On Tuesday, the Indianapolis Colts hosted their annual local Pro Day at the team’s W. 56th Street complex, and this may be the most talented group of local prospects they’ve brought in since the spring event’s inception.
Here is this year’s local Pro Day participant roster listed below (via The Athletic’s James Boyd):
In particular, the College Football Playoff Champion Indiana Hoosiers were well represented, as a handful of their 2025 All-Big Ten honorees: wide receivers Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt, as well as cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, center Pat Googan, and tight end Riley Nowakowski were in attendance.
Per Boyd and ESPN’s Stephen Holder, none of the aforementioned IU prospects (or other top standout prospects present) were expected to work out on Tuesday, given their current projected draft statuses, but they did attend and participate in media availability.
It’s worth noting that Oregon junior safety Dillon Thieneman, who is a former Purdue transfer and Westfield High School standout locally, also participated—after earning First-Team All-American honors for the Ducks in 2025.
For some of these other less highly touted local prospects, it provides them an opportunity to gain exposure and visibility in front of the Colts scouts and football operations executives.
While most of these participants will likely go undrafted, you never know who could catch the Colts brass’s eyes and warrant an undrafted free agent contract following the upcoming NFL Draft—especially with the collective need for core special teamers and extra roster depth.
There’s always the possibility of a practice squad spot down the road too, if any of these other prospects were to meaningfully impress—as the Colts look to uncover their next diamond in the rough.
It provides those more unheralded local prospects an NFL showcase opportunity that they otherwise wouldn’t have had, as they look to keep their NFL dreams alive following their college football playing days.
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