By risking not helping themselves, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones helped considerably their older former Razorback teammates in Tuesday’s Pro Day.

Pro Day brought NFL scouts, general managers and even one head coach, Chicago’s Lovie Smith, to Fayetteville evaluating now former Razorbacks turned pro for next month’s NFL draft.

McFadden and Jones, junior All-American running backs turned pro with McFadden the Doak Walker Award winner and Heisman Trophy runnerup in 2006 and 2007, already have strutted their stuff in sprints, agility drills, weightlifting and interviews at the NFL Combine and are surefire first-rounders for the April 26 draft.

Though with nowhere to go but down, they worked out again Tuesday at the Walker Pavilion and that drew more NFL personnel than usual.

In addition to McFadden and Jones, Pro Day saw workouts by 2007 departing Razorback scholarship seniors Chris Baker, Fred Bledsoe, Weston Dacus, Robert Felton, Nate Garner, Michael Grant, Marcus Harrison, Matt Hewitt, Peyton Hillis, Farod Jackson, Robert Johnson, Marcus Monk, Matteral Richardson, Chris Wade and Kevin Woods, walkon Sean Penix, and Cedric Cobbs, a Razorback running back from 1999-2003 recently released by the Denver Broncos.

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“ I think that was another unselfish act by Darren and Felix to get exposure for their teammates, ” ESPN NFL analyst Chris Mortensen. “ Darren got the word out he was going to work out and some of these teams show up. Same thing with Felix. ”

The father of reserve Razorback quarterback Alex Mortensen, Chris Mortensen is so well-versed on the NFL and the Razorbacks to be such an ideal contact that UA associate athletics director / sports information director Kevin Trainor made him available to media covering Tuesday’s Pro Day.

In Mortensen’s view, wide receiver Monk of Lepanto, linebacker Dacus of Searcy and defensive tackle Fred Bledsoe of Little Rock Central benefited plenty by their Pro Day performance.

Arkansas’ all-time leading receiver, Monk missed all but the latter portion of the 2007 season with a preseason knee injury requiring two arthroscopic surgeries.

NFL personnel were impressed Monk ran a 4. 56 40 at the Combine but must be more impressed with him running in the 4. 4 ’s Tuesday at Fayetteville according to scouts.

The tangibly improved speed just reminds them more of Monk’s character intangibles, like graduating the UA with honors and as a Razorback team captain.

“ All of a sudden there is a little more of a buzz on him, ” Mortensen said. “ The character and the blocking, that he ran well and continued to catch the ball well, he helped himself a lot. ”

Dacus and Bledsoe were not among the eight Razorbacks invited by the NFL to last month’s Combine. So the attention afforded Tuesday “ was huge, ” Dacus said.

Mortensen said Dacus, a four-year letterman and two-year starting middle linebacker who also can play outside ‘ backer, helped himself in the free agent picture whether he gets drafted or not.

So did Bledsoe, showing in Tuesday’s drills why he came so highly recruited out of Little Rock Central though that ability never translated into much of a Razorback career.

“ It’s kind of good newsbad news, ” Mortensen said. “ The good news: he got some attention. The bad news is you are going to investigate why he wasn’t a big-time player here. He’s probably going to have to answer those questions himself, too. But who knows, you never know when the light will go on for these guys. ”

McFadden and Jones, who had trained together at a speed and development camp in Dallas before moving back here, both said it was good to perform in Fayetteville again.

Best friends McFadden and Jones continue training together. However, Jones, sometimes lost in DMac’s considerable shadow despite being a two-time All-American, acknowledged it’s refreshing these NFL teams consider him without his buddy always in the same sentence.

“ They want to know if I am an every-down back, ” Jones said. “ It’s pretty good when they ask me that because I didn’t have a chance to show them here at Arkansas. But once I get to a team and get the chance to show them, the team will really be happy. ”

Nate Allen covers University of Arkansas athletics for the Northwest Arkansas Times.