SMU pro day: Rashee Rice believes he’s answered each critique ahead of NFL draft

UNIVERSITY PARK — Former SMU wide receiver Rashee Rice said he’s been working on controlling what he can control.

But now, here comes the hard part, because the NFL draft process is mostly out of Rice’s pass-catching hands.

Rice, along with 11 of his former SMU teammates, competed at the school’s annual pro day on Wednesday. There were scouts from 28 NFL teams in attendance, as well as Houston Texas general manager Nick Caserio.

Rice was the main attraction, which isn’t new. Scouts flocked to SMU practices all year to talk with Rice and see him in person. That attention carried on through the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine and Wednesday’s pro day.

Now, with just over a month until the NFL draft, Rice — aside from pre-draft interviews and visits — no longer has much control in the evaluation and selection process.

“When my phone starts to ring on draft day, I know I’ll get the opportunity to make plays in the NFL,” Rice said. “It’s not about who gets drafted first, it’s about being a playmaker.”

That was the first thing in Rice’s control.

From the start of spring practice last season, Rice made it known that he was ready to continue the SMU legacy of churning out NFL receivers. He watched James Proche and Danny Gray become NFL draft picks before him.

“I’m definitely going to be the next one,” he said a year ago.

So he played like it. Rice had 96 receptions for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns, becoming the school’s record holder for receiving yards in a season. At the end of the regular season, and prior to the conference championship games, Rice led the nation in receiving. SMU’s next leading receiver had 37 receptions.

RELATED: SMU football wants to change its rushing attack, and a ‘baby bison’ might be the key piece

It was no secret that Rice was going to get the lion’s share of targets in SMU’s offense. It led to a lot of attention, though it didn’t stunt his production.

“In my opinion, and probably most people would agree, there’s not a better receiver in the draft that can catch the ball contested like he can,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “They’re not 50-50 balls with him, they’re 80-20 or better with him. Most of the people can only cover him by tackling him.”

SMU wide receivers coach Rob Likens has coached multiple first-round picks in his time.

“I think he’s a first-round guy,” Likens said of Rice. “But if he falls any lower than that, I still think he has an incredible career in front of him.”

No player — even the most pristine of NFL prospects — has been immune to pre-draft questions, however, and Rice is no exception. Some scouting reports have questioned his top-end speed. He personally heard from NFL scouts about how they wanted to see him in an expanded route tree beyond what he ran at SMU.

“The production looks good this year, but I think Danny Gray was a better prospect coming out last year,” an anonymous AFC scouting director told NFL.com. “[Rice] can run, but you don’t always see his speed when he plays.”

As for the speed and explosiveness questions, Rice believed he answered that at the NFL Combine when he jumped a 41-inch vertical, ran a 4.51 40-yard dash and tied for the third-fastest 10-yard split. Rice said some teams clocked him in the low 4.4s — a substantially faster 40-yard dash time.

Rice didn’t run the 40 at Wednesday’s pro day. There was no need to.

Rice played most of last season with a broken toe, even though there were opportunities to shut down his senior season and start rehabbing. At the combine and Wednesday’s pro day, Lashlee said he saw a more healthy Rice.

“You can see his explosion is back,” Lashlee said.

As for the limited route tree critique, Rice said he was focused on answering that question on Wednesday. He, fellow receiver Austin Upshaw and tight end Ben Redding ran a variety of routes, including ones with multiple double moves.

Rice believed he answered that critique, as well.

“Out of high school, I always had to prove myself. In college, at SMU, we always had to prove ourselves as a team, so it was nothing new to me,” Rice said. “Being able to prove myself to [scouts and evaluators] is another opportunity to shut everything down and close all the noise off.”

Versatile asset

Former SMU offensive lineman Jaylon Thomas had Wednesday’s pro day on his mind for a while. That’s because he knew it would be his one chance to impress NFL scouts. Thomas played through a shoulder injury at the end of the season and had surgery on Dec. 7.

Thomas performed well at SMU’s pro day. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.93 seconds.

“I won’t name any names, but standing out there with some of the scouts and [general managers], when he was going through his drills they went, ‘Wow, he’s athletic,’” Lashlee recalled.

Thomas’ best asset, though, is his versatility. He started games at all five offensive line positions this past season. In one game, he played both right guard and left guard. He took some snaps for teams at center in on-field drills, as well, on Wednesday.

“Availability is the best ability,” Thomas said.

And Thomas has proven he can do that.

Notable

France native Junior Aho thought he could’ve run faster in the 40-yard dash. That doesn’t mean his time of 4.58 at 260 pounds wasn’t impressive. It would’ve been the fastest among defensive tackles at the NFL combine by 0.15 seconds. Aho, a 6-2 defensive lineman, will also compete at the NFL’s international pathway combine next week, so he’ll have another chance to run an even faster time.

Former SMU tight end Ben Redding competed in pro day four months after having surgery on his ankle. Redding had three touchdown catches in the first half against Houston on Nov. 5 before suffering the season-ending surgery. He competed in all the drills despite also injuring his hamstring in the 40-yard dash. He ran a 4.82 40 and bench pressed 225 pounds 18 times. At the end of the pro day, he also did deep snapping in the hopes of potentially showing a team he could long snap.

Pro day results

On Twitter: @JoeJHoyt

Find more SMU coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.