LOS ANGELES – It’s one of the reasons players come to USC – the L.A. sunshine, beaming almost every day of the year except, apparently, on Pro Day, the on-campus NFL showcase that also happens to be a major draw for the Trojans.
For the third consecutive year, rain fell on the school’s aspiring pro footballers as 15 of them auditioned Wednesday before stopwatch-wielding scouts from all 32 NFL teams preparing for the draft that’s set to take place between April 24-26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The weather might have been a feature, not a bug, to hear some of the Trojans’ prospects tell it. Because it showed “I can catch the ball in any kind of weather,” running back Woody Marks said. “Wind, rain, sun, snow, it really don’t matter, I’m gonna still catch the ball.”
The 5-foot-10, 213-pound Marks is one of the Trojans’ prospects most likely to catch on with an NFL team. He, offensive lineman Jonah Monheim and defensive back Jaylin Smith were the trio representing USC at the recent 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
All three were back at it again Wednesday, a relatively low-key affair compared with the spectacle surrounding No. 1-pick-to-be Caleb Williams’ Pro Day display last year.
Marks bettered his 40-yard dash time, clocking 4.52 seconds Monday morning after reportedly running 4.64 at the combine, where his 18 bench press reps tied him for the fourth-most among running backs.
The Mississippi State transfer, who spent just last season with USC, finished the year with a head-turning 1,133 rushing yards, nine rushing touchdowns and 47 receptions for 321 yards. And now he’s on the verge of hearing his name called in the NFL draft.
“It’s amazing,” Marks said. “I’ve been dreaming about this all my life. Started playing football around 5 years old, so it’s just it’s amazing whenever my name gets called.”
The 6-4, 303-pound Monheim was pleased with how he performed in offensive line drills Monday after being limited at the combine, where the center – at USC and likely at the next level, too – was recovering from a hamstring issue.
And Smith, USC’s swift 5-10, 194-pound defensive back, declined to run another 40 on Wednesday, sticking with his previous 40 time, the reported 4.45 he clocked in Indianapolis.
After having also played nickel, cornerback, strong and free safety in his USC tenure, Smith’s move to cornerback last season might have changed his life.
“It was a revival of my career,” Smith said. “It was great, in terms of Coach (D’Anton) Lynn and Coach (Doug) Belk coming in and seeing my abilities and tailoring it.”
Still, Smith said it’s his versatile history – “just knowing it all” – that NFL teams seem to like in all the conversations he’s been enjoying over the past few weeks, like the one he had with Dolphins’ coach Mike McDaniel, “a funny, funny guy, man. That conversation was just great; he had a lot of energy.”
Jacobe Covington said he didn’t start having those talks – including some during in-person visits, he said – until after the combine went on without him.
“It was kind of weird, because after the combine, it kind of blew up,” said Covington, a 6-1, 207-pound defensive back who used Wednesday’s event to show teams “that I can run and I got fluid hips. I’m a big DB, but I can move very well – probably better than a lot of other big DBs.”
And Gavin Meyer, the 6-3, 285-pound defensive tackle who transferred from Wyoming last season hoping for opportunities like Monday’s, said he’d already been having good talks with “some of the West Coast teams,” and then with even more Wednesday.
“Why did I pick here? It’s for things like this,” Meyer said. “You got every single NFL team here, along with a lot of important guys up and down the teams, too. A scene like this … where everyone’s got all eyes on you. When you play here, they’re gonna watch you.”
(@uscfb)Other participants Monday: safety Akili Arnold, linebacker Mason Cobb, punter Eddie Czaplicki, wide receiver Kyle Ford, cornerback John Humphrey, kicker Michael Lantz, linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, defensive end Jamil Muhammad, safety Bryson Shaw and cornerback Greedy Vance Jr. Also, 2023 Trojan Jac Casasante, a long snapper, participated.
And transfer quarterback Sam Huard threw passes to the DBs and Ford. The 6-1, 223-pound receiver said they’d had two training sessions together before Wednesday’s big day, when he had family and friends along with now-former teammates in the stands, braving the elements in support.
The high-profile pro day is an important part of the experience, but Covington said what he’ll most remember about USC are the bonds he made with teammates in his two seasons in town, including while weathering last season’s 7-6 season.
In particular, he’ll hold onto “our last game against Texas A&M (a 35-31 comeback victory in the Las Vegas Bowl),” he said, noting it meant USC went “undefeated against SEC.”
“It was just everything, a lot of emotions,” he added. “The season didn’t go how we wanted to go and just for the team to come back, it was just fun to be out there on my guys one last time. It was very emotional, from the hotel to the game, little tears dropping from my eyes and stuff, realizing this is my last game with my guys. That was probably one of the key moments in my career, just knowing it was the last one, and giving my team all I got.”