Nick Broeker has given the NFL Draft process all he has. Now he’s ready for some well-earned downtime.
Now-former Ole Miss offensive lineman Nick Broeker is looking forward to some pre-NFL Draft downtime.
He’s been seemingly going non-stop football-wise ever since he made the decision two winters ago to return for a final Ole Miss season and make a position switch. He wanted to put on tape what next-level evaluators already knew — he was a guard at the next level.
Broeker spent his first three seasons starting for the Rebels at left tackle.
“I definitely think doing that was a really good decision for me,” Broeker said Wednesday, following Ole Miss Pro Day at the Manning Center. “I think it helped a lot, and coming out here snapping (Wednesday) as well.
“I’ve really been putting my best foot forward.”
The NFL Draft will be held April 27-29 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Broeker won’t be there. He doesn’t know when he’ll be selected, but he’s unlikely to be an early-rounder. So, he’ll enjoy some well-earned, relaxing and long-overdue final Ole Miss days and weeks as little more than a typical college kid.
He’ll go to baseball games at Swayze Field. Sure, the defending-champion Rebels are off to a winless (0-6) SEC start, but for Ole Miss students, few experiences are more fun or unique and communal than spending a weekend in right field tossing beer in the air for home-run showers.
He’ll watch the draft in Oxford. Broeker doesn’t know when he’ll be picked, but the mid-to-late rounds seem a safe bet. He’s just happy he came back for another year. The Rebels were 8-5 and reached the postseason for the third straight season under now-fourth-year head coach Lane Kiffin.
Broeker was healthy throughout and held up at guard despite the initial unfamiliarity.
“Just a lot of positives,” Broeker said of the draft process. “(NFL teams) really like the transition for me — going from tackle to guard, but still having that tackle background. A lot of versatility, a lot of intelligence. So far, it’s been positive feedback.
“Now it’s just kind of up in the air at this point. I’ve done everything now (and) put my best foot forward. Still probably have some meetings in the future, but as far as the physical work, that’s all been done. Game tape, everything’s behind me.”
Broeker participated in the annual Senior Bowl in February.
His Ole Miss teammates, Jonathan Mingo (wide receiver) and Tavius Robinson (defensive end) were there, too. The trio was also together at the NFL Combine. Broeker didn’t bench press in Indianapolis, so he made sure to do so at Ole Miss Pro Day.
More importantly, he again displayed his versatility as an offensive line prospect by snapping. A number of teams like him as a potential center. Other Rebels that went through drills were Mason Brooks (offensive line), Troy Brown (linebacker), Jonathan Cruz (kicker), Zach Evans (running back), AJ Finley (safety), Malik Heath (wide receiver), KD Hill (defensive tackle), Mingo, Otis Reese (safety) and Robinson.
Evans probably had the most to prove. A former five-star and the No. 1 overall running back in the 2020 recruiting class, he wasn’t able to fully participate in the combine because of injury. He ran an unofficial 4.45 40-yard dash at Ole Miss Pro Day and registered a broad jump of 10-feet-1.
He ran the 20-yard shuttle in 4.26 seconds.
Then there was Broeker, the 2022 second-team All-American. He had 23 bench-press at 225 pounds. He went through some individual position drills, too. Broeker appeared in 48 career games as a Rebel.
He didn’t miss a single game in his four years and won the 2022 Kent Hull Trophy — handed out each year to the best offensive lineman in the state of Mississippi.
“Today, I felt, went really well,” Broeker said. “I snapped a little bit, too. Moved well from both sides. I thought today was a really big plus for me.
“Hearing from a lot of teams. I spoke to all 32 teams at Senior Bowl. Spoke to 16, 17 at the combine. Spoke to a lot since then. Hearing from a lot of teams, so that’s been really cool.”
