Malik Nabers puts on a show at LSU Pro Day
Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is carrying the best odds to become the first wide receiver taken in the NFL Draft, but the performance Malik Nabers delivered at LSU Pro Day could shake that up.
“There are some NFL personnel men who believe Malik Nabers is this draft class’ top wideout,” Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted Wednesday.
Schefter’s tweet came just minutes after Nabers clocked a 4.35 (unofficial) 40-yard dash at LSU’s Pro Day. A number of NFL Mock Drafts have circled Nabers as a potential Top 5 pick, and his performance on Wednesday should lock up a Top 10 selection for the Louisiana native.
By the time on-field testing ended, Nabers had put an emphatic final stamp on his career in Baton Rouge.
Measuring in at 6-foot, 199 pounds, Nabers clocked a 4.35 40-yard dash, a 42″ vertical jump, a 10’9″ broad jump and 15 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press.
When compared to the wide receiver results from the NFL Combine, which did not include testing from Nabers or Harrison, Nabers’ 40-yard dash would have been fourth-best, his vertical would have been tied for second-best, his broad jump would have been tied for sixth-best, and his bench press reps would have been tied for fifth-most.
Nabers leaves LSU as most-accomplished WR in program history
Nabers owns the top spot in the LSU record books in not one, but two key statistical categories.
In LSU’s matchup with Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl on January 1, he chose to suit up and play instead of opt out and prepare for the draft.
The decision paid off as Nabers moved into the No. 1 spot in the LSU record book for most career receiving yards.
LSU standout Josh Reed held the record prior to Nabers after he totaled 3,001 receiving yards across three seasons from 1999-2001.
More than 20 years later, Nabers entered the bowl game with 2,980 receiving yards in three seasons, putting him 21 yards short of the record. He broke the record on an 11-yard catch to put him at 3,003 yards for his career.
In the regular season finale against Texas A&M, Nabers hauled in a 21-yard catch in the fourth quarter to put him at 184 catches across his three seasons in Baton Rouge – which ranks No. 1 in LSU program history.
He broke the record held by Wendell Davis, who caught 183 passes while playing for the Tigers from 1984-87.
The former four-star recruit out of Louisiana reached the mark in just three seasons, catching 28 passes as a true freshman in 2021 before hauling in 72 passes in 14 games a year ago. Nabers finished the 2023 regular season with 86 catches in 12 games.
