Boston College’s B.J. Raji was the star of the school’s Pro Day on Thursday, but had little to gain.
Taking their NFL shots
Raji talks
B.J. Raji didn’t drastically affect his NFL stock Thursday, but he hardly needed to. A dynamite senior season and an even better offseason of workouts have the hulking 6-1, 330-pound defensive tackle squarely in the top 10 of next month’s draft — and maybe in the top five. “It’s exciting,” he said. “I know myself, and I know what it took for me to get here. This is pretty cool.”
The roots of his rise can be traced to the 2007 season he missed for academic reasons. “It was a very humbling experience for me,” Raji said.
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B.J. Raji stood surrounded by media types, but the real action was going on behind him.
He was the king holding court at Thursday’s Boston College NFL Pro Day showcase, but it wasn’t his show. Fullbacks, tight ends and linemen, average prospects, longshots and dreamers; they worked out for scouts without Raji’s promise of guaranteed riches.
One towering wide receiver had never even played college ball.
Tufts’ Kevin Anderson is hardly like that — the fullback was an All-NESCAC first-teamer this year.
Still, he’s not exactly lighting up mock drafts — Thursday’s determined performance aside.
“It’s a faster pace than you would expect it to be,” Anderson said. “You’re used to warming up and getting your time. But it’s been fun.”
Anderson, a Hopkinton native, wasn’t exactly worried about the day’s culmination: the notorious Wonderlic test.
