Idaho receiver Hayden Hatten shows versatility during combined pro day with Washington State

MOSCOW, Idaho – Because Washington State’s air-supported “bubble” practice facility is no more and the Taylor Sports Complex that will replace it is so far a skeleton of structural steel and a dream, WSU combined its NFL pro day with the nearby University of Idaho Wednesday at the Kibbie Dome and adjacent weight room.

For the most part, the schools ran parallel events under the same roof. There wasn’t a lot of mixing. Twelve Cougars and 10 Vandals took part. A couple of players from Eastern Washington and one from Central Washington also performed before about two dozen NFL scouts.

For the most part, none of the participants put up numbers that would cause NFL general managers to snap to attention . There were several notable vertical leaps. For the Vandals, linebacker Tre Thomas and All-America wide receiver Hayden Hatten each reached 39 inches. EWU’s Demarcus Johnson posted the best mark, lauching himself 39½ inches straight up.

The best 40-yard dash came from WSU safety Jaden Hicks, at 4.49 seconds, and Idaho defensive lineman Ty Coleman topped the bench pressers, hoisting 32 repetitions of 225 pounds. Fellow Vandals defensive lineman Ben Bertram and WSU edge rusher Brennan Jackson each followed with 26 repetitions.

While pro days are typically highly scripted, Hatten and UI quarterback Jack Layne, who was throwing to his former teammate, went off book at the conclusion of their series of throws. Hatten ran down an imaginary line of scrimmage, took a handoff from Layne and launched a throwback pass 35 yards toward Layne, who couldn’t quite catch up to Hatten’s tight spiral.

“Get running. I’m not going to underthrow you,” Hatten said of the improvised play afterward.

This was a light moment in an event that, while players said didn’t cause them unusual angst, was tightly regimented and could determine which advances to an NFL camp later this spring.

Hatten and his twin brother Hogan, Idaho’s former linebacker and long snapper, got to renew ties that are unusually strong. While Hogan remained in Moscow for most of the past three months to train, with several forays to long-snapping camps around the country, Hayden caught a touchdown pass in the Hula Bowl and relocated to Colorado to train at Landow Performance for his pro day. But the brothers and former roommates regularly kept up on their respective hopeful journeys to the NFL.

“We played video games for an hour or two every night,” Hayden said. “It was just like I didn’t even leave home.”

“Even though he was gone for three months, it was like he just left for the weekend,” Hogan added of reuniting with his brother at pro day.

Their training was widely divergent. Hayden managed a 4.63-second 40, showing he paid attention to coaching that kept him low in a drive phase of the sprint from beginning to end.

“You are really training like a track athlete more than a football player,” Hayden said.

He weighted in at a lean 207 pounds, stretched over a 6-foot-1 frame.

Hogan ran the 40 in 4.81, but he has a different goal. He has been trying to bulk up as a long snapper. A fraction of an inch taller than his twin, he weighed in at 238 pounds, about 25 more than he played at as a senior for the Vandals last year. He credited UI strength coach Caleb Heim with the regimen that allowed him to put on weight. That and remaining close to Moscow.

“You can overcomplicate this,” he said of his pro day preparation, mentioning the Kibbie Dome is always 75 degrees and available. “I have unbelievable coaches who are willing to work with me, and there is always somebody who can catch my punt snaps.”

Former Vandals receiver Jermaine Jackson spent the past month in Charlotte, North Carolina, training for pro day, but he relished being back in the Kibbie Dome, catching passes and punts for one final time.

He couldn’t get a handle on several of Layne’s throws early but finished with several impressive grabs on deep outs and posts.

Once Jackson got through the early events, he said he felt like a football player again.

Others enchoed the sentiment once the weighing and measuring, jumping and timing were done and a football was introduced into the drills that made up the remainder of the day.

“It felt good, man,” Jackson said of catching footballs again in the Kibbie Dome, even though this time he is an aspiring pro and no longer a Vandal. “I am going to miss this, for sure.”