Three to participate in NFL Pro Day, Regional Combines

As has become typical of the Penn football team, three seniors will participate in pro days to showcase their skills to NFL scouts this spring. No Quakers were invited to this weekend's Combine, but DL Brandon Copeland, OL Joe Bonadies and P Scott Lopano are working toward playing at the next level.

For the first time in several years, Penn will not host its own pro day. Rather, the players are opting to attend Villanova's pro day on Mar. 18, hoping to gain some attention from scouts visiting Wildcats wide receiver Norman White.

In addition, Copleand and Bonadies will separately participate in NFL Regional Combines. Bonadies, a Leonia, N.J., native, will attend the N.Y. Jets' Regional Combine on Mar. 2, while Copeland will go to the Baltimore Ravens' Regional Combine on Mar. 22. Copeland is a Baltimore native himself, and his grandfather was drafted by and won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts.

UPDATE: Lopano is also participating in two additional specialist combines. The first is Mar. 1-3 in Phoenix with specialist kicking coach Gary Zauner and the second is Mar. 9-14 at Florida Atlantic University with coach Mike Husted.

Copeland finished as a three-time first team All-Ivy player with 90 tackles (84 in three years) and 10 sacks (5 in 2012). Bonadies finished his Penn career as 2012 first-team All-Ivy selection and 2011 honorable mention and received the Bednarik Award in 2012 for the best offensive lineman on the team. Finally, Lopano was also named 2012 first-team Ally Ivy and had a career average of 38.8 yards per punt, pinning his opponent inside the 20 yard-line 65 times.

The trio looks to follow in the footsteps of 2012 Penn grad and OL Greg Van Roten, who went undrafted and was signed by the Green Bay Packers on the eve of training camp. After starting on the practice squad, he was activated to the team's 53-man roster in Week 5. Van Roten went on to play special teams for the Packers, who were 2012 NFC North champions.