Three Eastern Illinois football players were invited to participate in Northwestern University’s pro day on March 18 at the Ryan Fieldhouse.  

Graduate offensive lineman Sebastian Pares, defensive lineman Jerrad Price and linebacker Ira Armstead II represented themselves and Eastern Illinois during the Pro Day.   

Sebastian Pares:  

Pares, from West Chicago, transferred to Eastern after playing for four years at University of Sioux Falls. Pares played two seasons with the Panthers, earning a second team All-Big South-OVC spot after the 2023 season and a third-team All-Big South-OVC spot after the 2024 season.  

Pares trained at Win Performance, a facility at Highland Park, to prepare for his pro day. Every day he trained, from January 22 until pro day, Pares would drive an hour from his house to meet up with his trainers to practice and to get his body in shape.  

For Pares, a day of training started with him waking up around 7 a.m. and getting ready for the day before driving to Highland Park. Pares normally gets to the facility 30 minutes before his training starts at 11 a.m. and uses that time to warm up and stretch before his workout. Depending on what his trainer is focusing on, Pares will either work on acceleration, power or recovery. Pares said the most intense days of training for him were the acceleration days.  

“We start with wall progressions, working on hip switches and drive throughs,” Pares said. “We’ll start incorporating low dribbles for 15 yards, [and] that ramps us up in to start running and accelerating.”  

Pares said he’ll run anywhere from 45 minutes to one hour, working on different stances and starts with bands and sleds. Pares also works on explosiveness and jumping throughout this time. While Pares is working with his trainer, his workout is recorded for him to watch back and review right after.   

After a little break, Pares goes into the gym to get a lift in, either focusing on his chest or his legs. No matter what day, Pares will always spend 30-40 minutes working on his abdomen. After his lift, Pares will do a mini recovery which involves stretching, Pilates or chiropractors depending on the day.  

When Pares gets back to his house, he’ll recover as quickly as possible, using the massage gun and taking an ice bath before going to bed around 10 p.m. before repeating the process.  

For Northwestern’s Pro Day, players were required to test into the pro day after completing their 40-yard dash. Pares and Price were not called up to complete the remaining drills throughout the pro day.  

However, Pares had another pro day at Western Illinois University before flying to Houston, Texas for a workout with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a team within the Candian Football League (CFL). The Blue Bombers hosted their workout at the University of Rice, inviting 50-60 people.  

Pares said his workout went great, and he felt like he did a good job in the position drills.  

“I think this will definitely help me moving forward,” Pares said. “I’d say it was a multiple likeness from both sides.”  

On April 5, Pares was invited to be on The End Zone, a Sirius XM NFL radio show, talking about his journey within the sport of football. Three days later, Pares was invited to complete a workout with the Chicago Bears at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.  

Pares said it was a cool experience to tour Halas Hall and complete a workout for the Bears as multiple scouts were there to observe every player invited.  

If Pares had the opportunity to tell professional football teams why they should sign him, he said what makes him stand out is his athletic ability as an offensive lineman and how coachable he is.  

“I learned to be a student of the game,” Pares said. “Coachability is probably what will get you the furthest in football. Being coached by multiple styles of coaches has only helped me to get better as a player. That along with my athletic ability that you can’t find with most of the prospects coming in this year at my size.”  

Pares said his agent has been in talks with the Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys. Within the CFL, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the British Columbia Lions and the Ottawa Redblacks have also reached out to both Pares and his agent.  

Jerrad Price:  

Price, from Spurlockville, West Virginia, transferred to Eastern from the University of Charleston, located in West Virginia. Price played for Eastern for one season, playing in all 12 games.  

Price finished the 2024 season with 22 tackles and six solo stops.  

Getting the initial invite for Northwestern’s pro day, Price said he felt good because it was difficult to get into a pro day.  

Price trained for eight to nine weeks with Athlete Innovations in Tampa, Florida, before coming back to Illinois for Northwestern’s pro day.  

