KNOXVILLE - As far as Robert Meachem knows, he is the first 32-year-old football player to participate in a college program's pro day.
The former Tennessee wide receiver's attempt at reviving his professional career after two years out of the NFL prompted him to join the current crop of Volunteers trying to improve their draft status Friday.
Ten years ago Meachem was a first-round NFL draft pick after leaving Tennessee after his junior season.
Friday he was catching passes from Josh Dobbs alongside Josh Malone, Jason Croom and Alvin Kamara.
"It's always humbling," Meachem said. "You've got guys 22 years old - I'm 10 years older than them. The fact that they welcomed you. The facility is totally different since I've been here. It's just amazing for everybody to welcome you back, and you look at them like, 'I'm a fan of y'all, a college fan of y'all.' It was a new experience for me - and humbling."
The participant list for Tennessee's pro day included other non-first-timers such as LaDarrell McNeil, Owen Williams and Johnathon Johnson and former Vols whose careers ended for off-field reasons, such as Danny O'Brien and Pig Howard, but Meachem's inclusion had to be the oddest.
Meachem last played in the NFL in 2014, when he caught seven passes for 114 yards in 11 games in a second stint in New Orleans, where he played the first four seasons out of Tennessee.
In a three-season span with the Saints (2009-11), Meachem caught 129 passes for 1,980 yards and 20 touchdowns before playing one season in San Diego and returning to New Orleans.
Meachem had a preseason tryout with the Saints last June cut short by an injury, and Friday he just wanted to show the NFL personnel in attendance that he's "still got it" despite his age and time out of the league.
"The feedback was 'Wow, he still can run. He looks good coming out of his breaks,'" said Meachem, who clocked a 4.58-second 40-yard dash. "I knew I wasn't going to get signed today. I wish I would have heard that today, but I've still got to be patient and wait on that."
Meachem signed with Tennessee as a blue-chip prospect out of Oklahoma in 2003 and caught just 54 passes for 842 yards in his first two seasons after redshirting his first year with the Vols.
In 2006 he erupted for 71 receptions for 1,298 yards and 11 touchdowns and earned All-Southeastern Conference and All-American honors.
He hadn't been in Knoxville much since his career at Tennessee ended a decade ago.
"I haven't been back in a while," he said. "I still thought you could park back in the back (behind the complex), and when I realized you couldn't park there no more and you've got to park on the street, I'm like, 'Wow, OK.'
"And Gibbs is totally different. It's bigger. When we had Gibbs, I think it was maybe like 200-something rooms, maybe? It was an all-males dorms and now it's co-ed. It's amazing to me. I'm in shock."
Meachem was impressed by Dobbs, Tennessee's starting quarterback the past two-plus seasons, after working with him Thursday and catching passes from him during the throwing sessions on Friday.
"I think the sky's the limit for Dobbs," he said. "I think he showed a lot of scouts that he really can spin that ball. Before they got here, I think they may have thought his mechanics was different, but from what I saw, he can spin it just like the rest of them. I'm glad he called the routes that he called to show his arm off."
According to Meachem, Dobbs and Drew Brees, Meachem's quarterback in New Orleans, share at least one unique trait.
"He writes everything down and it's got to go like he writes it down," he explained. "It was kind of neat and normal to me. Being with Drew, that's what he does."
Meachem has been training five or six days a week as he attempts his comeback, and he hopes Friday's opportunity could open a door for him to join a team.
"It's like you get tired of training," he said. "Just let me go play football. Let me catch a ball. Let me go against a DB."
"Now I've got a chance to go show the scouts something, so it was a positive, I hope."