Cody Schrader and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. had similar experiences at the NFL Combine.
Both Missouri football standouts were receiving a lot of love, albeit at different degrees. Rakestraw, a cornerback who spent much of the Tigers' 2023 campaign on the sideline, was receiving sporadic first-round love from some NFL Draft prognosticators. Schrader's sensational story and spectacular, record-breaking 2023 season had put him well in the mix for a draft pick.
In Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, which spanned Feb. 29-March 3, Schrader tweaked his hamstring running the 40-yard dash, and ended up posting a 4.61-second time. Rakestraw went through the drills with a groin injury and the first-round forecasts mostly fled.
"It was definitely different, because you train all for that one moment," Schrader said. "In football, you can play through injury, but you can't really run as fast as you can and run the fastest times as possible. So yeah, definitely learned. But my whole journey has been adversity. I'm used to it. I was definitely sad because I would have killed the running back drills at the Combine."
"It's a lot of mixed emotions," Rakestraw said, "because this is the biggest thing in, kind of, your life. This is your job interview. But a lot of people understand what I had done to me, surgery-wise."
Sixteen Missouri football players from the 2023 team participated during the Tigers' Pro Day on Friday inside the Stephens Indoor Facility in Columbia. Before position drills, the draft hopefuls ran a 40-yard dash, 5-10-5-yard split and the L-Drill.
It's likely that other measurements, such as bench press, were conducted behind closed doors beforehand.
Testing isn't the be all and end all of the draft process, but Schrader and Rakestraw entered Friday with room to improve.
Schrader looked like he hadn't skipped a beat since the Cotton Bowl, teaming up again with Missouri quarterback Brady Cook for position drills that included taking handoffs and running various routes out of the backfield. He looked swift as he ran through cone drills, but did not participate in the 40-yard dash.
Rakestraw still didn't feel fully healthy, he told reporters after Pro Day and meetings with teams inside Memorial Stadium. Still, the Columbia Daily Tribune, partnered with a pool of reporters to garner an approximation of his time, put him at about 4.4 seconds in the 40, which would be a 0.11-second uptick.
"I haven't ran since the Combine," Rakestraw said. "I just started running Monday, and just to show the willingness to still go on the line (and show) my competitive drive."
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That's the thing … this whole deal is a bit different.
The tests take some players away from what they do best: Play football.
For Schrader, the process — the pitch to pro teams — is fairly simple. It echoes what Missouri running backs coach Curtis Luper said during the Tigers' spring camp, when he said the tailback is a "football player" and not a "tester."
"I think finally people are starting to understand that I'm a football player," Schrader said. … "That's what I want people to see me as — I'm not a track athlete. You know, I'll do it, I'll train it, I put up good times, but, yeah, I'm all about football."
Then there's the copious interviews, with press pools and franchise representatives alike.
"You've got to do a lot of interviews. You've got to talk to a lot of people. Sometimes it'd be the same people asking the same questions," cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine said. "You've just got to do a lot of talking, there's a lot of getting to know you, because they know everything about you, but they just want to see if you tell the truth or not."
Abrams-Draine said he's had meetings with the Saints, Patriots, Vikings and Giants in the past 24 hours, and was on his way to a meeting with the Panthers.
That relieve the stress at all?
"I feel like a lot of teams have interest in me," Abrams-Draine said, "but you still don't know, like, where I'm gonna go or nothing like that."
And, in the case of Rakestraw, sometimes the tape just has to suffice.
Rakestraw, who said he's met with about 25 teams, doesn't pay attention to the mock drafts all too much, he said. He knows what he has on tape. Pro Day was about more than putting up times — it was about showing teams he's willing to go through the procedure.
The corner is going to get on the phone with his agent and find out his results from Friday's drills, but he said he still feels like he can't properly show his explosiveness stemming from his December surgery.
That said, what's been the feedback from the team he's met with?
"I'm good," Rakestraw said.
The draft is April 25-27 in Detroit. With reasonable expectations, Missouri looks likely to have players drafted. Defensive end Darius Robinson is a potential first-rounder. Rakestraw and Abrams-Draine currently project as Day 2 picks. Offensive tackle Javon Foster, linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper, Schrader and placekicker Harrison Mevis all will likely hear their name called.
Stressful? Yeah.
Now, with Pro Day a wrap, all there is to do is wait.
"I thought I had a really good performance," Schrader said, "and I'm at peace with the whole process."
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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Schrader, Rakestraw discuss draft process at Missouri football Pro Day
