CHESTNUT HILL - Anthony Castonzo was one of nine seniors from Boston College that participated in the school's annual Pro Day on Wednesday afternoon in the bubble at Alumni Stadium.
"It was just about what I expected," said Castonzo, whose official times and results were not released. "The coaches kind of let us know this would be a pretty intense short amount of time."
Castonzo, a 6'7", 311-pound offensive lineman, ran the 40-yard dash in 5.23 seconds at the 2011 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. In addition, he had the second best time in the three-cone drill (7.25 seconds) and recorded the third-best time in the 20-yard shuttle (4.40 seconds) for offensive lineman.
In SB Nation's latest mock draft, Castonzo is projected to be taken with the No. 19 overall pick by the New York Giants. The rumor of Castonzo to the Big Apple gained more ground today, as the Giants' offensive line coach, Pat Flaherty, was in attendance at BC Pro Day.
None of that matters to Castonzo, though, as he has been ignoring the chatter and hopes to put himself in the best position possible for the 2011 NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday, April 28th and ends on Saturday, April 30th.
"I'm hoping to get drafted as high as I could go," said Castonzo. "I don't know what people are saying. I don't really know what's going to happen until draft day."
The next step in the draft process for Castonzo is to schedule visits with NFL teams, but according to him, that is all in the hands of his agent, Tom Condon.
"My agency is doing that right know, I don't even know," said Castonzo. "They kind of just tell me as it comes."
One of the teams Castonzo has been in touch with is the hometown New England Patriots.
"I'm talking to them and I'm talking to a bunch of teams," said Castonzo, who grew up a Chicago Bears fan.
Dante Scarnecchia, the Patriots' assistant head coach and offensive line coach, was also in attendance at BC Pro Day, and he was running drills for several players, Castonzo included.
"He was coaching us up," said Castonzo. "It was like a practice. It wasn't like he was running us through drills, it was like he was actually coaching us. It was nice. I actually learned some stuff today."
In the end, it really doesn't matter to Castonzo which team drafts him. He will be thrilled to play for anybody.
"I've dreamed about this every day of my life," said Castonzo. "I was talking to a coach the other day, and he's like, 'would you be averse if we were to draft you,' and I was like, are you kidding me? It's my dream, I wouldn't be averse to anybody drafting me."