FOOTBALL: Kentwood’s Boyce to work out for NFL teams next month

His name wasn’t called during the NFL draft two weeks ago.

But that doesn’t mean Aaron Boyce won’t be suiting up for an NFL team in the near future, once he is officially pronounced 100 percent healthy.

“(My goal of playing in the NFL) isn’t done,” said Boyce, a 2005 Kentwood High graduate who went on to become one of the greatest wide receivers in Eastern Washington University history. “It was kind of expected (not to get drafted). From all the feedback I was getting, I know a lot of teams are skeptical about my foot and I have to show them I’m healthy.”

Boyce, a senior, ruptured his left Achilles tendon during a game against the University of Montana on Oct. 17, roughly halfway through the Eagles’ season. He had surgery days later, but was unable to return to the field.

In four years on the EWU football team, Boyce essentially re-wrote the school record books. A 6-foot-3, 210-pound wide receiver, Boyce ranks second in EWU history in pass receptions (222), pass-reception yards (3,330) and touchdown receptions (28). An All-Big Sky selection in 2007 and 2008, Boyce is a physical receiver with good, but not blazing speed. Despite missing the second half of the season, Boyce ranked second on the Eagles in receiving yards (634) and second in receiving touchdowns (6).

For all the numbers he has posted, it has now come down to a waiting game for the former Kentwood star, who didn’t turn out for the football team until his senior year in high school.

“I am healed, but I am not quite 100 percent yet,” Boyce said. “The plan of action right now is for me to wait another month, and then I will start working out for some NFL teams. I will be 100 percent by June. I actually got cleared by my doctor three weeks ago. I can play in a football game tomorrow and be fine, but I still have some strength and training to do before I am truly 100 percent.”

Boyce, who will complete his communications degree this spring through online courses, is working out twice a day at Imperial Fitness in downtown Kent. Boyce doesn’t yet know which NFL teams he will be trying out for, but noted that his agent has been contacted by several organizations about a future workout. Until the injury, Boyce was regarded as a late-round selection.

There are plenty of positives about having the opportunity to try out, Boyce said.

“It’s going to be different than before the draft with the combines. Now I have to go to a team’s facility and they will put me through what they want to see me do,” he said. “It definitely would have been a lot different (draft) weekend had I been healthy. The positive thing now is that I get to pick the team that’s the best fit for me.”