Wednesday afternoon; South practice… It was a little tougher to get a read on a lot of the players at this afternoon’s South team practice at the Senior Bowl in Mobile as the coaching staff spent a lot of time working on technique drills. One group that appears to need a fair amount of work upgrading their games in order to compete at the next level are the offensive linemen. In fact, it hasn’t been a great overall week for players at the position. Certainly, there is some size there as well as plenty of physical potential, but there hasn’t been much in the way of consistency this week. In particular, the OTs have struggled at times in Mobile and that continued at today’s South workout. Justin Blalock of Texas, for example, was working primarily at RT this week, but projects inside to OG at the next level. And that’s probably a good thing because while Blalock is a true wide-body with plenty of functional strength he hasn’t shown much in the way of lateral quickness or ability. Plus, Blalock has been impatient at times and been caught off-balance when he lunged at an opposing defensive linemen. There was a similar story for Arkansas OT Tony Ugoh, who certainly looks the part of a top NFL OT, but was slow of the snap on more than one occasion and appeared to be thinking too much at times rather than reacting. Meanwhile, Central Michigan OT Joe Staley moved quite well this week – not surprising for a one-time TE – but tended to play too tall when dealing with bull-rushers and got pushed deep into the pocket, if he managed to stay on his feet. The South’s interior offensive linemen have done a little better this week. Indeed, the South’s most consistent player up front has probably been Tennessee OT Arron Sears who has been lining up mostly at OG this week. Sears is another true wide-body who plays with a wide base and keeps his feet moving although he has to work hard to keep his pads low. Auburn OGs Ben Grubbs and Tim Duckworth also played reasonably well at times, although both also got a little loose technically at times, while Clemson C Dustin Fry has been overshadowed by USC C Ryan Kalil, but has battled hard all week.
<>While the South offensive line tended to struggle at times, a number of their opposite numbers on defense had pretty good days. North Carolina State DT Tank Tyler finally started to make some headway after being pretty much stiffed at the line of scrimmage through the first two days of practice. Tyler, though, still wasn’t able to make much happen if he didn’t get the clear upper hand off his first step. Meanwhile, fellow DTs Antonio Johnson of Mississippi State and Ryan McBean of Oklahoma State continued to get a lot of penetration, while Texas DE Tim Crowder was blowing past opposing South OTs much of the afternoon. While Crowder was going around the South OTs, Florida DE Ray McDonald was going through them. McDonald doesn’t possess much in the way of polished pass rush moves, but gets off the snap with authority was consistently bull-rushing the man in front of him deep into the pocket. McDonald also didn’t hurt his stock in that he was almost equally effective whether he lined up at DE or DT. In contrast, Georgia DE Quentin Moses, once the highest rated defensive player in the entire 2007 draft class, also had a couple of pressures, but generally spent way too much time bobbing and faking rather than powering upfield. In fact, it looks a tad like the 249-pound Moses just might have to find a home for himself at the next level at an OLB slot in a 3-4 scheme.
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<>Odds and ends… Oregon State TE Joe Newton had a very good day catching the ball as he made a number of receptions all with his hands. And just for good measure, Newton may have had the hit of the day at the South practice when he thumped Alabama LB Juwan Simpson out of the way in the open field… Simpson, though, also had his moments when he broke up a couple of plays as he got excellent reads on what was coming at and showed some good quickness getting to the ball. Meanwhile, Miami FS Brandon Meriweather continued to be the leader of the South defensive unit… Houston QB Kevin Kolb threw the ball much better today than earlier in the week although he was still somewhat erratic; Kolb also puts a little too much air under some of his deeper throws... UTEP QB Jordan Palmer though still struggled to get the ball where it was supposed to be although he gets in there in a hurry… Hard not to be impressed with the pass-receiving skills of 264-pound Alabama FB Le’ron McClain who is very smooth bringing in the ball with his hands, tucking it away and heading upfield. Not bad for a guy known mostly for his blocking… WRs Chansi Stuckey of Clemson and Johnnie Lee Higgins of UTEP also had good days catching the ball downfield.
Wednesday morning; North practice… It was another very coolish morning at this week’s Senior Bowl as the North team went through its second practice of the day. One position that has been a little disappointing to date this week – and it can hardly be because of the weather – have been the offensive tackles. Penn State OT Levi Brown, the highest rated OT to show up in Mobile, for example, is a powerful road grader type when working in a limited area but has struggled in space. In particular, in blocking outside rushers, Brown sets his feet too early and will lose the edge; he also has limited change of direction ability when trying to pick-off LBs at the next level and doesn’t always sustain his block until the whistle. It was interesting to note too that the Buccaneers staff which is coaching the North team did some work privately with Brown prior to practice.
