After last year̢۪s pro timing day, it was no surprise to see so many NFL scouts show again for this year̢۪s version.

It was yet another sunny day, which for scouts, means another opportunity to increase the golden-skin odometer. For me of course, it means sunburn. Thanks for that dad.

Some of them had that scout swagger look to them, wearing either an official NFL team polo or a nice silk button-up shirt (a good choice with a slight breeze in the air), which of course, only complemented the gelled spiky hair.

Others however, weren’t so smooth. While some came through on the whole spiky hair thing, the fact that their entire body could go toe-to-toe with one of Kyle Young’s legs only added to the humor. I mean really, these guys are the reason terms like “skin and bones� and “shrimpy� were invented. Maybe being a Madden pro means more than I thought it did.

There was one exception though. Henry Ellard, the legendary Fresno State wide receiver of the early 1980s, came out to scout on behalf of the Rams. Ellard, being the Bulldogs alum that he is, won the prize for coolness, of course.

But enough about scouts. As funny as they were to look at, it was still pretty entertaining to see the 2006 Fresno State football standouts put their best foot forward to try and get another look from a pro team.

Elgin Simmons and Alan Goodwin surprised and impressed scouts who came just to watch one of the big three recruits, Marcus McCauley, Dwayne Wright and Paul Williams. They probably also impressed the ones who came to watch the lesser knowns as well (although none of the scouts really came to watch them). And Joe Fernandez didn̢۪t allow scouts to forget his name either.

Fernandez’s forté — route running and quickness — was reflected in each drill he participated in.

But that̢۪s still not what made watching the players so much fun. The theme of the day proved to be grass, which wanted to stay planted to the ground about as much as Kyle Young wanted to go to class last semester. Young, by the way, did make it out to the practice field to give scouts a peek, but blew nobody away with his numbers. He̢۪s a gamer though, so it̢۪s OK.

As each player took his turn running down the fragile running lane, more and more grass popped out of the ground. At one point during the three-cone drill, several scouts were stomping grass into its rightful place — the ground. For you visual thinkers, think of a collective group of 7-year-olds, plugging their ears and stomping in random directions.

So, in summary, cool-guy scouts, impressive Bulldogs performers and loose grass equals a perfect day of pro timing day excitement.
And not a bad day for a sunburn, either.