path to the draft: james Empey
2021 BYU SEASON:
For James Empey, BYU athletics runs in the family. His father, Mike, was an offensive lineman at BYU and James has followed in his father’s footsteps. Additionally, two of James’ sisters, Haven and Savannah, play on the BYU Women’s Soccer team.
“BYU was a special place for me all growing up. My family went there. My dad, he played football there and coached football there. So when I had the opportunity to do it I was really excited because it's just always been a special place for me,” said Empey.
Empey has been a part of several notable BYU Football. When asked his favorite moment in his BYU career, he could not choose just one.
“My freshman year when we went to Wisconsin and beat those guys. The next year, we went to Tennessee and beat those guys. Just the whole entire 2020 season was, you know, just a fiasco and so much fun. And then, you know, last year, all the big games we played and beating Utah, you know, having a whole lot of fun,” Empey said.
The 2021 season was Empey’s fifth year. Despite missing six games during the 2021 season due to a leg injury, Empey was still a standout player. Although Empey still has eligibility left to play, he decided to declare for the 2022 NFL Draft. However, that decision didn’t come easy for Empey and his wife.
“Ultimately we just felt like it was time to take that step and to move on, and, you know, when you feel that way, you just gotta you just gotta roll with it. So, we made the decision to move on and I’m just so grateful for everything that BYU has done for me,” Empey said of his decision to leave Provo.
PRO DAY TRAINING:
Empey has been training at Sports Academy at The Star, in Frisco, Texas. Sports Academy’s campus is right next to the Dallas Cowboys’ training facilities and has indoor and outdoor turf fields, a diagnostics lab, weight room, recovery suite, and more. High profile athletes, such as Super Bowl Champion Aaron Donald, have trained at Sports Academy.
To prepare for his Pro Day tests, Empey does field work, drills, and workouts with Les Spellman and his crew. Les Spellman is the creator of the speed program, Spellman Performance. His program has trained national soccer and rugby players, numerous Olympians, and NFL players such as Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence.
For position work, Empey trains under Duke Manyweather’s program, OL Masterminds, developed specifically for offensive linemen. Eleven offensive lineman in Empey’s group participated in the 2022 NFL combine
“It's really cool because it's O-Line focused and all that specific, so I get a lot of like position specific work,” Empey says of the OL Masterminds program.
“All day we're just trying to workout really hard and keep our bodies healthy enough so that we can workout really hard again,” Empey explained.
Empey starts the day with a lifting workout. Depending on the day and focus, it is either a lower body or upper body workout. After a shake and supplement bar, Empey moves on to rest and recovery, where he uses the compression recovery boots or gets in the tubs. Next, is field work and drills to prepare for Pro Day differentials. Depending on the day, he will do either speed or lateral movements. The last workout of the day, is position work. During this workout, Empey focuses on O-Line drills and position specific work. Empey ends the day with manual therapy, a version of massage therapy, to help him with recovery.
“It's it's a full day of working out and eating and it's a good time,” Empey said of his daily schedule.
Empey has not only worked hard on getting bigger, faster, and stronger in preparation for Pro Day drills, but he has also spent time focusing on mental skills that he will need in the NFL.
“It's been just a huge learning process this this whole time that we've been out here. Every morning I look forward to a little bit more,” said Empey.
Empey worked with a sports psychologist who helped prepare him for interviews with NFL teams, the mental aspect of training and how to get the most out of his mind. Additionally, Empey attended the Cognition Lab at the Sports Academy. In the lab, they focus training the brain in different things like reaction time, multitasking, and dual processing.
Empey said that when he got to Sports Academy, he realized how much BYU prepared him for the NFL — physically and mentally for football and all aspects of life.
PRO DAY:
“My goals for Pro Day are just to get out to Provo and have a great time with all the guys that are doing it and you know, have a good time seeing everybody and just do my very best to compete and, you know, show what I can do,” Empey said.
At BYU’s Pro Day, Empey was able to show scouts he has recovered from his season ending injury by competing in all testing and drills. At Pro Day, Empey participated in the bench press (23 reps), vertical jump (25.5 inches), broad jump (8 feet 3 inches), 40-yard dash (5.43 seconds), 20-yard shuttle (4.71 seconds), and three-cone drill (7.71 seconds). He also participated in With 23-reps Empey would have ranked No. 8 among offensive lineman at the Combine.
“Everyone put on a great show. Everyone was competing with themselves, at the end of the day. Everyone put on a great show today and it was just awesome to see everybody kill it,” said Nacua of his thoughts on Pro Day.
The 2022 NFL Draft will begin on April 28th in Las Vegas.