By Will Vandervort.

No one probably helped themselves more at Clemson’s Pro Day on Thursday then Josh Watson.

The defensive tackle wowed the 32 NFL teams on hand to watch him and 19 other former Clemson Tigers trying to make an impression at Clemson’s Indoor Practice facility. Watson (6-4, 290) ran an impressive 4.96 in the 40-yard dash and then backed that up with an unbelievable 37 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

“This is exactly what I hoped for and this is what I have been preparing for,” Watson said afterwards.

Watson stayed in Clemson to train for the pro day as former Clemson standout Rendrick Taylor worked as his strength coach. Taylor played at Clemson from 2005-’09 and is now in his second season as a graduate assistant coach on the training staff.

“Throughout the season and over the season he was always working me out on off days. I like to work out a lot and he always helped me out,” Watson said. “I was not going to be comfortable anywhere else. We have the best facilities in the country with the hot tub, the cold tub and the training staff so I was like, ‘Why go anywhere else when I have everything I need right here?’

“We focused for eight straight weeks and we went as hard as we could.”

And it paid off.

After running his 4.96 in the 40, Watson said everything started rolling from there. He said 135 pounds felt like lifting water when he warmed up on the bar prior to lifting.

“I felt like I could just throw it in the air so I knew it was going to be a good day,” he said.

Watson did 10 warm-up reps with the 135s and then knocked out the 37 (reps) of 225.

“I had fun with it,” he said.

He also had fun talking with NFL teams afterwards as he met with the Texans and San Francisco.

Clemson does it right. Each year Clemson’s Pro Day seems to become a bigger event than it was the year before. Such was the case on Thursday. It was almost like a Who’s Who among NFL coaches and general managers that were on hand.

Super Bowl winning head coach Bill Bellichick was on hand as was Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan and Steelers’ General Manager Kevin Colbert.

“Other schools are not like here. They do not do it the way we do it,” Watson said. “We hear that from the pro scouts, we hear that from other people that visit. There is nowhere like Clemson. We had our names on the back of our shirts. It is just the little things and the way we present scouts with information in the weight room. They have a whole book that they can easily flip.

“It is just the little things that put us over the top and makes the scouts want to come here and look at us more.”

Jarrett accomplished his goal. Grady Jarrett said he had a real solid showing in the NFL Combine last month so he knew he had nothing to lose by working out again in front of NFL Teams at Clemson’s Pro Day.

Jarrett did everything. He ran a 5.10 twice in the 40, just a little slower than his 5.06 at the combine. But he improved in the bench by lifting 225 pounds 33 times, three more than the 30 he had in the combine. He also had a better showing in his position drills than what he did in Indianapolis.

“It was a successful day,” he said. “I had a lot of fun today.”

Jarrett said he likes to compete and that’s what he was hoping to show the scouts that were on hand.

“I set myself up with a good baseline up in Indy. This is something I planned on doing regardless of what happened up there,” he said. “I just wanted to come out here and compete and put my best foot forward.”

Anthony shows out. Former Clemson linebacker Stephone Anthony has made a name for himself in the last six weeks or so.

After winning the best linebacker award at the Senior Bowl, he followed that up with an outstanding effort in the NFL Combine. Those results have lifted Anthony from a possible third- to four-round pick to a solid two or three.

After Thursday’s performance he could move up more.

The No. 1 knock on Anthony was his speed. Scouts thought he was a 4.8 speed and figured he was too slow to play in a Tampa-Two defense. But in the combine he ran a solid 4.56 and showed great explosion and agility in his drills, while also proving he can cover ground.

Anthony cemented that performance with his effort on Thursday.

“Teams are seeing that I’m a three-down guy and that I can play in either the 3-4 or 4-3 schemes,” he said. “Teams definitely see I can in both schemes. I think I have prepared well for that and I have my body prepped and ready to go.”

Losing out. Corey Crawford’s stock fell fast last month in the NFL combine when he was unable to do a lot of the work. It fell even further at Pro Day. Crawford struggled to lift 17 reps of 225 pounds on the bench and ran a 4.92 in the 40.

The 40-time was not bad, but the 17 reps raised a few eyebrows.

Crawford wasn’t the only player to lose out on Thursday. Cornerback Garry Peters was hoping to run a faster 40-time than he did in the 40 at Indianapolis, which he did, but it wasn’t much faster.

Peters ran a 4.59 at Clemson’s Pro Day, just a little better than the 4.61 one he ran at the combine.

The 2015 NFL Draft will be held April 30-May 2.

Unofficial 40 times

D. Beasley           5.53
Crawford             4.92
Howard               4.58
Humphries         4.49
Jarrett                   5.1
Jenkins                 4.4
Peters                   4.59
Rodriguez           4.75
Smith                    4.55
Sobeski                5.16
Steward               4.55
Stoudt                  4.72
J. Watson            4.96
Williams              4.96

Bench

D. Beasley           25
Crawford             17
Howard               20
Humphries         14
Jenkins                 17
Jarrett                   33
J. Watson            37
Rodriguez           10
Smith                    21
Williams              28
Sobeski                  7
Steward               29