Sitting in a classroom-type chair in a hallway at UL’s Leon Moncla Indoor Practice Facility, paperwork spread out on another chair in front of him, Devon Lewis-Buchanan pushed his pencil with deliberation.

At the behest of an Oakland Raiders scout who hovered nearby, he was taking an exam designed to assess cognitive abilities.

As passers-by obliviously shuffled back and forth, some asking about his health, others simply saying hello or goodbye, the Ragin’ Cajun’s focus did not break.

Take that, Wonderlic.

After what Lewis-Buchanan endured the past three months, after all, it can be argued that no standardized test is needed to judge his ability solve a problem.

Because when someone dislocates a kneecap on Dec. 17, and that same someone figures out how to run a 4.50 40-yard dash the next March 20, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out it took plenty of hard work, lots of determination and some God-given speed to so quickly get from Point A to Point B.

All that, and a calendar that could not have been squeezed much more.

"It took about "» two months," Lewis-Buchanan said, "to be back to where I could do what I wanted to do, and move around, but three months to really be confident in it."

Lewis-Buchanan’s senior season finished a few hours earlier than that of UL teammates, cut short by the freak knee injury sustained in pregame warmups prior to the Cajuns’ 2011 New Orleans Bowl win over San Diego State.

While coach Mark Hudspeth’s club was busy pulling one out over the Aztecs, all Lewis-Buchanan could do was pull for his pals from the Superdome sideline.

Yet even after such an unfortunate ending to his college career, the Cajuns’ outside linebacker was not done.

The UL standout took part in Pro Day workouts in front of 32 NFL scouts, coaches and front-office personnel on Tuesday, and afterward Lewis-Buchanan — projected to play strong safety if he is able to stick at the next level — felt good about what he had done.

Scouts evidently took notice, too.

"They asked me what I actually did (to the knee)," said Lewis-Buchanan, who finished the 2011 regular season ranked third among Sun Belt Conference linebackers in tackles-for-loss with 10.5 and seventh among all players in solo tackles with 52. "I told them, and they "» kind of were surprised I’d be back to running and doing what I did (Tuesday).

"It was a great feeling."

Lewis-Buchanan emerged as one of at least six Cajuns with some sort of chance at being in an NFL camp later this year, joining cornerback Bill Bentley and tight end Ladarius Green — both of whom are bound to be selected in next month’s NFL Draft — and fellow free-agent hopefuls defensive end/outside linebacker Bernard Smith, linebacker Lance Kelley and safety Lionel Stokes.

Traversing the path from December to March, however, mean navigating one littered with obstacles.

After the Cajuns’ New Orleans Bowl win, Lewis-Buchanan — who had seven-plus tackles in seven games last season, and a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against Middle Tennessee — returned home to Florida to rest.

The only real stress he put on his knee was the weight of a bag of ice.

Once back in Lafayette, though, he visited with a specialist and was given permission to resume workouts.

He could squat and lift, but didn’t do much running early on.

"After a while," Lewis-Buchanan said, "I just started feeling more comfortable with it. It’s more of a mind thing than a physical thing."

Yet even when UL’s Pro Day rolled around, Lewis-Buchanan admittedly was "not all the way 100 percent."

Make it more like 90.

Yet there he was, recording a rather impressive 40 time for a college linebacker with a still-not-totally-healthy knee.

It was, Lewis-Buchanan hopes, the precursor to an invite, so he can get into an NFL camp, truly test himself, perhaps make a name as a special-teams player and, more than anything, have the opportunity to  "just fly around and try to make plays."

"I just pray that a team finds interest — that they watch the film, and see what I can do, and that I have a shot," Lewis-Buchanan said. "I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I’ll stick around and see, and let it play out."