Digital Sports Desk

INDIANAPOLIS – (Special to Digital Sports Desk by The Sports Xchange) – Friday kicked off the athletic testing we all know and love about the annual “Underwear Olympics,” better known as the NFL Scouting Combine, with offensive linemen and running backs completing all of their drills and quarterbacks and pass-catchers taking to the podium. Here are the 10 takeaways you need to know:

1. Arguably the draft’s top wideout decides not to run.

Clemson wide receiver Mike Williams had an outstanding 2016 campaign, leading the ACC with 98 receptions for 1,361 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has the look of being a star NFL wideout with his combination of size, power and coordination to make athletic plays on the ball look routine. He is physical to the ball to outrebound defensive backs and is Mr. Reliable on back-shoulder throws with his length, focus and body control, snatching the ball with ease.

Those are the positives. The glaring concern with his game? Speed, which puts a lot of pressure on his 40-yard dash. However, Williams won’t be running in Indianapolis, opting to instead wait for his pro day. When asked why, he responded that it was a “long season” and he didn’t have enough time to prepare.

Williams added that “you only run the 40 once, ever, in your life,” alluding to his desire to make sure that one time is his best. Scouts are hoping to see him come in under 4.55 and at least avoid the 4.6s, but Williams doesn’t worry about the results hurting his NFL chances.

“Jerry Rice didn’t run a fast time,” Williams said. “Antonio Brown didn’t run a fast time; he’s the highest-paid receiver in the league right now. It’s all about just playing football if you look at it at the end of the day.”

NFL teams don’t expect Williams to run a 4.4; they understand his game is built around other areas and not necessarily speed. However, teams would like to see him compete on the track at Lucas Oil Stadium. If he runs a poor time, Williams has the pro day to make up for it — but now, it all comes down to March 16 at Clemson.

Also of note: Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis won’t work out at the Combine because of his ankle injury and will not be healthy for the pro day, either. However, he did say he plans to hold a workout prior to the draft.

2. Njoku ready to jump out of Lucas Oil Stadium.

A national champion high jumper in high school, Miami tight end David Njoku is ready to show off his leaping skills in Indianapolis.

“You’re going to find out what my vertical is tomorrow,” Njoku said when asked about his jumping ability. “Maybe you guys will be kind of impressed with that. High jump is a lot of power to run and get your body over seven feet. It’s very exciting.”

Njoku was 220 pounds when he won his national title in high school, and now at 246 pounds (and only 6.3 percent body fat), he is looking to set another record.

“Mostly, I’m looking forward to the broad (jump) because I think I’m going to break a record tomorrow. We’ll see.”

It will be tough to break the record (12 feet, 3 inches), set by Dallas Cowboys defensive back Byron Jones at the 2015 Combine. But with his combination of lower-body power and explosion, Njoku has the athletic skills to hit the 11-foot mark and maybe pass Jamie Collins (11-7 at 250 pounds) for second on the all-time list.

3. West Virginia wideout wants the island.

The school’s all-time leader in yards per reception (22.6), West Virginia wide receiver Shelton Gibson calls speed his best attribute. The 40-yard dash on Saturday will help tell teams just how fast he is, but Gibson has special expectations.

“I want to win the island,” Gibson said. “Anything is possible.”

Gibson very astutely pointed out that he is “WR 17” on his Combine gear and Chris Johnson, who holds the 40-yard dash record of 4.24 seconds, wore “RB 17” in 2008. A 4.2 40-yard dash would certainly turn heads among NFL teams, but more importantly, Gibson knows he needs to prove he is more than just a speed threat down the field.

“By the beginning of next year, I want to be a complete receiver,” Gibson said. “I want to be able to run every single route the best I can. Hopefully be with a great coach who can help teach me.”

4. Mack Hollins flying down the field … and under the radar.

The North Carolina offense will have several representatives on draft weekend, including quarterback Mitch Trubisky, wide receiver Ryan Switzer and the running back duo of Elijah Hood and T.J. Logan. But the offensive threat from Chapel Hill who doesn’t receive nearly enough attention is wide receiver Mack Hollins.

Hollins, who measured at 6-4 and 221 pounds with 33 1/4-inch arms and 9 3/4-inch hands, is a long-striding athlete who was a consistent vertical threat for the Tar Heels, averaging 20.6 yards per reception for his career. He played in only seven games as a senior before a broken right clavicle that required surgery sidelined him the rest of the season. However, Hollins said the injury is fully healed and although his doctor wanted him to skip the bench press, he will be a full participant in all the speed and agility drills. A big-time vertical threat, Hollins has been working to show he can run the full route tree.

“That is the one knock; people think I can’t run routes,” Hollins said. “I think I can get better. I can run the whole tree. For our offense, I was used as more of a vertical threat, but I can do the intermediate stuff.”

While his offensive game translates well to the pro game, so does Hollins’ impact on special teams, where he was a four-year team captain on that side of the ball.

“I was a scout-team guy and to make the bus, I knew I needed to stand out on special teams,” Hollins said.

Hollins finished his career with 24 tackles on special teams and played on all four coverages: kickoffs, kickoff returns, gunner on punts and blocker as a punt returner.

