic Bolden—didn’t work out because they were rehabbing from knee injuries. From what I hear, safety Ryan Greiser opened some eyes with a solid pro day.