As front office executives, head coaches and a gaggle of St. Elmo Steak House-powered reporters descend upon Indianapolis, Indiana, all eyes are on the 329 invitees to the NFL Scouting Combine. Among them, three Texas A&M football players have their sights set on making the right impression to boost their draft stock come April.
Shemar Stewart: The hottest name in Indy?
Every year, a player with absurd athletic traits becomes the in-vogue name for scouts and draftniks alike. Junior defensive lineman Shemar Stewart is in prime position to make this week all about him.
Listed at 6-foot-6, 290 pounds and expected to measure slightly lighter, Stewart has a hulking frame for the trenches without sacrificing explosive athleticism. The rumblings from the media, including from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler in his latest appearance on the “The Athletic Football Show”, indicated that Stewart’s 40-yard dash could be in the 4.5 range. A sub-4.60-second 40-yard dash at 280-plus pounds would be one of the most impressive times in Combine history.
With the top of the 2025 NFL Draft widely considered to be a weaker group of prospects, eye-popping testing numbers could be enough for the draft industrial complex to manufacture a prospect that might not really exist.
You might remember the similarly weak 2022 class, when then-Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke went on what can only be assumed was a psilocybin-fueled bender that led him to see the ghost of Aldon Smith in the eventual first-overall pick, Travon Walker.
Walker did not have elite collegiate production — posting just six sacks in his final year at Georgia — but running a 4.51-second 40-yard dash at 272 pounds had the NFL salivating. Similarly, Stewart only recorded 1.5 sacks in his junior season in Aggieland. But his rare physical traits could make him an enticing option for teams in the top 10 because of the moldable ball of clay some evaluators will see.
Partners in crime
Joining Stewart at Lucas Oil Stadium are junior edge rusher Nic Scourton and senior defensive tackle Shemar Turner, who helped wreak havoc on opposing offenses last season.
Scourton, who finished second in the Southeastern Conference in tackles for loss and recorded 11 sacks for Purdue the year prior, is likely on the bubble for a potential first-round selection. At 6-foot-4, 285 pounds, the Bryan native has the requisite size and a history of past statistical production appealing to NFL teams.
With his numbers and effectiveness tailing off in the back half of the year, the athletic testing allows the edge rusher an opportunity to vault back into the first-round discussion, should he impress.
As one of only 10 prospects who will be just 20 years old on draft day, coaches will want to see him go through position drills on the field to demonstrate technical growth. Teams will also want to meet Scourton one-on-one to ask him how his changed role in A&M’s lineup limited him from putting up high-end stats.
Turner won’t be participating in on-field work due to a stress fracture in his leg he played through as a senior, but he is expected to be cleared for participation at the Aggies’ pro day.
Without the ability to show off his physical gifts and technical refinement, Turner will likely spend the week undergoing medical evaluations for teams to see how his rehab is going. Additionally, as the 12th Man knows all too well, Turner had a propensity for personal fouls in college, something he will surely be grilled on in interviews.
While the underwear olympics aren’t the end-all and the be-all for these prospects, we’ve seen the Combine be a star-making vehicle for players to turn potential into opportunity.
