Big 12 NFL Pro Day live updates: How Oklahoma State players fared on Day 2

FRISCO, Texas — The second day of the Big 12 NFL Pro Day focuses mostly on defensive players, though it began with specialists.

Oklahoma State has five players in action Saturday at Ford Center at The Star, with specialists in the morning and defensive lineman and linebackers in the afternoon.

Here’s a look at how the Cowboy players performed:

More: Big 12 NFL Pro Day: How Oklahoma State football players fared on Day 1

Xavier Benson pleased with showing

Xavier Benson danced. He did a backflip. And most importantly, he felt he reached his potential in his Pro Day performance.

Asked if there was anything he hoped had gone better, the linebacker said he was content.

“No, I trained for this, man,” he said. “This is what I do. Two-and-a-half months, same thing every day. This is the easy part, to be able to go full speed.”

Benson was unable to do the bench press as his shoulder heals up from an in-season injury, but he did everything else. He had jumps of 33 inches in the vertical and 9 feet, 9 inches in the broad jump.

And he was confident his running times were good.

“I wanted to show how fast I am,” Benson said. “I can turn over really fast. I have really good top speed. So that was something I was focused on.

“I feel like the times will be pretty good, and if they’re not, I know I gave it my best and that’s all that matters.”

Nathan Latu injures back

Nathan Latu is ideally built for an event like this. A physical specimen, this is an area where the 6-foot-4, 265-pound Latu can shine.

But during multiple scratches on his early attempts at the vertical jump, a strained muscle suffered in his back last week was reaggravated. He finished with a leap of 32 inches, about 4 inches shorter than what he said he had been posting in his training.

Latu ran the 40-yard dash but sat out most of the positional drills, another area where his quickness and agility would have show up.

Latu did 25 reps on the 225-pound bench press, which would have been third-most among defensive ends at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Anthony Goodlow does 22 bench reps

Anthony Goodlow turned in strong work among the defensive ends, being told he was near the top of the group in several events, he said. The 6-foot-5, 283-pound defensive end offers versatility at the next level, having played on the interior and the edge.

Goodlow did 22 reps on the 225-pound bench press, which would have been in the top half among defensive ends at the NFL Combine, but more importantly, it was a vast improvement on a personal level.

Goodlow said he could do six reps of 225 pounds when he arrived at OSU as a transfer from Tulsa 14 months ago.

Undertaker shows up with WWE belt

Like he did at the Big 12 Championship Game, WWE star the Undertaker made an appearance on the field with the championship belt while defensive linemen performed.

He watched the position drills, then took time to pose for photos with fans, players, and yes, scouts.

Zeke Zaragoza sharp in snapping drills

Longsnappers were the busiest players in the early session Saturday.

They took part in running drills before taking the field for snapping workouts in front of scouts.

After that, they snapped for the field goal kickers, then the punters.

“It was a little different, but you have to adapt,” Zaragoza said. “Especially in front of the NFL guys, they want to see you adapt to everything and be a ‘yes sir’ guy — whatever they want, go for it.

“Felt like I had a good day. I felt pretty good on my snaps, minus the second-to-last one. I had a low one.”

Zaragoza was the shortest of the snappers at 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds. To help himself stand out, he focused a good part of his preparation on the running drills.

“I’ve been practicing for a few months putting that together with the speed coach back home in California,” he said. “Being able to showcase that and feel confident while doing it and not feeling any sort of nerves, but excitement, it felt really good that I put that work in and hopefully it showed out today a little bit.”

More: From wakeskating champion to NFL hopeful, Oklahoma State's Alex Hale chases another dream

Alex Hale shows consistent strength

Alex Hale got a quick explanation of the NFL’s new kickoff rule before going to work at Pro Day.

Because of the new rule, which was adopted earlier this week, kickoff specialists will no longer be asked to kick the ball out of the end zone, but will instead be focused on target kicking.

“Instead of trying to bang it out the back, you’re trying to get it down between the goal line and the 10-yard line, preferably, outside in the number area,” Hale said. “You’re trying to pin the returner in the corner.

“It’s a new rule, so they’re still trying to figure out what they want.”

Hale, who also was invited to the specialists showcase at the NFL Combine earlier this month, had a good showing on Saturday. He missed a couple of field goals, including a 57-yarder, but he had the distance on it, and his kicks from 45 yards and in had good height and carry.

“Did fairly well,” Hale said. “Had a solid performance, made a few mistakes, but that’s to be expected with new operations and stuff.”

While Hale was able to pair with Zaragoza as his snapper, he had a holder he’d never worked with before, which can be a tricky relationship to develop quickly.

“It’s definitely different, compared to when you’re in the season and you have spring ball and fall camp, all year to work with someone,” he said. “But we’re all in the same boat. Every kicker is working with someone different. You have to be able to adapt as fast as possible.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 Pro Day live updates: How Oklahoma State players fared on Day 2