Some four weeks after playing in their home stadium in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, South Alabama wide receiver Jalen Wayne and cornerback Darrell Luter will join more than 300 other draft prospects at the annual NFL Scouting Combine.

As with at the Senior Bowl, Wayne, Luter and their fellow attendees will be weighed, measured and partake in interviews with NFL teams. However, at the Combine there will be speed and strength tests and other football-type drills rather than actual game situations like they experienced in Mobile.

RELATED: How did the state’s players perform in the Reese’s Senior Bowl?

Luter and Wayne — who helped South Alabama to a 10-3 record in 2022 — actually found out in January they were invited to the Combine, though the official list didn’t come out until this week. It’s not necessarily automatic for those who play in the Senior Bowl, leaving Luter emotional.

“I’m going to tell you what, when I first, when I first got that email, I sat in the car for a minute and called my family and then I couldn’t even hold it,” Luter said. “I just started crying, man. I just came straight to tears. Because it was just, just being able to see that face-to-face. I’ve been thinking about it for so long, since I was a kid. … So me just going through this whole process has just been amazing and a blessing.”

An under-the-radar prospect out of Oak Grove (Miss.) High School, Luter spent two seasons at Pearl River Community College before signing with South Alabama in 2020. He was an All-Sun Belt Conference pick when he totaled four interceptions and 10 pass breakups in 2021, but battled a hand injury during his final year with the Jaguars and had just one interception.

Wayne was a five-year contributor with the Jaguars out of Spanish Fort High School, and set a school record with nine touchdown receptions in 2022. Like Luter, he shared his combine invitation with family, including his uncle, former NFL star receiver Reggie Wayne.

“It’s definitely humbling,” said Wayne, who caught a game-high eight passes for the American team in a 27-10 Senior Bowl loss last Saturday. “My uncle called me and congratulated me and my family. You don’t really feel it at first, everyone being appreciative and calling me and congratulating me has definitely put me in the moment.”

South Alabama has sent only a handful of players to the NFL Combine, and never before have had two in one year. They are around a dozen or so Sun Belt Conference players in this year’s event, a group that also includes Troy offensive lineman Jake Andrews, Southern Miss wide receiver Jason Brownlee, Coastal Carolina defensive lineman Jarrod Clark and Appalachian State running back Camerun Peoples.

Wayne actually got his invitation a few weeks before Luter did. Still, Luter said he wasn’t worrying too much in the interim. “It’s just a manner of being patient,” Luter said. “I was so happy when he got it and it was only a matter of time. There wasn’t no doubt in my mind that I was or wasn’t going to get it, you know? And if even if I didn’t get it, I was still going to be fine with it.”

You can view the entire 2023 NFL Draft Combine player list HERE.