Texas Tech hosted its Pro Day early Thursday morning, with multiple Red Raiders taking the stage as multiple NFL Scouts/Head Coaches watched. Some of the players spoke to the media following the conclusion of the Pro Day, including Skyler Gill-Howard and Jacob Rodriguez.
Jacob Rodriguez
Rodriguez was asked what it meant to be back on campus after closing out his final season as a Red Raider in January.
“But man, I was more happy about all those other guys. Like Bryce Ramirez had a day. Caleb Douglas had a day. And it was nice to have more than 100 NFL staff, personnel out here, and looking at the guys that we got, and especially those four up front, and how everything happens that way. I think I had a good day, but it was a lot of fun to watch all those other guys.”
It’s obviously every high-level college football player’s dream to enter the NFL, and Jacob Rodriguez will have that dream fulfilled in April while being supported by the Texas Tech coaching staff and his teammates.
“I mean, it’s why you play football. It’s why you have a dream as a little kid to be in a place like this, who fosters relationships real well and creates that family atmosphere, where you got people that want to come out, and they actually see the community out here and know that everything out here is real. And it’s not just for show. And so it was good to have everybody out here and see this amazing facility that we have, and the amazing people that we have inside the facility. So it was awesome”
During the 2025 season, J-Rod became synonymous with turnover generation and NFL teams have taken note of his great talent in that department.
“I think a lot of teams like how I can take the football away, and it’s a huge difference in winning football games is winning the turnover battle. And so that’s a big thing that we talk about, is different ways to be able to do that. And then also where I can plug and play in different spots. And so sometimes some teams see me in certain positions, and some teams see me in others. But whatever the case may be, I’m more excited to play on defense, but then be able to find a role in special teams and really help out any way we can to win football games.”
Skyler Gill-Howard
Gill-Howard opened with a little bit of an introduction prior to his first question.
“Pro Day was amazing. Seeing a bunch of familiar faces here was just a blessing. And to be able to go out there and compete like I did five months post-surgery was just a blessing.”
As every Red Raider will recall, SGH (Skyler Gill-Howard) was injured in October versus Kansas, and was unavailable for the remainder of his final season at Texas Tech. Although, Gill-Howard was able to participate in today’s activities, and he was happy with his performance.
“Yeah, I think I performed above average being five months post-surgery. Doc told me I wouldn’t be 100% until next month. And I felt great today, 100% today. So I was really proud of what I did.”
“I didn’t know if I was going to do Pro Day a few months ago. So just to come out here and be able to compete was all I wanted to do. And I consider that a success.”
He was also extremely pleased with being able to return to campus and reconnect with some of his teammates at Texas Tech during today’s drills.
“It feels amazing. Obviously, I went down halfway throughout the season to come out here and actually be able to run on that practice field again. I haven’t done it in a while. It was just an amazing feeling, especially being with my guys, David, Lee, Mello, and the rest of them. It was an awesome feeling. It was surreal.But we competed today, and I’m proud of all of us.”
SGH was specifically asked about his timeline from his injury/surgery to being able to participate today as well.
“Yeah, so once I found out I wasn’t coming back here for another year, I left out of here January 27th. And I was feeling good, but I wasn’t feeling the greatest. I still had a lot of troubles with changing direction. It was a rocky process. I was still rehabbing while training for the Combine, so I couldn’t really just focus on the 40, 5-10-5 or the other drills. I really had to get my ankle right before any of that. So it took about a month to do that, and then after the Combine is when we kind of ramped things up, and I started to feel amazing. So I was like, you know what, let’s do it.”
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