He was unable to test at the NFL Combine because of a hamstring injury, but what Israel Abanikanda showcased in Wednesday's Pro Day at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex was not just a culmination of three years of athletic ability. It was a result of him combining those abilities with a growing knowledge of the game.
The Pitt running back's 40-yard dash time nearly stole the show, his vertical jump was the show-stopper, and his on-field workout had scouts scrambling to jot down notes about the ACC's rushing champion from a season ago.
Abanikanda played his stock up, and there is still room for more.
"Pretty good, pretty good," Pitt running backs coach Andre Powell said Thursday on the South Side, with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. "... DNA is most of that, right? That's mostly DNA, but where the kid really matured, and that's the whole process. Trust the process. Izzy was a talented guy. Let's not lose focus of that. But what Izzy did, he learned football. I talked to a couple of those scouts that interviewed him, and they talked about what anticipation he had, what good vision, a byproduct of that is being able to know where the line's going, who they're working to. It's all about anticipation."
Abanikanda did not partake in the bench press in the weight room, but he did measure at 5-foot-11, 217 pounds in the main facility before trekking across the parking lot to showcase his athleticism in the South Side indoor facility.
His first 40-yard dash time was clocked at an unofficial 4.41 seconds, which would have tied for the fourth-fastest time at the NFL Combine among running backs. His second time was improved on, putting him farther up the tier of his class, at a consensus 4.34-seconds unofficial time. That time would have finished second to only Texas A&M's Devon Achane, who ran an official 4.32 40 to lead all Combine running backs.
4.41u 40-yard dash for Israel Abanikanda. #Pitt pic.twitter.com/k8Dvu7r9ta
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) March 29, 2023
His tear did not stop there.
Up next was the vertical jump, before which one of Abanikanda's Pitt teammates standing behind me predicted a 42-inch leap.
Close, but still impressive.
Abanikanda got up to 41 inches on his second leap, sending the crowd of his former teammates into a frenzy. (Oddly, it was announced as a 35-inch vertical before it was later corrected.)
41-inch vertical for Israel Abanikanda. #Pitt pic.twitter.com/pAqYAPeVI8
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) March 29, 2023
"That 41-inch vertical, and I looked at his back, I was like, 'woah, look at that dude,'" Pat Narduzzi said. "Maybe I just haven't looked at him with his shirt off in a long time, but he was a beast over there jumping, and then the way he ran at 217 pounds. I mean, he's a big man running fast. I don't think he played at that weight. Most guys get skinnier for Pro Day so they can faster. He put on more horsepower, going out there and ran really well.
"Obviously could have had another year, but, yeah, he's a grown man right now."
That vertical would have registered at a tie for seventh overall and as the top among Combine running backs.
Abanikanda said after his testing that the amount of NFL teams which have shown interest in him is "probably in the 20s, but hopefully all 32 after today."
He added he was supposed to have a meeting with the Steelers at the Combine, but time constraints negated that. He added the Steelers have reached out to him during his pre-draft process. The Steelers sent a heavy contingency across the parking lot for the Pitt Pro Day, including Assistant General Manager Andy Weidl, director of pro scouting Sheldon White, assistant director of pro scouting Dave Petett, and running backs coach Eddie Faulkner.
All 32 NFL teams and four Canadian Football League teams were present at Pitt Pro Day.
"I wanted to prove to everybody that I have the ability to catch, and also that I have breakaway speed," Abanikanda said after the Pro Day. "A lot of people still thought that I really couldn't break away. I really wanted to show them my 40. ... I actually was surprised when they talked about (his breakway speed), so I decided I'm going to show out in my 40 and let them know."
If scouts had questions about Abanikanda's breakaway speed, perhaps they missed the entire 2022 season:
Abanikanda won the ACC rushing title last season with 1,431 yards, which was hallmarked by his 320 yards and six touchdowns on 36 carries against Virginia Tech, surpassing Tony Dorsett's 303 yards as a program record for a single game, and tying Norman Budd's 112-year record with his touchdown total in that game.
He led the NCAA in scoring (11.6 points per game), total touchdowns (21), and rushing touchdowns (20) while finishing second in all-purpose yards (164.1 per game). His 130.1 rushing yards per game were seventh in the NCAA. He was named a first-team All-American by CBS Sports and ESPN, a second-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, and was a third-team Associated Press All-American.
Abanikanda is the 170th overall player on Pro Football Focus' Big Board, and the NFL Mock Draft database has him slotted as the 135th-ranked prospect. His home-run ability displayed at Pitt goes as a strong suit, and these final stages leading up to next month's draft are allowing for him to fill in the blanks.
"People don't really look at how I burst through the holes, how I break through tackles," Abanikanda said. "Just me with my speed, breaking through tackles. A lot of people don't really realize that. They just see, 'oh, you know, he's just a breakaway runner. He don't really got the ability to catch outside the backfield, which I showed."
MORE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
• Powell disclosed the Pitt punter job has two leading candidates, as of Thursday: Caleb Junko and Jeff Yurk.
The redshirt sophomore Junko averaged 48.7 yards on 12 punts while placing four inside the 20-yard line last season. He boomed an 85-yard punt in the Sun Bowl to set Pitt, Sun Bowl, and all-time collegiate bowl records for distance on one punt.
"We changed some things around," Powell said. "It's a lot of the things we've already done, but we've just organized it a little bit better, gave it terminology, and we're just a lot more specific. We've got two good punters, we've got two good snappers, and we've got enough personnel to be a real good punt team."
Yurk joins as a transfer from Football Championship Subdivision program Elon. The junior averaged 41.0 yards on 104 punts in two seasons, but he averaged 44.1 yards per punt last season to rank fifth in the FCS.
"He's a strong-legged guy. He's got a strong leg," Powell said. "He's got to work on hang time. He kicks the ball too far with not the appropriate hang time."
• Ryan Baer is a name to keep an eye on in spring ball and heading into the summer, as the redshirt freshman could eke into the starting left guard spot by the time September rolls around.
The top-rated recruit in Narduzzi's 2021 recruiting class, Baer has worked at tackle and guard throughout spring camp, but the tackle positions already appear to be locked in by Branson Taylor and All-ACC returner Matt Goncalves. He said he has seen most of his time at tackle through the spring.
"I've worked very hard," Baer said Thursday. "Everyone else has worked hard, too. We have a lot of guys hat don't have experience, but they're good. They're still really good players, and they'll only get better through experience. The guys ahead of me have played a lot, and they deserve to be where they'd be, and it's just a lot of competition. I'm happy to be where I'm at, and I'm just going to keep working for it."
