NIU football coach Joe Novak is used to the NIU Pro Day at the Convocation Center being a day where juniors are timed and worked out for professional scouts.

This year, he said more focus was given to the seniors, who ran drills at Huskie Stadium for more than 14 scouts from various professional football teams on Wednesday.

Most media attention was focused on running back Michael Turner, who opted to run drills with his teammates, despite previously working out in Indianapolis, Ind., for the NFL Combine.

“They came to see Mike,” senior wide receiver P.J. Fleck said. “It helps having a guy like him around. He did a great thing coming out here to help us out.”

Wearing cutoff T-shirts and shorts in cold morning temperatures, Fleck and Turner participated in passing drills conducted by a Cleveland Browns scout at an empty-seated Huskie Stadium.

After completing his drills, a relieved Fleck grinned as he put on his NIU sweats.

“I’d say I was pretty nervous today,” Fleck laughed. “I just wanted to get this over with.”

Passes thrown to Fleck weren’t always perfect. He made one off-balanced catch behind his back, drawing applause from onlookers. After one pass sailed over Fleck’s head, he slapped his hands together in frustration.

“They test your limits,” Fleck said. “They’re not going to throw it to you perfect every time; they want to test you to see what you can do. I think I did OK. I did two months of training for this one day, and if today wasn’t good enough, any other day won’t be either.”

After completing receiving drills, a fatigued Turner went through blocking exercises. Cornerback Randee Drew followed with interception drills, as center Todd Ghilani waited for his group of drills.

Linebacker Nick Duffy didn’t participate but watched his teammates from the sidelines with agent Jordan Woy. Duffy was cleared from a broken right fibula by doctors two weeks ago to begin training for a mid-April workout with the Chicago Bears.

“I didn’t feel like I was ready today,” Duffy said. “I just didn’t want to hurt myself. I’m here to support my guys, but my agent is here to talk to other scouts.”

Woy called Duffy one of the top 10 middle linebackers in the country and predicted he’d be in good shape for the draft.

Scouts from the Bears, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers and several other NFL teams were in attendance. Novak was impressed with the turnout.

“Some of our young kids are running really well,” Novak said. “The overall winter program was the best I’ve had since I’ve been here. Last year, everything went good, but it wasn’t great. This year, everything went smoothly.”