North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron vowed earlier in the week that he would beat former Tar Heels teammate Gio Bernard's time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he couldn't do it.
Bernard was clocked at 4.53 seconds at last year's combine; Ebron turned in a 4.60 clocking Saturday. But Bernard is a 5-foot-8, 202-pounder, and Ebron is 6-4 and weighs 250 pounds.
Ebron apparently suffered an unknown minor injury and didn't participate in the remaining drills Saturday afternoon.
Ebron's 40 time was second-highest among tight ends, behind the 4.50 of Tennessee State's A.C. Leonard, a good athlete who began his career at Florida before running into off-field trouble and transferring to the FCS program. But while Leonard is considered a potential third-day selection, Ebron could go in the top 10 because of his athleticism and high-level all-around skills. He also posted a broad jump of 10 feet, tied for third among tight ends.
"His tape is so much fun to watch, it's scary," NFL Media draft analyst Mike Mayock said on the NFL Network.
Early in the day, Mayock said Ebron was a "more complete player" than San Francisco 49ers star Vernon Davis at the same stage of their careers.
Ebron is considered the best tight end in the draft, with two others considered potential first-rounders: Texas Tech's Jace Amaro (6-5, 265) and Washington's Austin Seferian-Jenkins (6-5, 262). Amaro was clocked at 4.74, slower than expected; Seferian-Jenkins did not run or participate in drills because of a minor foot injury.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.