The Georgia State University football program currently has five active players in the National Football League and are preparing to add more Panther talent onto the next level. As the only athlete from GSU to participate in the schools pro day on March 10, wide receiver Devin Gentry is ready to be the next man up. In his four years in the program, Gentry has racked up 60 receptions for 846 yards and eight touchdowns. As a versatile weapon in the Panthers offensive arsenal, Gentry also earned 132 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Gentry is ranked 10th in career receiving yards for the school and seventh in receiving touchdowns.
Gentry, known as the “speed demon”, had an exceptional 40 yard dash performance during the pro day. He posted a 4.35 second sprint, which is a top three time for the 40 in the 2020 official NFL combine.
“At the next level, speed kills. I feel like everybody knows that. For my speed, I feel like I have a good size as well. I can play a lot of different positions and spots on the field. Teams love speed and it performs on the field so just being able to stretch defenses out and things like that is something that I can do very well. ” Gentry said.
Gentry put his trust in the GSU football staff and coaches to prepare him for his shining moment in front of NFL scouts. He decided against working out with a performance academy or specialty gym and believed that the Panther program would have him best prepared.
“I didn’t go anywhere for pre-draft training. Prior to pro day, I did everything at Georgia State. Georgia State’s strength coach (Alex) Derenthal, Coach Turner was there to help me with my speed work, and coach (John) Sisk and all of those were in the weight room. That’s where I did all of my pro day training and to be able to put out a performance like that it just goes to show you how good they are at what they do. Most guys, they go to a bunch of performance places. I felt confident in the fact that they could get me ready for pro day and they did.” Gentry said.
The Panther family came together to invest in Devin Gentry. Not only coaches, but also former teammates returned to their old stomping grounds to assist Gentry in improving in every aspect.
“Robert Davis and Penny Hart, those are my dawgs so they came back so I was getting a lot of receiver work in with them.The biggest thing was just improving on my route running and things like that to get ready for the next level. At Georgia State, I was solid at route runner but I definitely could improve in that category and I knew that so that was the biggest thing that I wanted to show going into pro days…how much I had already improved as a route runner.” Gentry explained.
Gentry believes he was able to show that improvement during his pro day and was very satisfied with his overall performance.
“I would give it an A. Definitely. I showed everything I could do. I didn’t leave anything on the table. I would have to give it an A+ for that matter but just being able to go out in front of all the scouts that showed up and be able to show what I could do. I feel like I did well with that and showed my versatility and impressed people to get my shot.” Gentry said.
As Gentry anticipates his next opportunity, he has full confidence in the University he is leaving behind.
“I’m excited to see what they do this year. There are a lot of guys that have grown…I want to see how they develop because there is a lot of talent in there and I have seen talented teams before. I’m just excited to see how they channel the talent and how good of a team they become this year with the new leaders that are going to be stepping up.” He stated.