5. North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky answers questions about his experience.

Arguably the top quarterback in this draft class, North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky has NFL starting traits and will be considered for a top-10 pick.

Trubisky checks boxes with his size, arm strength, mobility and accuracy. Basically, the glaring negative is sample size with only 13 career starts. But Trubisky is confident in how much he’s played.

“I think I definitely have enough experience,” Trubisky said. “I only have 13 starts, but I played in 30 games. I’ve come off the bench and I’ve seen significant time. I was prepared really well at North Caorlina.

“I’m a student of the game and I’ve seen a lot of defenses, and I think that’s going to help me. I feel like I’m in a really good spot right now to take my game to the next level and I feel really confident.”

Like the other top quarterback prospects at the Combine, Trubisky will throw on Saturday at Lucas Oil Field and have the chance to prove why he should be the first quarterback drafted. That is his goal.

“I would like to be the first quarterback to go,” Trubisky said. “If you’re a natural competitor, you want to be first. So that is what we’re striving to do here.”

6. McCaffrey steals the spotlight from Fournette, Cook.

For most, the conversation about running backs in the first round starts and ends with LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Florida State’s Dalvin Cook, but it was Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey who shined brightest Friday. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that the 202-pound Stanford star proved faster in the 40-yard dash than the considerably bigger Fournette (240) and Cook (210), clocking in at 4.48 seconds, but it was the quickness he showed in the three-cone drill that really left scouts in awe. McCaffrey was clocked at 6.57 seconds — a blistering time for a running back — and one that accurately demonstrates his rare change of direction. McCaffrey also showed surprising explosiveness, recording a 37.5-inch vertical jump (second among all running backs) and a 10-1-inch broad jump. Perhaps best of all, McCaffrey was terrific during position drills, including as a pass-catcher.

Given his size, Fournette’s 4.51 second time in the 40-yard dash is very impressive, but he showed a disappointing lack of explosiveness during the vertical jump, with his 28.5-inch effort just half an inch better than the worst recorded by any running back tested this year — and 3.5 inches less than San Diego State guard Nico Siragusa, who checks in at 6-4, 319 pounds.

7. Speed kills — at least the perception that these underrated backs don’t belong.

Though the performances of the “big three” running backs deserve top-billing, flashy efforts from lower-rated prospects like North Carolina’s T.J. Logan (4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash), Utah’s Joe Williams (4.41) and North Carolina A&T’s Tarik Cohen (4.42) deserve mentioning. The 2017 draft is loaded with running backs of every size and shape and this trio is a perfect demonstration.

The 5-foot-9, 196-pound Logan split time with fellow Combine invite Elijah Hood (who did not participate in Friday’s athletic testing) and perhaps needed to impress in drills as much as any running back in this class to steal back some of the attention spent on others (like Hood, receiver Ryan Switzer and top-rated quarterback Mitch Trubisky). The same is true with the 5-11, 210 pound Williams and 5-6 1/2 Cohen, who are not just opposites in size but in career carries (with 516 and 966 combined rushing and receiving “touches,” respectively), as well.

8. Utah’s Garett Bolles rolls … perhaps into the first round?

The big winner among offensive linemen in the bench-press drills Thursday was Utah’s Isaac Asiata, but Friday it was his former teammate Garett Bolles, who wowed with his sheer athleticism, clocking in at 4.95 seconds in the 40-yard dash (including a 1.76 second 10-yard split), a 7.29 second three-cone and a 4.55 second time in the short shuttle, each among the top three among the approximately 45 offensive linemen tested. The 6-5, 297-pound Bolles currently ranks third on NFLDraftScout.com’s board and is viewed as a potential first-round pick, something that Friday’s efforts will no doubt help.

9. Tight end class appears to be getting stronger by the day.

This year’s tight end crop is considered by scouts to be as talented and deep as any in the past 20 years and that was reinforced Friday just in the bench-press results. Sure, projected first-round prospects O.J. Howard (Alabama) and David Njoku (Miami) fared well, with 22 and 21 repetitions of 225 pounds, respectively. Njoku’s strength was particularly impressive given his long arms (35 1/4 inches) and the fact that he’s known more for his speed and explosive leaping ability than power. Few would have anticipated that Oregon’s Pharaoh Brown would prove bigger, longer and stronger than nearly all of the tight ends invited to Indianapolis this year, recording a lineman-like 24 repetitions of 225 pounds despite his 35 5/8-inch arms on a 6-6, 255-pound frame. Brown comes with legitimate medical and off-field questions but he, quite literally, made a strong first impression on scouts Friday.

10. Playmaking receivers/returners come up short.

North Carolina’s Ryan Switzer and Washington’s John Ross are two of the more dynamic playmakers in the 2017 draft, but Friday’s tale of the tape was not especially kind. The Tar Heels’ electric slot receiver and returner checked in with the shortest arms of any pass-catcher in Indianapolis (28 inches). Meanwhile, Ross has some of the smallest hands (8 3/4 inches) of any of the players measured thus far. Fortunately, both have terrific tape to keep these measurements in their proper context and should impress during the timed drills Saturday. Ross, a known speedster who scored 17 touchdowns last year for the Huskies, told the media Friday that he expects to clock in “under 4.3” in the 40-yard dash