There is a similar story for Ryan Harris of Notre Dame; Harris is generally technically sound, getting good arm extension and showing decent footwork, but he doesn’t appear to be very quick; Harris also doesn’t have one of those prototypical thick bodies. No such problem though for Boston College OG Josh Beekman who is as thick as they come; like Penn State’s Brown, Beekman is very strong at the point of attack, but has limited lateral quickness and agility. On the other hand, a couple of lesser known offensive linemen have been better than advertised. Iowa’s Marshal Yanda, for example, isn’t all that big or explosive, but he sets up well, gets good knee bend, keeps his feet alive and plays to the whistle, although he could add some bulk as he will give up some penetration. Meanwhile, 329-pound Texas Tech OG Manny Ramirez isn’t all that pretty but he has been very effective blocking for both the run and the pass. The top offensive lineman, though, on the North remains West Virginia’s Dan Mozes. Nominally a C, Mozes played a lot of OG this morning and while he’s also not overly big, keeps his pads low, moves his feet and more often than not gets his man to the ground by the time the whistle sounds.
On your marks… The North defense also features a couple of interesting interior line prospects in DTs Amobi Okoye of Louisville and Brandon Mebane of California. Okoye, who among other factors is just 19 years of age, in particular has generated a lot of buzz here in Mobile. Okoye, a very quick one-gap DT who explodes off the line of scrimmage and has a high-energy motor, has been very disruptive when he has been able to get a step on the offensive linemen. However, while he looks bigger, Okoye only weighed in at under 290 pounds and has struggled at times to hold the point of attack, particularly when double-teamed. Okoye, though, plays to the whistle and has shown the ability to spin off blocks and range up and down the line of scrimmage. There is a similar story for Mebane, who is also very quick off the snap; Mebane is another low-slung one-gap DT who has been impossible to handle once he gets leverage in a seam, but like Okoye doesn’t make much happen if he doesn’t beat his man with his initial move. Meanwhile, Nebraska DE Adam Carriker had another dominating type practice session this morning.
We don’t usually focus too much on the special teams’ aspect of practice at the Senior Bowl, however, a couple of North players really stood out at that aspect of the game. West Virginia WR Brandon Myles, who has also had a good week at his regular day job, was consistently the first man down the field on the punt coverage unit, beating the rest of the coverage team by five yards. Utah S Eric Weddle also stood out as he hustled downfield. For good measure, Weddle also had an interception during the live scrimmage. In fact, it has been a pretty good week for the safeties all-around despite the fact that LSU FS Laron Landry, one of the top 1-2 FSs in the 2007 draft class didn’t show in Mobile. Syracuse DB Tanard Jackson has quietly put together a solid week of practice. Nominally a CB for the Orange, Jackson is a big hitter who always seems to be around the ball; he’s also an athletic player who can jump. For the record, North CB Fresno State Marcus McCauley was much more solid today than yesterday when he appeared to be doing a lot of guessing, while CBs Leon Hall of Michigan and Daymeion Hughes of Cal were solid if unspectacular.
QB conundrum… There is a bit of debate emerging at this year’s Senior Bowl as to the potential of Michigan State QB Drew Stanton. One school of thought regards him as a solid prospect who is the top QB here; there are others though who aren’t quite as convinced. Stanton certainly has the tools to be an NFL QB including decent size and a strong arm; he’s also mobile although QBs aren’t asked to move around much at the Senior Bowl. Today, Stanton completed a text-book corner route as well as several other routes, however, his mechanics probably need a lot of work. Stanton appears to have a bit of a hitch in his delivery and he doesn’t a lot of velocity on all his throws. Indeed, the prevailing consensus seems to be that Stanton has the tools, but needs a good pro coach to put it all together.
And speaking of enigmas, there may be none bigger in Mobile than Fresno State WR Paul Williams. Williams has prototype size at 6-1, 200 and good speed; plus he can really explode out of a cut, as well as get deep. Indeed, every once in a while Williams will turn it on and look like a top 10 prospect, but he just doesn’t turn it on often enough.
Odds and ends… It looks like Penn State RB Tony Hunt, who has had a good week of practice, looking very quick at 239 pounds, missed the laundry chapter in the North playbook. Indeed, while all his teammates looked crisp in their white pants, Hunt’s pants were shocking pink, like someone had washed them with his red jersey… the answer to the question exactly replaced injured Northern Illinois RB Garrett Wolfe appears to be Kansas State RB Thomas Clayton and not Kansas back Jon Cornish. There had been separate media reports indicating that each was the man, but Clayton was the one in uniform this morning. And while he didn’t appear to be all that big, Clayton was very quick, although he struggled to hold onto the ball, dropping a couple of passes and losing a fumble. Meanwhile, the North’s other injury replacement – Delaware TE Ben Patrick who is filling in for Rutgers TE Clark Harris – did not look at all out of place. The 6-4, 270-pound Patrick, who also reportedly had a great week of practice at last week’s Shrine game, made a couple of tough catches in traffic over the middle… Pitt LB H.B. Blades left practice for a few minutes with a dinged arm or shoulder but returned to action later; did not see Michigan DE Lamarr Woodley on the field today…
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