SMU hosted its annual Pro Day Tuesday, with 14 players who finished their SMU players in the last two years going through the normal series of tests: height, weight, 40-yard dash, assorted shuttle runs and jumps, bench press (number of repetitions with the NFL-standard 225 pounds), and then position drills.

Hall — an SMU alum — said the ties new head coach Chad Morris has with Texas high school coaches might be "a difference-maker." (photo by PonyFans.com).

The players who worked out included 2014 seniors — running back Kevin Pope, linebacker Stephon Sanders, wide receiver Der’Rikk Thompson, linebacker Cameron Nwosu, wide receiver Stephen Nelson, kicker Cody Rademacher and nose tackle Darrian Wright — and four 2013 seniors: offensive lineman Thomas Ashcraft, wide receiver Keenan Holman, cornerback Chris Parks and running back Traylon Shead.

The teams represented at Pro Day included the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys, as well as the CFL’s Montreal (represented by assistant director of U.S. scouting and SMU alum Uzo Okeke) and the Texas Stealth of the North American Indoor Football League.

After the workouts were over, Dallas Cowboys assistant director of college scouting Chris Hall visited with PonyFans.com and the Dallas Morning News. Some of his thoughts:

Do you come to this looking for specific players, or specific kinds of players?

Chris Hall: Yeah — you know, we all have our lists, and in a situation like today, there were 10, 12 guys out here, and one or two of them are probably legitimate guys that have a chance to go to camp. But you put everybody through the pace that shows up, and give them a chance to do everything, and just see how they move around. The majority of the work is done — you’ve already watched all the tape, we’ve got reports in on these guys. But now this part of it is “what kind of athlete are they? How do they compete out here? You put them up, and a bunch of eyes are looking at them, and they know this is their chance, and do they shrink or do they come up?

So you’re looking at overall athleticism, not targeting players at a specific position?:

Hall: The Pro Day thing is about athleticism — it’s the “Underwear Olympics.” They haven’t played any games since last November, so what we’re looking at now is purely a guy’s athletic ability. How fast can he run? Because a lot of guys run fast but they don’t play fast … and you’ve got other guys who don’t run really fast, but they play faster. You know, part of it is just competing. How do you compete in these drills?

It’s another form of pressure. Some of these kids know “this is my only chance to make on somebody,” but they only have to impress one of us to get a chance to maybe come to a rookie camp in May, and if they can get into a rookie camp in May, all they’ve got to do is impress one coach at that point.

Question?: Is this where a guy like Cole Beasley first got noticed after having good numbers at SMU but being written off by a lot of people because of his size?

Hall: Cole was … Cole was … a little bit better than a guy who was under the radar. I mean, he had a great college résumé. Cole’s big thing was “is he going to be big enough, fast enough, durable enough to be an NFL player?” The great thing about Cole is Cole doesn’t give a rip — I mean, he thinks he’s better than Dez (Bryant), you know, and he competes his ass off, and he’s a fantastic athlete. But you saw his swagger out here on Pro Day, and that’s kind of what you’re looking for out here, too, you know? The guy that knows he belongs and doesn’t care if he’s two inches shorter or if they say he’s too slow or doesn’t do the right things. But those are kinds of things you can see out here at a Pro Day.

You’ve got your body of work on tape. (Scouts have) done all the work, you know what type of football player he is. Now, put the athlete with the football player. Where are the holes, or where are the things that make you stand out and be special?

Was there anything that you saw today that kind of opened your eyes, that maybe you hadn’t seen on film?:

Hall: Not really. But you know what? I talked to Coach (Chad) Morris out there (for) 10, 15 minutes … fantastic. I don’t want to take anything away from what June (Jones) did, or anybody else that has been through here. It has always been uphill battle to get this thing turned around, with good moments and not-so-good moments. But I think the ties that Coach (Morris) has within Texas are going to be, potentially, a real difference-maker for finally getting this thing over the hump.

Hall said the swagger Cole Beasley displayed on his Pro Day showed the kind of confidence scouts want to see (photo by Dallas Cowboys).

A couple of years ago, Chris Banjo did Pro Day, didn’t get drafted, tried out with a couple of teams, didn’t stick and then sat out of football for a year and came back and stuck with Green Bay Packers. Do (scouts) look at guys who are a year removed any differently than you do the guys who were seniors this year:

Hall: You had four or five guys out here (who were seniors in 2013), and it’s the same kind of thing. It’s a great story. Banjo’s a great story. I mean, nobody gave him a chance his first time out, and he came out here the second year and I think he ran like a low 4.4, or maybe even a 4.38 — something like that — and it was like … woah! It looks like this guy’s doing underwear ads — he’s put together, and he ran great, and the Packers invited him up to their mini-camp, and the next you know, he did it. So, like I said, you just need that opportunity, and sometimes it just comes in different ways. You just don’t know, and that’s why this is such a good … you never know what you’re going to run into out here, and you may miss a guy. I mean, nobody liked Chris Banjo the first time, really, as a football player. He was undersized, he was banged up, and he played — he played OK, he had a few interceptions, but he didn’t jump off the tape at anything. But then, he worked out great (the second time), and somebody sees a great athlete, they gave him a chance, and compared to what they had, he was good enough or better. He stuck, and now he’s probably one of their best special teams players. He found a niche, and he’s going to have a good career for a couple more years, probably.

You have been doing this a long time, but is hard to take off the SMU alumni cap? Do you come out here hoping one of these guys will impress you since you went to school here?:

Hall: Well, I mean, you always root for your alma mater in some way or another, but to me, this is a business. They’re either good enough or they’re not, you know, and at the end of the day, I can’t bring a guy in, just because he’s from SMU and because I want somebody (from SMU) to make it. I’ve got to be accountable and credible with what I bring in, and I mean, I’m going to miss, too, but you at least want to miss on a guy that competes and shows some of the traits that you want to be able to play in the NFL.

If you can’t run, you’re not going to be able to play. There are very few positions where you can hide a speed-deficient guy. There’s a few that have the instincts, that overcome the lack of great speed, but not many … not many.

How often do you look at a player and consider moving him to a new position, where he might be a better fit at the pro level?:

Hall: You give some thought to it sometimes, if the athleticism is there … but so many times, with a position change, you can’t change a guy’s position if he’s not an instinctive football player. Special teams are tickets in for a lot of guys, whether it’s a Chris Banjo story, a guy like that. A lot of them make their mark there, and that’s where they end up playing … and playing for a long time. I mean, (safety) Danny McCray, that we had a few years ago, he wasn’t a starter at LSU. But Danny came in and was a special teams captain for us.

Dwayne (Harris) … he was a pretty damn good college receiver, too, (but) I think Dwayne Harris is one of the best special teams players in the league, if not the best. When you put his return ability and his cover ability together … we’re going to miss him. A lot … because it will probably take two players to fill what he did for us, and that’s managing your roster and your numbers. But it’s hard to justify paying $3, $3.5 million dollars for a special teams guy, especially with the way our (salary) cap and our roster is. It’s hard to come up with those extra dollars. We’re looking for those budget players.