Georgia Tech punter Pressley Harvin, an NFL combine invitee, drew a crowd from more than 20 NFL teams, including Falcons coach Arthur Smith, to the school’s Pro Day on Tuesday.
The NFL scouts knew that Harvin, the reigning Ray Guy Award winner, could blast punts. He set Tech and ACC single-season records with a 48-yard punting average in 2020.
In the NFL, though, it’s more of a finesse game. Could Harvin directionally place his punts outside of the numbers?
“I knew directional (punting) was going to be one of the most important parts of it because that’s what gets you paid in the NFL,” Harvin said. “That’s what keeps you on teams. Can you place this ball in this one position that we need you to, to take the returner out of the game.”
Harvin punted six balls directionally to his left. Two from the right hash, two from the middle and two from the left hash. All of his punts to the left were on the numbers or outside.
Teams like the balls placed outside the numbers and closer to the sideline. The returner has less room to fake out the cover guys, and the sideline can serve as an extra defender.
“Today went pretty good,” said Harvin, who passed the hardest part of the NFL test. “Today was a day of staying true to my form. Staying in my straight line and being able to pinpoint the ball to where I needed to put it. The ball definitely flew real good today.”
On five of the six punts to the left, Harvin had hang times of 4.63 seconds, 5.26, 5.06, 4.85 and 4.69.
“Pressley (was) the top punter in all of college football last year,” Tech coach Geoff Collins said. “The contributions that we have had from the other four on punt team was awesome. Jaytlin Askew has been a gunner for us for the last two years, and he has afforded us the opportunity to let Pressley use every bit of his talent to crush the ball because we have such outstanding gunners.”
Pressley first punted during a light drizzle on a moist field.
“We adjusted the schedule because of the weather,” Collins said. “He did a tremendous job of kicking, directional kicking, all of the things he’s going to need to do … at the next level.”
Smith and new Falcons special-teams coordinator Marquice Williams watched Harvin closely. Williams helped to run most of the workout.
Harvin, who even threw some passes, could be a weapon in the NFL.
“The biggest thing is that he can flip the field,” Collins said. “Having somebody like Pressley, who can flip the field and there is a threat of the fake on every single time that we go to a special-teams play, that’s important to us ... having that kind of threat to kind of slow people down in the return game, PAT/field-goal block, or punt-block team, having the threat of the fake, adds another dimension that Pressley was able to do for us.”
Pressley, who threw a touchdown pass against Miami in 2019, didn’t mind showing off his arm.
“I had a feeling that it was going to come it,” Harvin said about passing. “I definitely did, and that’s another attribute that I can bring to the table. Just being able to be versatile at punter is something that a lot of teams don’t really have. One of my favorite moments was throwing that touchdown against Miami in 2019.”
Tech wide receiver Jalen Camp has a strong workout. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds, lifted 225 pounds 30 times and had a 39.5-inch vertical leap.
“You saw him last year play at the elite level for us and even down the stretch was more and more physical as the year went on,” Collins said.
Camp, measured at 6-foot-2 and 226 pounds, led the Yellow Jackets with 29 catches for 439 yards and five touchdowns last season. He also started on the punt team and the kickoff team.
“He was a just an unselfish teammate,” Collins said.
Askew, a cornerback, and wide receiver Josh Blancato participated in the Pro Day. They were hoping to show enough to impress NFL teams the way former Jacket Nathan Cottrell did last year. He went on to make Jacksonville’s team as a special-teams player in 2020.
Askew ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, and Blancato ran it in 4.49 seconds.
Linebacker David Curry did not participate because of a minor injury.
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