West Georgia’s Slater impresses NFL scouts

Mike Davis, RB, South Carolina

Tory Slater, DT/DE, West Georgia

Norman Hayes, CB, Harvard

Rory Anderson, TE, South Carolina

John Mincy, CB, Auburn

Mike Thornton, DT, Georgia

Amarlo Herrera, ILB, Georgia

Garry Peters, CB, Clemson

DeAndre Smelter, WR, Georgia Tech

NFL draft analysts are using all of their favorite buzz words to describe West Georgia defensive lineman Tory Slater.

He’s a “sleeper,” a “hidden gem” and an “under the radar” player all at the same time, and that’s just fine with Slater, who hopes to become the second player from the school to be selected by an NFL team.

He’s set to participate in the Falcons’ local-day workout Tuesday before working out for the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks later this month. The draft is set for April 30-May 2 in Chicago.

“Actually, it’s just been exciting,” Slater said. “I’m just taking it day by day. It’s been a dream since I first started playing football.”

Former West Georgia player Ron Dixon was drafted in the third round by the Giants in 2000.

Slater, who entered his senior season at Chapel Hill High as a 6-foot-3, 195-pound wide receiver, blossomed into a NFL prospect at West Georgia and grew to 6-5, 290.

In addition to Division II West Georgia, Slater was recruited by Division II Tusculum and some Division III and NAIA schools. Georgia State was looking at him, but never offered.

Slater started his career at West Georgia as a wide receiver, but moved to defensive line when he ballooned to 250 pounds.

“It was kind of difficult,” Slater said. “I didn’t redshirt my freshman year, but I really didn’t play a lot. So, by the fourth game, they ended up moving me to defensive end. By my sophomore year, I probably played like maybe five to 10 snaps a game.”

Slater expected to play more his junior season, but wasn’t a good fit in the 3-4 read-and-react defense that the Wolves played.

Former West Alabama coach Will Hall was hired as the head coach and brought with him a 4-3 attacking defense. Hall moved Slater to tackle.

“He was big and physical,” Hall said. “He had a really good first step off the ball. We put him at nose guard and told him to destroy the A-gap. We made it real simple for him.”

Slater started to flourish about six games into his senior season.

“You could see the light bulb go on, and he really started to play a lot better,” Hall said. “Through the playoffs and the course of the year, he was pretty much the best player on the field each week.”

Hall, who coached New England’s Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler at West Alabama, believes Slater has a bright future.

“His best football is still in front on him,” Hall said.

NFL teams are looking for more versatile linemen. Some teams have talked to Slater about playing defensive end and others about defensive tackle.

He believes he can make the jump from Division II to the NFL.

“Oh yeah, most definitely,” Slater said. “My confidence is through the roof. I’m not arrogant, but I’m real confident. My work ethic is tremendous.”

He helped the Wolves post a school-record 12 victories and reach the Division II semifinal playoffs. He had 69 tackles, 16.5 tackles for losses and 10 sacks last season.

Slater’s stock started to rise after he had a 35-inch vertical, 10-foot, 3-inch broad jump and bench-pressed 225 pounds 31 times at West Georgia’s Pro Day. His vertical would have been the seventh-best at the combine, the broad jump the second-best and bench-press the sixth-best.

Because of the slow start to his career at West Georgia, Slater almost quit the team several times.

“It’s definitely been a humbling experience,” Slater said. “There have been times where I just wanted to quit and be like football just isn’t it for me. But just having my parents for support helped me stay in there.”

Chavez and Charles Slater wouldn’t let him quit.

“Besides having a relationship with God, besides my faith, it’s my parents that keep me moving forward, they keep me encouraged and help me stay in there,” Slater said.