With rain coming down in buckets, Georgia Tech's football staff called an audible for the school's Pro Day.
The drills were moved inside to the recreation center, and 13 players auditioning for NFL jobs performed as best they could on basketball courts and an indoor track in front of about 25 scouts and coaches Wednesday.
For quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, who wanted to show off his new footwork and his passing acumen, the move could have been devastating.
He couldn't throw any deep passes because the ceiling was too low, but the coaches made adjustments for Nesbitt.
"It was kind of hard to judge the depth of the receivers," Nesbitt said. "There was a glare off the floor and from the ceiling. You wanted to make sure that you didn't throw the ball through the [basketball] goals."
Nesbitt threw some flat routes out of the backfield to Anthony Allen, some curls, speed outs and few other intermediate passes. Allen caught passes from the nation's top quarterbacks at the Senior Bowl and the NFL scouting combine.
"Joshua is right up there with them," Allen said. "He has a strong and accurate arm."
Nesbitt said he was willing to work out at running back or wide receiver, but wasn't asked to do so.
"I felt like I had a great day," Nesbitt said. "I just wanted to do anything the scouts wanted to see. If they would have asked me to do running back or receiver, I would have."
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. isn't sure about Nesbitt's NFL position.
"That's the big thing with him," Kiper said. "Is he going to end up being a big back? Is he going to have to move to being at a receiver position? Nesbitt is a kid that is going to have to carve a niche and where it is, I can't tell you right now."
But the scouts know that Allen, who weighed in at 222 pounds, is a big running back. He was attempting to impress scouts with his pass-catching ability. St. Louis Rams running-backs coach Sylvester Croom led the drills for Allen and Lucas Cox.
"I was very impressed with Anthony," Croom said. "He's had a good career here at Georgia Tech. He's among a good group of running backs coming out this year."
Kiper said some folks have Allen moving up in the draft.
"He's a guy that I think is certainly intriguing, maybe in the fourth- or fifth-round area," Kiper said. "I wouldn't go any higher than that, although some people are trying to push him up. Running backs historically always drop."
While the players had to find tennis shoes to wear in place of the cleats they were planning to wear outside, the group made the move inside with some ease.
"That's part of playing the game at the pro level, being able to make adjustments," Croom said. "The staff did a great job of adjusting here and so did the players."
Some of the teams represented included the Falcons, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis and New Orleans.
Wide receiver Kevin Cone, offensive tackle Nick Claytor, kicker Scott Blair, safety Jerrard Tarrant, cornerback Mario Butler, safety Mario Edwards, cornerback Dominique Reese, linebacker Anthony Egbuniwe, linebacker Brad Jefferson and wide receiver Correy Earls also took part in the drills.
Butler and Tarrant also participated at the scouting combine.
"Butler has a chance [in the fourth through the seventh rounds] to be a nice fit for somebody," Kiper said. "I've always had a decent opinion on him. I think he's got a chance.
"Tarrant is a guy who has dropped to where he's probably a sixth- or seventh-round pick. He's going to have to make it initially as a special-teams guy."
Clark Atlanta and Morehouse postponed their joint Pro Day until 10 a.m. April 4.
