Three former Michigan Wolverines invited to NFL Combine

Former Michigan Wolverines Maurice Hurst, Mike McCray and Mason Cole have all been invited to this year’s NFL Combine, the NFL announced today.

The event, which is held yearly in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, begins on Feb. 27 and features hundreds of NFL prospects looking to improve their draft stock by measuring out, meeting with all 30 teams and going through positional drills. The combine ends on March 5.

Hurst is widely regarded as a first-round talent and has been mocked in the mid-to-late first round in almost every mock draft I have seen over the past several weeks. For Hurst, this is an opportunity to shoot up the draft board and be a higher pick than what mock drafts have him at right now.

For Cole, this is a chance for him to prove his versatility to NFL teams. He played center throughout the entire 2016 season at a high level. In 2017, Jim Harbaugh moved Cole to left tackle and he still ended up being on the All-Big Ten second team. Cole will more than likely move back to center in the NFL, but it’s never a bad thing to be able to do multiple things at a high level, so NFL teams could salivate over that fact.

McCray is slotted as a late-round pick at this point, so he has a chance to prove he belongs in the NFL. Projected late-round picks get invited to the combine every year, and every year a lot of those players don’t end up getting drafted. So for McCray, this is a huge opportunity to prove he deserves to be drafted.

The combine will be aired live on NFL Network.