Ray Rice sauntered around the practice bubble yesterday next door to Rutgers Stadium on his last day as The Man. 

There were 12 members of the 2007 Scarlet Knights there, taking part in Rutgers' annual pro day, and 30 scouts from 20 NFL teams there to watch them. 

No one was feeling better about his situation than Rice, who skipped the 40 because the 4.2 he ran at the NFL combine was plenty good. 

Rice will likely be a second-round pick in next month's NFL draft. Next fall, he'll be playing on Sundays, likely as someone's No. 2 running back, and as a kick returner and blocker on special teams. 

Yesterday, though, he was a Scarlet Knight, and for what might be the last time for a while, he was the best player on the field. 

Ray said he was pleased with his performance at the combine and especially pleased with his showing in the vertical jump yesterday, when he reached 39 inches -- a seven-inch increase from his number at the combine. 

Think about how high seven inches is, and think about the same guy reaching seven inches higher on one jump than on another. Pretty incredible stuff. 

So, Ray, what happened that created the disparity in the numbers? 

"At the combine, what they do is they sit you for a little bit longer," he said. "(Yesterday) I went from warming up, I saw the guys at the vertical and I said I'm going to take a shot at it. Then the adrenaline and everything else kicked in."

Ray also said he was happy with the way he demonstrated his pass-catching ability. 

"That's the biggest aspect of my game besides pass protection that they haven't seen," he said. "They needed to see Ray Rice the pass-catcher and they needed to see me do some pass protection. But I did a lot of drills and I continue to keep working. My catching is something I've been working on. Today really showed that in front of a big group of scouts, I showed them what I wanted to do." 

The only other Scarlet Knight who is all but assured of being drafted -- Jeremy Zuttah -- was also all smiles. And like Ray, Jeremy didn't take part in the 40. He opted only to do the bench press, the broad jump and positional drills. 

A few notes on the other former Knights whose statuses are less certain: 

• Pedro Sosa was on crutches because of the knee injury that had bothered him throughout the year. He had the knee scoped last week and there isn't a tear. He said he should be back working out in five weeks. He was a shoo-in to be drafted before the injury, but now he'll have to wait and see. "I've spoken to teams, but I can't control any of that stuff," he said. "I know I can play football and I'm a talented guy, so wherever I go, I'm going to be there and play my hardest." 
• Eric Foster tweaked his left hamstring running the 40, and didn't take part in any drills after that. "I just have to hurry up and get my numbers out there so (scouts) can evaluate me and make the right decision, and hopefully it turns out for the best." 
• Jeremy Ito was uncharacteristically chatty after a performance with which he was quite pleased: nine field goals in 11 attempts, including one from 55 yards out that he said cleared the uprights with room to spare (he kicked before the session that was open to the media). "Actually, it was a pretty good kick," he said. "I hit that net (10 yards behind the goal posts) from 55."
• Mike Fladell said he was disappointed that he only did 23 reps on the bench press, while he has consistently done 25 in personal workouts. But he said he thinks he has a lot to offer NFL teams, including size (320 pounds), strength, smarts, and his ability to play either guard or tackle.

I'm hoping to get back up to Piscataway for a practice sometime soon, and will post some thoughts when I make it back there. 

Meanwhile, my new Trenton Thunder blog will be up and running shortly.