The Dallas Cowboys had a full house for this year’s rookie minicamp. Along with their eight 2023 NFL Draft picks, the team hosted another 21 athletes for the camp, including two players using the event as a tryout.
Dallas invited Elon standout quarterback Matthew McKay to minicamp on a tryout basis. McKay initially began his collegiate career at NC State before transferring to Montana State, then Elon.
At Montana State and Elon, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback posted 2,000-plus-yard seasons, while also rushing for more than 300 yards in 2021 and 2022. He finished his final season in college at Elon with a 61.1 completion rate, 2,690 passing yards, 458 rushing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, four interceptions and three more scores on the ground.
The Cowboys also had Florida Atlantic offensive lineman Brendan Bordner in for a tryout. The undrafted rookie free agent started his career at Rutgers where he became a rotational piece and eventual starter. He transferred to FAU as a graduate and started at left tackle for the Owls. He is a 6-foot-5, 305-pound Ohio native.
Here is the full list of Cowboys minicamp attendees, as revealed by DallasCowboys.com.
Cowboys 2023 rookie minicamp participants
- Issac Alarcón, DL, Monterrey Tech (International Pathway Program Signing 2020)
- Jose Barbon, WR, Temple (UDFA 2023)
- T.J. Bass, OT, Oregon (UDFA 2023)
- Brendan Bordner, OT, Florida Atlantic (Tryout, UDFA 2023)
- Earl Bostick, OT, Kansas (UDFA 2023)
- Jalen Brooks, WR, South Carolina (R7 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Myles Brooks, CB, Louisiana Tech (UDFA 2023)
- Jalen Moreno-Cropper, WR, Fresno State (UDFA 2023)
- Dontario Drummond, WR, Ole Miss (UDFA 2022)
- David Durden, WR, West Florida (UDFA 2023)
- Princeton Fant, TE, Tennessee (UDFA 2023)
- Viliami Fehoko, DL, San Jose State (R4 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Seth Green, TE, Houston (Free Agent Signing, 2022)
- Dennis Houston, WR, Western Illinois (UDFA 2022)
- Durrell Johnson, DE, Liberty (UDFA 2023)
- Isaiah Land, LB, Florida A&M (UDFA 2023)
- Alec Lindstrom, C, Boston College (UDFA 2022)
- Hunter Luepke, FB, North Dakota State (UDFA 2023)
- D’Angelo Mandell, DB, BYU (UDFA 2023)
- Matthew McKay, QB, Elon (Tryout, UDFA 2023)
- DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Texas (R3 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Asim Richards, OT, North Carolina (R5 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Luke Schoonmaker, TE, Michigan (R2 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Eric Scott, CB, Southern Miss (R6 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Mazi Smith, DT, Michigan (R1 Draft Pick, 2023)
- John Stephens, TE, Louisiana-Lafayette (UDFA 2023)
- Juanyeh Thomas, S, Georgia Tech (UDFA 2022)
- Deuce Vaughn, RB, Kansas State (R6 Draft Pick, 2023)
- Tyrus Wheat, DE, Mississippi State (UDFA 2023)
Mike McCarthy misses minicamp
The Cowboys had good numbers for minicamp but there was one notable absence. Head coach Mike McCarthy is currently recovering from a surgical back procedure performed earlier in the week, which caused him to miss time with the rookies.
The team indicated that McCarthy’s status for OTAs in two weeks is up in the air. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn discussed how the assistants stepped up to cover for their ailing leader.
“It’s easy (to handle minicamp without McCarthy),” Quinn said this weekend, “because Mike is always so clear and, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do,’ so we had a real vision for what we wanted to get accomplished over this weekend with these guys. It’s mainly just taking those first steps, and I think Mike would fully agree that let’s not miss one step of their development and see what we have and how we communicate and testing them and seeing where they’re at.
“If there was a time to miss for him, there’s never a time he would feel comfortable, but we all know we got his back and we’ll get him back soon.”
McCarthy, 59, enters his fourth season as the head coach in Dallas. After falling short in 2022, the Cowboys revamped the staff in hopes of contending for Super Bowl LVIII. As part of the changes, McCarthy is taking over play-calling duties this season.
