Gophers NFL Hopefuls Chase Dream At Pro Day

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- They shuttle, jump, dash and hope. At Minnesota's Pro Day, the NFL feels within arm's reach.

"I mean, it's definitely a dream," cornerback Eric Murray said. "So you've got to set a goal somehow. So once you set that, it's something to reach."

Twenty-eight NFL teams sent personnel to Minnesota's Pro Day, up from 17 last year. And as always, that included a large contingent of Vikings brass, including General Manager Rick Spielman and Head Coach Mike Zimmer.

"I don't get rattled, I don't get nervous, I don't fold under pressure," linebacker De'Vondre Campbell said. "So I just took the coaching and tried to apply it to what he was telling me to do."

Campbell is projected to go as high as the fifth round. Cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun could go as high as the fourth, Murray could go in the third or even sooner.

"The predictions are so unstable you just can't get caught up in it," Murray said. "Because once you let it start to fill your head, you start to lose a little bit of work ethic."

With Cedric Thompson drafted last year and Brock Vereen the year before, that now sets up the potential to have four Gophers defensive backs taken in the last three years.

"We talked about it quite a bit," Boddy-Calhoun said. "It got to the point where watching college film was a little bit boring, so we're like, let's dial into some NFL film. And you watch some guys, and you're like, I think I'm better than him. So that's when we started to get the idea, like, we are actually pretty good, and we can definitely play on the next level."