With the game itself being played as I write, here's RamView's likes and don't likes from Wednesday's full pads practices, starting with:
Don't like: NFL Network. Cover the event or don't cover it. We missed almost all of the North's line drills while they interviewed Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, then after that, went to a commercial break. At one point during the South practice, they put 11-on-11 in a quarter-sized screen so we could get a side-by-side look at Bills/South head coach CHAN GAILEY, which was beyond useless. There was more background graphic on my TV screen than actual practice footage. Thanks, dummies.
Like: Cameron Jordan. No new news here; the Cal DT continues to dominate. He basically toyed with John Moffitt and Stephen Schilling, beating each into the backfield with the same swim move on back-to-back plays. I'm surprised he didn't head back to the defensive huddle yawning.
Like: the South guards. North d-line vs. South o-line should be a fun matchup at the game, assuming I ever get around to covering it. Rodney Hudson (Florida State) continues to play well, and Clint Boling (Georgia) had a very strong Wednesday. Hudson put one guy on his butt and showed ability to get to the second level and to deliver pop on pull blocks. The only trouble Hudson had in 1-on-1 drills was with Phil Taylor, but Taylor may be the South's best player. Boling was strong in pass pro and also showed he could get to the second level. He looked good both at left and right guard. They would have sprung two or three big runs. Danny Watkins (Baylor) also delivered some strong run blocks. Mike Mayock called Mike Pouncey and Stefen Wisniewski the guards likeliest to be drafted in the first round, leaving the Rams several good prospects to look at with later picks.
Like: Roy Helu, Jr. Surprised the Nebraska RB isn't talked about more. He head-faked Lawrence Wilson out of his jock during receiving drills and won repeatedly in blitz pickup drills, which is rare for a RB. Ryan Kerrigan was the only guy who could beat him. Helu's fast, he can catch, and he showed here he can pick up blitzes; he could be a nice sleeper pick at RB for a team that needs to improve its backfield speed. Ahem.
Don't like: Casey Matthews. He did force Nate Solder to hold him on the Matthews family-patented spin move, but DeMarco Murray pretty well smoked him in receiving drills, and he lost again and again in blitz drills, where the defensive player's supposed to have the advantage. He was no challenge at all to Murray or Helu.
Like: Leonard Hankerson. He beat the crap out of Shareece Wright and Ahmad Black on a deep corner route and just ran away from Curtis Brown after catching a quick slant in 11-on-11. He followed that with a beautiful comeback route in 1-on-1 drills. I'm thinking Brandon Gibson, with speed.
Like: Preston Dial. The Alabama TE had a sweet one-handed catch in receiving drills and did some terrific run blocking in 11-on-11.
Don't like: Stanford FB Owen Marecic. Gonna have to blitz-protect a lot better in the pros than he did Wednesday. Everybody beat him till he handled Jeremy Beal at the end.
Like: Michigan State LB Greg Jones. Didn't see him lose in blitz drills, he appears to be around the ball a lot, and can cover sideline to sideline. Effective blitzer showed he can get there with moves and with a bull rush. He also blew up a run in 11-on-11.
Like: Here's another LB playing well, Mississippi State's Chris White. On one run, he blew up the fullback so well, he fouled up an attempted pull block, and that let him continue through to make a big tackle-for-loss. He would have blown up another run at the end of 11-on-11 with a terrific fill, the kind of fill Rams OLBs didn't make often enough last season.
Like: And another, K.J. Wright. In the role of pass-rush LB in 1-on-1, he whipped Lee Ziemba twice, simply stunning the Auburn RT with his punch the second time. He also forced DeMarcus Love to hold him twice, quite brutally the second time, though NFL-N played it up as an impressive play for Love. When he picks the guy up and tackles him?
Don't like: Allen Bailey. He's talked up as some kind of big-shot high-grade player, but Derek Sherrod and James Carpenter just toyed with him. Bailey's one of the least-impressive players I've seen, at least from TV coverage.
Don't like: the Wisconsin linemen, Wednesday, at least. Gabe Carimi destroyed a guy 15 yards downfield in an 11-on-11 screen play, but while they had his coach on to talk him up, Ian Williams beat him AND John Moffitt clean on a combo block drill, then handled Carimi 1-on-1. Moffitt had a very off day. He was beaten repeatedly off the snap in 11-on-11, run and pass plays alike.
Don't like: South DBs. Texas CB Curtis Brown was getting beaten in the half-speed drills, for crying out loud. He looked at least a step late anytime I got a look at him. Mayock can shut up about Ahmad Black any minute now. The Florida safety was Sehorn-late getting over to help Wright on an early burn from Hankerson, and he got turned inside-out later by D.J. Williams, who would whip him another time.
Don't like: Courtney Smith dropped way too many passes and is well out in front for this year's Joe Webb Award.
Don't like: DeMarcus Love. Held repeatedly during 1-on-1, getting credit for an impressive play against K.J. Wright though he essentially tackled the guy and flags would rain if he did that during an actual game. He also had a false start during 11-on-11. Alex Barron is NOT the comparison you want to draw leading up to the draft, sir.
North "poppers": Anthony Castonzo (BC) was strong in 1-on-1 and 11-on-11 drills at right guard but got beat for a would-be sack at the end of 11-on-11. Center Kevin Kowalski (Toledo) threw a nice block to spring Helu for a big gain. LB Lawrence Wilson (UConn) looked like an effective blitzer. Murray handled everyone but Wilson in blitz pickup, including Kerrigan, which was impressive.
South "poppers": West Virginia RB Noel Devine, 5'7" 160, showed excellent vision, nice burst, and ability to bounce plays outside. Hawaii WR Greg Salas made a couple of nice grabs and beat press coverage from Wright for one. DT Jarvis Williams split a double-team for a would-be sack, and he and Taylor would have had a huge run stuff on another play after Taylor flattened Jake Kirkpatrick. Brooks Reed of Arizona beat Carpenter to set up a would-be sack for K.J. Wright. Carpenter still had a pretty strong day at tackle, though, as did Sherrod. D.J. Williams proved very hard to cover Wednesday for the whole South secondary.
Don't like: that the Bengals, coaching the North team, have their security guy and their team psychologist on hand to interview players. Basically, they're getting a jump on everybody else, who I doubt are allowed to talk to any of the players until the Combine. Is this really kosher?
Worst creativity: Describing top guard prospect Mike Pouncey, Mayock noted he plays a lot like his brother Maurkice. That's not much of a revelation; aren't they identical twins?
Thursday's report is also likely to be three days late and a dollar short, but it's on the way.
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