INDIANAPOLIS – When Scooby Wright becomes an NFL player in a couple months, the former Arizona Wildcats linebacker probably would benefit from getting paid by the hour.
Asked Friday at the NFL combine what he’d like prospective employers to know about him, Wright said: “That I’m going to come to work every day, and be the first one in the facility and the last one to leave.”
Wright’s work ethic clearly is just as tenacious as his playing style. Working on his conditioning and diet, he has shed 15 pounds since the end of his injury-plagued 2015 season, weighing in at a svelte 239 pounds at the combine.
Wright emerged as a star as a sophomore in 2014 when he won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Rotary Lombardi Award and Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defender after recording 163 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles and 14 sacks.
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Wright entered the 2015 campaign with high expectations. But he was limited to just three games because of a knee injury suffered in the season opener and a sprained foot a few weeks later.
“There was definitely a lot of adversity,” Wright said. “The first injury I was like, ‘OK.’ But I came back a little bit too soon. The second injury happened and I was sidelined most of the year. I decided to keep working hard, rehabbing and being disciplined. Sometimes I didn’t want to do it, but I knew it would pay off.”
Although Wright hadn’t played since late September, he returned to lead Arizona to a win over New Mexico in the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 19, registering 15 tackles and two sacks.
Asked why it was important to play in the bowl game, Wright said: “I’m not a selfish player and in my eyes that would have been a selfish move to not play and go ahead and declare (for the draft). I just wanted to be out there with my teammates one more time, rocking.
“I wasn’t 100 percent for that game, and I only had six days to get in shape. I was a little overweight. We won the game; I don’t care about the stats.”
Wright conceded that the injuries he suffered last season could hurt his prospects in the draft. The consensus among scouts is that he is an instinctive defender who plays faster than he will time in drills and is comparable to former Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas.
“I’ve heard that quite a few times,” Wright said. “To be even be mentioned in the same sentence as Zach Thomas is kind of a compliment in itself. He was my favorite player growing up, and I don’t have the street cred to be mentioned in the same sentence as him.”
