Allen Bailey and Graig Cooper show their skills at NFL Scouting Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — Allen Bailey was the perfect size to play defensive end the past four years at the University of Miami. But after being measured at 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds - up seven pounds from his weight at the Senior Bowl - some wonder if he's big enough to play the same position in the NFL.

"I'll play wherever they put me," Bailey said.

One thing about which there is no question is Bailey's strength and physical ability.

Honored as the Hurricanes' strongest player each of the last two years, he said he expected to do "at least 30" reps of the 225-pound bench press when he went through the NFL Scouting Combine tests.

He came up a little short of that goal with 27 repetitions.

"His strength is exceptional," said senior editor Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly, which has Bailey ranked seventh in an extremely deep class of defensive linemen in this year's draft.

A likely second-round pick, Bailey probably fits best as an end in a 4-3 scheme.

Another Hurricane at the Combine, running back Graig Cooper, has more to prove. He rushed for only 165 yards last season after tearing his right ACL in his final game of the 2009 season, when he was a junior.

There was talk that Cooper planned to leave school after his junior year, but he said he was still undecided going into the December 2009 Champs Sports Bowl against Wisconsin in Orlando.

"During that game I asked God to show me a sign of what he wanted me to do, if he wanted me to leave or stay," he said. "I wound up getting hurt so I guess that was a sign for me to stay."

Cooper got his degree in December 2010 but also got lost in a crowded UM backfield last season, carrying more than six times in a game only once and in four games not getting a single carry.

Expected to be a mid- to late-round pick, Cooper said he's already proven his determination by coming back from his ACL tear.
"They told me I couldn't possibly come back this year, but I made sure I was going to do it, and I did it."



(palmbeachpost.com)