Can Scooby Wright Salvage Falling Draft Stock at Arizona Pro Day?

For many collegiate athletes entering the NFL, pro days represent a last chance. The last chance to instill a good impression—or erase a bad one.

And in both regards, Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright has some work to do when the Wildcats take the field in Tucson on Thursday. Because a player who was once considered perhaps the best defender in all of college football is now trying just to work his way back...

Into Day 2 of the NFL draft.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. At the end of the 2014 season, it appeared Wright was on a collision course with the first round this year. His numbers were ridiculous: 163 tackles; 14 sacks; a mind-blowing 29 tackles for loss; six forced fumbles.

The accolades came pouring in. Wright won the Butkus Award. And the Lombardi Award. And the Bednarik Award as college football's top defensive player. He was the first sophomore ever to win Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The 2015 season, sadly, was another story. When on the field, Wright was his usual disruptive self, including 15 tackles and two sacks in his final game. But thanks to foot and knee injuries, Wright only had those two sacks in three games.

It was a sour end to a stellar collegiate career, and one that only added to the questions surrounding Wright. Madman though he may be on the football field, Wright isn't especially fast. Or especially agile. Toss in that the Wildcats run a defense (the 3-3-5) viewed by NFL teams as a "gimmick" scheme, and Wright had a lot on the line at February's NFL Scouting Combine.

Things did not go well, from the moment Wright's arm measurements came in at just 30 1/2 inches. (That's considered short in draft circles. Conventional wisdom being that players with shorter arms tend to tackle higher, and tackling high at the NFL level tends to result in said tackles being broken).

Actually, it was much more than that. Wright lived what gives every youngster nightmares leading up to the combine. It was more or less a disaster.

His position drills were pedestrian, including a televised stumble in an agility drill. His vertical was among the worst at his position. And then there was the 40 time:

Oh, that 4.9-second 40-yard-dash. The proverbial kiss of death for a player already dogged by questions about his straight-line speed and ability to change directions.

It was a shaky enough performance for Lance Zierlein of NFL.com to lower his overall grade on Wright:

"

My grade went from "chance to become early starter" to "chance to become a good NFL starter". I still really like him as a prospect and his production speaks volumes, but he's coming off of a leg injury and he ran a 4.90 40 -- those things hurt him. Wright's explosion efforts and quickness drills weren't good enough to keep me from dropping his grade.

"

Now, just as it's true that not all draftniks dinged Wright significantly after his Indy implosion, there were probably NFL teams who wrote it off as just a bad few days. Brandon Spikes was even slower (at least via the stopwatch) and only fell to the second round in 2010.

Spikes was also significantly bigger, and not exactly what one would consider a home run selection. There are also teams who likely did the opposite with Wright, dropping him on their draft boards—or even removing Scooby from their board altogether.

On Thursday, Wright gets a chance to change minds in all of those groups.

It isn't about running some mind-blowing, jaw-dropping time. No one expects Wright to suddenly morph into Ryan Shazier. Wright doesn't have to show scouts that he's fast, just that he's fast enough. Fast enough that scouts can go back to watching tape of Wright wreaking havoc without the number "4.90" superimposed in their vision.

If he can't do that, it will more likely than not be April 30 (and Round 4) before Wright hears his name called. As Zierlein wrote, there are some NFL clubs who may actually be rooting against Wright on Thursday, for reasons all their own.

"I hope he falls to us," one AFC East scout said, "because I will do everything in my power to get him drafted. Make Zach Thomas your comp for him. They are the exact same guy."

There's a more recent parallel as well. When he left Wisconsin, Chris Borland was hit with the same "slow" label. Rob Rang of CBS Sports sees more than a bit of Borland in Wright's game.

"Like the former 49ers standout," Rang said, "Wright is a better football player than athlete, winning with terrific instincts, generally reliable open-field tackling and a knack for producing big plays."

The problem is that for every player like Borland or Thomas who overcame a perceived lack of athleticism with instincts and tenacity, there's a Brian Bosworth who dominated at the college level only to fizzle in the NFL.

Wright is fighting a battle of perception. And right now, the most recent information feeding that perception doesn't speak well to Wright's ability to make the jump to the pros.

As ESPN.com's Ted Miller wrote almost a year ago, Wright's been fighting this battle dating all the way back to his time as a 2-star prospect coming out of high school:

"

That's been my dream since I was a little kid. You know how when you're a first grader and people ask you what you want to be when you get older? I'd say, 'I want to play in the NFL.' That has been my goal since I started playing football at the age of 6 or 7. And that was the most frustrating thing about the recruiting process. No one thought I was good enough.

"

On Thursday, Wright must fight that battle once more. And the stakes have never been higher.

Because some are starting to wonder again if Wright is good enough. At least good enough to merit an early pick.

Ruh-Roh.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPSharks.