Over the weekend, three former South Dakota State football players participated in the NFL Combine, an invite-only skill camp for incoming draft players to put their skills to the test in Indianapolis, Indiana.
SDSU’s Isaiah Davis, Mason McCormick and Garret Greenfield set their alma mater’s record for most participants in the Combine.
“South Dakota State is a super special place,” said McCormick in his NFL Combine interview when asked if SDSU players were getting talked to by Power Five schools. “It’s done so much for us, so who are we to leave and go to a different school when South Dakota State has put us in the position where we are today? We are winning a lot of ball games; we played at a super high level so it was a no-brainer for all of us to stay.”
Greenfield and McCormick both led an event for linemen with Greenfield also setting an NFL Combine record of 38.50 inches in the vertical jump, beating Indianapolis Colts’ tackle Blake Freeland’s 37-inch vertical jump set in 2023.
“We [McCormick and Greenfield] came in together [at SDSU], we were roommates, we have been through a lot of stuff together and it’s been nice to bounce questions off of somebody who is kind of going through the same thing,” said McCormick.
Along with University of Central Florida offensive tackle Tyler Grable, McCormick led all linemen in the broad jump, an event that measures how far an athlete can jump while in a standing position.
The South Dakota native finished the combine with all top-10 scores in the NFL Next Gen Stats score breakdown. McCormick finished with a 93 athleticism score (most of any guard), a 77 total score (fourth most of guards) and a 62 production score (ninth most of guards).
According to NFL Analyst Lance Zierlein, one of the three-year team captain’s strengths is that he started 57 consecutive games at SDSU.
Four-time Super Bowl Champion and Executive Director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl Jim Nagy went to X, formally known as Twitter, to voice his opinion on the guard from South Dakota State.
“My favorite interaction [at the Combine] was with someone we didn’t invite to @seniorbowl,” said Nagy on social media. “NFL scouts have told us McCormick is one guy they wish they could’ve seen in Mobile [location of the Senior Bowl]. Hearing McCormick crushed his Combine interviews and then he blew up his testing & on-field work workout.”
Tailback Davis had the highest Prospect Grade out of the SDSU participants in the NFL Combine at a 6.14. This grade puts incoming prospects in 13 categories which classifies them from 5.50-8.0 on what they can do with their career with the highest at “the perfect prospect” and the lowest being “priority undrafted free agent.”
The Missouri native finished with a total score of 73, the 12th highest of backs behind notable names like Jonathon Brooks of Texas, Audric Estimé of Notre Dame and Blake Corum of Michigan.
Former Jackrabbit Davis stood out in the bench press event, where he benched 225 pounds 23 times, tied for fifth with Estimé and Dylan Laube, another FCS running back, hailing from the University of New Hampshire.
Greenfield, an Iowa native finished with a total score of 73 (16th among tackles) with an athleticism score of 82, seventh of tackles.
The NFL Draft will take place in Detroit, Michigan this year with the first round Thursday, April 26, rounds two and three Friday, April 27 and rounds four through seven Saturday, April 28.
