Boston College had only one representative at the NFL Combine, but he represented the school quite well.
Running back A.J. Dillon had a solid week, even drawing comparisons to Titans running back Derrick Henry.
At 6-feet, 247 pounds, Dillon posted some crazy testing numbers, including a 4.53 40-yard dash, 41-inch vertical jump, 131-inch broad jump, 23 bench press reps and a 7.19 three-cone drill. Given his size, not many people can put up numbers like that except for Henry a few years ago. Henry's 40-yard dash time was 4.54, while he also posted a 37-inch vertical and had 22 bench press reps.
Dillon was a workhorse at BC, as over his three seasons he totaled 845 carries for 4,382 yards and 38 touchdowns. In 12 games last year, he had 1,685 yards on 318 carries. Because of this, some feel his stock should be lowered because of how many times he carried the ball in college.
"Well, I'm good to go, healthy as ever," Dillon said last week. "I mean I've taken a lot of carries, but that just shows I can take a workload. If the team needs me to carry the ball that much, I do it and wake up the next day with a smile on my face and get better. So I don't have any lingering anything. I've taken however many carries against however many stacked boxes and however many hits, but I'm good to go. I've been productive all three years, even the year I had a high ankle sprain I still was a thousand yard rusher so..."
He seemed to know ahead of time he would make some noise with his testing numbers.
"I mean just all types of drills, I mean like the jump catch drills, a lot of running back drills," he said. "Coach Brian White was my first running back coach I had at Boston College and he helped me out a lot. He had Ron Dane back at Wisconsin, so he obviously has experience with bigger backs, but that's something I'm excited to show here at these drills. I weighed in at 247 but at 7.8 percent body fat. You guys are going to see me jump, you're going to see me run, you're going to see me catch the ball, and I feel like I'm going to shock a lot of people with the things that I can do and the numbers that I've put up."
Dillon has the potential to be a Day 2 selection and doesn't like the knock running backs have received that they are not worth being selected in the first couple of rounds.
"I mean I guess that's up to team needs with the GMs, with the coaches, feel like they need on their team, but I just know that I can bring everything to the table," he said. "I can bring a leader, a guy who has a good head on his shoulders, a guy that can do everything out of the backfield, run, catch, and a guy who's hungry and willing to learn and is coachable.
"And that's something that we got to BC anybody who will tell you and that's something that I'm ready to prove to the coaches and whoever I fall, wherever that may be, I'm excited and whatever team gets me, if I'm lucky enough to be drafted, will have a guy who is going to keep working and keep growing, keep getting better every week."
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