Every day looked different for Price during his training. Price would have a set time around 8 a.m. to be at the facility and would train until 11 a.m.  

“Some days we were in the facility. which had weights and turf. Others we were on the field for sprint work,” Price said.  

After his training, Price would heavily focus on getting proper nutrition and treatment to make sure his body stayed healthy before his pro day.  

After the tryout process to be able to complete the full pro days workouts, Price was not called up to continue the workouts. Price said he was disappointed, but with his invitations to CFL workouts, Price said he was looking forward to what’s in store.  

Price completed one workout within the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. His next workout within the CFL is with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on May 4.  

Price said he’s training the same way he trained for his pro day for his next workout, and he’s feeling optimistic about his second CFL workout.  

“I’m feeling blessed and optimistic that God has put these opportunities in front of me, and I’m just ready to go out there and give it my best shot,” Price said.  

Price said his agent has been in talks with the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers.  

Ira Armstead II:  

Armstead II, from South Bend, Indiana, transferred to Eastern from the University of Virginia as a quarterback. When Armstead II transferred to Eastern’s program, he got switched to a wide receiver during summer camp before switching to a defensive back later in the 2022 season.   

During the 2023 season, Armstead II moved to the nickel position, which is in the linebacker room, and stayed in that position for the last two seasons.  

Getting the initial invite for the pro day at Northwestern, Armstead II was excited to show multiple scouts how he’s improved throughout his college career. He knew he needed to train as much as he could in order to have the best performance he could in front of numerous NFL scouts.  

“I was excited but knew that I still had work that needed to be done,” Armstead II said. “I knew I was going to go in there and put up some of the best numbers, but I wanted to make a statement. I was just blessed to have the opportunity to go and showcase my skills for the scouts.”  

Armstead II trained in Arizona for eight weeks before making the trip up to Evanston for the Northwestern pro day.  

The training process for the pro day at Northwestern for Armstead II made him realize how serious he has to take everything in his life in order to be the best he can be.  

“You have to be on top of your eating, sleeping, hydration, recovery and mental at all times,” Armstead II said.  

A day of training for Armstead II was filled with numerous tasks and drills throughout the day.  

On Fridays, Armstead would start his day with his first workout with a defensive lineman specialist from 10 a.m. and ending at 11:30 a.m. before driving to Arizona State University to do field workouts with a personal trainer. Field workouts for Armstead II consisted of cone drills and footwork drills. If he wasn’t working out with his personal trainer, he would work on his pass rushing game with a pass rush guru.  

After either field workouts or tweaking his pass rushing game, Armstead II would make time for an upper body lift before going home, taking a shower and icing his body before going to bed. Armstead would wake up at 5 a.m. for his hill workouts the next day.  

Reflecting on his pro day at Northwestern, Armstead II said he felt good, but he felt like there was stuff that he left on the table.  

“I was hit with a little adversity 10 days before the Pro Day which set me back,” Armstead II said. “I was about 80% while there, but I still put up some decent numbers and was able to do the field work as well.”  

Armstead II left the pro day with a 40-yard dash time of 4.62. Since his pro day, the Miami Dolphins have been in contact with him. Armstead II didn’t know the Dolphins were going to call him, and he said he was in complete shock.  

If Armstead II had the opportunity to pitch to NFL teams why they should take a chance on him and draft him, he said he would develop into the best edge and outside linebacker needed.  

“I have played almost every position on the field and always did what was best for the team throughout my college career,” Armstead II said. “I haven’t truly had time to develop into one position, but if you take a chance on me, I would play special teams and develop into the best edge/outside linebacker needed. Surround me with the right people and special things will happen. If a team is looking for a guy who they can depend on in all aspects of the game and off the field, then I am that guy.”  

The NFL Draft starts on April 24 and concludes on April 26. The CFL Draft takes place on April 29.  

Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or at zhflippin@eiu.edu.