Northwestern football held a Pro Day event for it’s outgoing players with NFL aspirations, as well as other area talent.
Pro Days are a chance for NFL prospects to showcase their skillset for NFL scouts and meet with those same scouts as well as media. For some, this may be the first time they are showcasing their skills. For others, like those who attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, it’s just another chance to make an impression.
Roughly 16 outgoing Wildcats took part in Tuesday’s Pro Day, with past Wildcats like receiver Bryce Kirtz also making an appearance as well as players from other schools.
One such Wildcat was offensive lineman Evan Beerntsen, who spoke with the media following his performances Tuesday. Here’s everything he said.
On Caleb Tiernan:
You’ve got a really good guy, super quiet right away, but once you get to know him, he really opens up. Great team leader, you know, he does all the little things right.
Impression of Northwestern culture:
You know, you go to some of those bigger universities and stuff and sometimes you can kind of feel like a number, but, you know, you go to a university like this and, you know, Coach Braun was an FCS guy and I just feel like the FCS also kind of has the same mentality a little bit, but it’s definitely like coaches care about you. You’re not just a number like they ask you about your family, that type of stuff. So, you know, they really care.
Five Wildcats from OL with NFL aspirations:
Well, it’s just, it’s great to have guys that want to compete, you know, like especially for me, you know, coming from South Dakota State, like the standard was winning and just doing your best all the time. So to see that here as well, that’s just, it was really cool to see.
New Stadium:
Yeah, I drove past it a couple of times on my way over here. I’m like, dang, that thing looks sick. So, you know, I missed it by a year, but I’m excited for those guys. And, you know, I’d love to come back and watch the South Dakota State versus Northwestern if I have a chance.
Who are you rooting for?
Yeah, I knew you were going to ask that. I plead the fifth. I love both programs. Let the best guy win, I guess.
OL legacy:
You know, that I was a good guy, worked hard. And, you know, I gave back to the younger guys. I feel like I tried to coach them up as much as possible, give them tips, that type of stuff. And, you know, even the young guys, like they did a good job of like coaching me up too. You know, you become an older guy and sometimes like, you know, your technique might, you know, fade a little bit and stuff like that. So the young guys, you know, they get on you a little bit and it’s good. Like you want to see that from the young guys, you know, wanting to coach the older guys too. So, yeah, that’s cool.
Most memorable moment:
Oh, it’s got to be the Penn State game. I mean, I was just in the trenches. You know, we had a shit ton of yards and it was just great. You know, it was an unreal feeling, especially playing in that field. So that was a beautiful place to play.
Younger OL guys to watch:
I would say (Ezomo Oratokhai) and then (Idrys Cotton), I think. And Anthony Birsa is going to be stepping up too. They have Mo playing center a little bit. It will be kind of cool just to see how that whole line falls. But, you know, Grant Seager coming in too. Like I think he’s going to be a really big asset for Northwestern. So they’ll be in good hands.
Direction of program:
I’m really excited for them. I mean, they’ve got a lot of good, great football minds. I mean, coach (David) Braun has won national championships at the FCS level. Coach (Chip) Kelly. I mean, Coach (Ryan) Olson. Like just a bunch of good coaches and it’s going to be a good culture.
Strength and conditioning program
Oh, coach (Alex) Spanos. All those guys in there. I mean, he only texts in all caps. I hope you know that. If you ever get a text, it’s always in all caps from Coach Spanos. He brings an unbelievable amount of energy to the weight room. And it makes you love just working out and being in there.
Draft preparation and process and talking with rest of OL guys involved:
Yeah. So, you know, quite frequently, Caleb was pretty close to me. He was almost 20 minutes away. So we’d hop on FaceTime calls and we’d go over film and stuff. Just kind of review during this off time, I guess you could say. And then (Jackson) Carsello as well. Like especially when we got here, we watched film a little bit. Just, you know, because throughout the year, like calls in one game might change a little bit depending on which game you’re playing and stuff like that. So just kind of reminding each other about like the small things, the little things, each single game, you know, because when scouts ask, you know, you’re expected to know that stuff.
Conversations with NFL teams:
So far, I feel like they’ve been pretty good, but I guess we’ll see.
Day-to-day process:
Yeah. So a lot of it was, you know, get up or do like speed and conditioning kind of in the morning. Then I’ll work out about two hours later in the afternoon. I was in Fort Worth, Texas APEC. Awesome place. Great staff over there. And then, you know, we have whole line drills one of the days and just kind of doing some of the combine prep. So that prepared me pretty well. And, you know, they were making us eat in the morning. So, yeah.
Draft plans:
Probably just, I would say, friends and family. I mean, it was kind of hard to say because I don’t want it like people traveling too far because, you know, I’ve got people all over. I’ve got people in Chicago. I’ve got people in South Dakota. I’ve got people in Green Bay. I’ll probably just have it kind of local in Green Bay. I’m not completely sure yet. I have no idea. But probably just friends and family.
Green Bay Packers:
Yeah. So my growing up, you know, I was definitely a Green Bay fan. You know, I grew up watching a little bit of Brett Favre. I am older, so I got to see Brett Favre a little bit. It was a great time to be a Packer. And my parents are season ticket holders. So it’s just kind of football has always been part of our lifestyle.
