The NFL Draft is slowly but surely nearing, and NFL coaches are pulling all the strings to test prospects to see what they’re really made of. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin made certain of that at Florida State’s pro day.
Seminoles kicker Roberto Aguayo has been one of the best kickers in the college game during his time at Florida State. He’s won the Lou Groza Award, so he’s pretty good. So good in fact, he’s the first kicker to forego his senior season to enter the NFL Draft in 16 years. The previous was another Seminole, Sebastian Janikowski, who was taken in the first round. Aguayo will look to become the first kicker taken in the early round since Mike Nugent in 2005.
Tomlin wanted to see just how good Aguayo really was, so when he was about to kick a 50-yarder, Tomlin called a timeout, icing the kicker at a pro day.
Aguayo described the situation to ESPN:
On what happened on that timeout: “Tomlin called a timeout. They want to see you still kick it because you can test, see where the wind’s blowing and everything, so they liked that, how I kicked it still. It was a 50-yarder.”
On whether the an idea that something like that would happen: “Oh yeah. You get prepared for everything and anything. I’m prepared for anything. Whatever they want. The Steelers’ [assistant coach] was trying to get in my head at the beginning. He was asking all these questions, but after I didn’t pay attention to him, he walked off. See, those are the little things they want to see, if you get distracted, if you get flustered from … They’re like, ‘Why are you going to hit five warm-ups? Why can’t you hit three warm-ups?’ All those little things and he’s like, ‘Oh, you’re sticking by the book,’ and I was like, ‘Yes sir.’ Those are the little things, see, and overall I think I had a good workout.”
Tomlin apparently liked what he saw:
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin after watching Roberto Aguayo kick. "That was a treat."
— Jared Shanker (@Jared_Shanker) March 29, 2016
Aguayo told Seminoles.com that although teams are high on him and his abilities, he’s not concerned about where he gets picked. “I don’t focus on it that much. I just try to be the best version of Roberto Aguayo on days like these. … I just try to be as poised and professional as I can.”
It should come as no surprise that Tomlin really wants to see what he’s looking at in a kicker. The Steelers had tons of trouble at the position last season, and with extra points having been moved back permanently, it’s something that the Steelers want to get right.
