PROVO — It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it really happened.
A former Cougar who now prepares Utes, Cougars, Aggies and others for the NFL draft, a Ute whose uncle coached at BYU, a former Cougar who just wrapped up his career at Utah and a former Ute who just wrapped up his career at BYU jump in a car and drive to Las Vegas.
Somehow, BYU’s Austin Lee and Jordan Pendleton and Utah’s Francis Bernard and Bradlee Anae not only managed to get along, they accomplished what they set out to do — improve their stock in the upcoming NFL draft.
“It was a fun little fast trip, a business trip, but yeah, we were able to do it, two Utes and two Cougars in the same car,” said ex-Ute Lee, a graduating BYU safety who, along with linebacker Bernard and defensive end Anae, went to Sin City a few weeks ago for a pro day organized partly by Pendleton, owner of a physical fitness and training facility in Lehi known as Pendleton Performance.
Most pro days across the country, including those scheduled at Utah, BYU and Utah State, were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Lee was grateful for the opportunity to be tested in front of a handful of NFL scouts and get his times and measurements out there because he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine in February like Bernard and Anae were.
Lee, one of the few Cougars with hopes of being selected in the draft April 23-25, or landing a free-agent contract, made the most of it. He was especially impressive in the vertical jump, posting a 40-inch jump that would have put him in the top three at the combine in Indianapolis for safeties. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds and surprised even himself with 18 reps in the bench press (225 pounds).
“I was really happy with what I was able to do in a short amount of preparation time,” Lee said.
“I strained it earlier and played a bit. I probably came back a little too early. My best call for my future was (to not play). I had the East-West Shrine Game to play in and my Pro Day to be ready for and the last thing I wanted to do was set myself back even further. That was a big reason why I held out.” — BYU safety Austin Lee on why he didn’t play in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.
Prep time was short because Lee, a former Alta High star who played a year at Utah before serving a mission to Oklahoma for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and eventually transferring to BYU, was still nursing a strained hamstring that kept him out of BYU’s 38-34 loss to Hawaii on Dec. 24, a frustrating bowl loss that many believe wouldn’t have happened if Lee had been able to play.
“I strained it earlier and played a bit. I probably came back a little too early. My best call for my future was (to not play),” he said. “I had the East-West Shrine Game to play in and my Pro Day to be ready for and the last thing I wanted to do was set myself back even further. That was a big reason why I held out.”
Pendleton helped Lee balance recovery with readiness, and Lee feels like he answered questions about his athleticism with some excellent times in Vegas. He posted a 6.87-second cone drill, 126 inches in the broad jump and 4.18 seconds in the shuttle run.
“I didn’t know what I would run in the 40, but I was happy to run a laser-timed 4.59,” he said. “Jordan got me really healthy and back to normal, and strong. It was hard to balance training and getting healthy at the same time, but we did it.”
When it came time to choose an agent, Lee picked David Canter and his partner, Ness Mugrabi, of DEC Management. He was referred to Canter by former Utah receiver John Madsen, who trains high-level athletes in Salt Lake City.
“He has a very good resume, he has done this enough, and from every bit of advice I have received about choosing an agent, it all kinda came down to him and feeling comfortable with him, because he knows what he is doing. He is fantastic. I was lucky and blessed to be put in touch with him and to see the work that he has put in and the success that he has had,” Lee said.
Mugrabi said Lee “definitely has a chance to be drafted, because he knocked it out of the park on his pro day. He is obviously a great leader, a great person. He is married and (is) a father of two children and he’s a wonderful guy. … He has spoken to a lot of teams throughout this process and if somebody pulls the trigger and drafts him, they will get a mature guy, a strong character guy.”
Lee, who just turned 26, and his wife Kortnie, whom he married in 2015, have a son, Ledger, and a daughter, Romee.
Canter’s agency also represents Anae and Utah’s John Penisini.
“Right now we are just making sure that Austin doesn’t fall through the cracks,” Mugrabi said. “We got his pro day information out to every team in the NFL. We had his trainer run defensive back drills with him in Las Vegas. … We have heard good things from a lot of teams. They like him as a leader, and they like him as a football player.”
With two small children in their Spanish Fork home, the Lees have welcomed warmer weather in the midst of the pandemic so their kids can play in the backyard more and so Austin Lee can get more training in outside.
As for his own chances of being drafted, Lee said he has talked to “quite a few teams” and doesn’t want to single any out as perhaps having taken more interest than any others because he’s wary of false expectations.
“I talked to (Seattle Seahawks linebacker) Cody Barton and his brother (Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Jackson Barton) and they both told me that before they were drafted, they really didn’t even talk to the teams that drafted them,” Lee said. “So you never know. I try to stay away from talking about who likes me the most, and whatnot.”