Former Ohio State safety Josh Proctor spoke at the NFL Combine on Thursday before he participates in the workouts on Saturday at 3 p.m.
It’s been a long, bumpy road for Proctor to get to this point, spending six years at Ohio State and suffering a brutal injury along the way. After his time as a Buckeye, he’s happy to be getting the chance to show what he can do for NFL scouts.
“It’s a blessing, honestly,” Proctor said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this so I’m just happy to be here.”
When he suffered his broken leg against Oregon in 2021 and went through a surgery, he said he thought there was a possibility that he wouldn’t be able to make it back and be the player he was before the injury. It was a long road to get back to that point, but he had a breakout season in 2023.
He believes the struggles he faced at Ohio State helped him improve in multiple aspects of his life, including on the field.
“It helped me mature, helped me learn and helped me grow in different aspects,” Proctor said. “It’s just a great opportunity to be a better person and a better player.”
He also believes being benched in 2022 after he returned from his injury was an important part of his journey at Ohio State. It served as a wake-up call for him to show that he needed to work harder to get back to the point that had earned him a spot in the lineup the year before.
He played in 11 games and had 47 tackles, four for a loss, eight passes defended and a pick six against Maryland that helped the Buckeyes get a scoring run going.
Those stats currently have him projected as a late-round pick or even as an undrafted free agent, but since he was invited to the combine, a good performance could help him climb the draft board.
Proctor is an older prospect than is usually in the NFL draft, but he feels like that can be used as an advantage for him, even though some might see it as a disadvantage.
“I’ve been through so much adversity, so it’s not like I’m new to this. I’m used to it,” he said. “Maturing over time, I feel like that helps me slow the game down.”
Proctor is at the combine to prove himself, like he did for the Buckeyes this past year and he will have the chance to do that on Saturday when the defensive backs work out.
