NFLPA Collegiate Bowl 2012

NFLPA Collegiate Bowl

Carson, California

One thing to note about the second of Saturday's college all-star games is that this one's got even less star power than the Shrine Game. The Shrine Game is a game for third-day picks; this game looks like it contributed mostly seventh-rounders and UDFAs to the league last year. It was formerly called the Texas vs. the Nation Game, then the NFLPA Game last year, and wasn't even expected to be held in 2012 for a while before being announced in November.

The second thing to note is that the Rams BETTER get some good inside intel out of this game. DICK VERMEIL coached one of the teams, and St. Louis favorite Jim Hanifan was his offensive line coach. Also, former Ram Corey Chavous was one of the announcers (along with former Bucs QB Shaun King, who looks like he ate Warrick Dunn).

The Rams have found players in this game recently. Josh Hull played in 2010. Most famous this season as turnstile to Chris Clemons, Kevin Hughes played in last year's game. Practice squad o-lineman Tim Barnes and two training camp cuts, TE Schuylar Oordt and QB Taylor Potts, also played. The most notable players from last year's game: Raiders WR Denarius Moore and Texans QB T.J. Yates.

This is a game full of undersized guys, obscure-school guys and guys who played less than a full season due to injury or discipline issues. There were runt RBs, midget DBs, tweener LBs, and “high-motor” DTs all over the place. There were players from every school imaginable this side of Faber, South Central Louisiana State and ITT Technical. And a mess of football family members, including Darrell Green's son, Mike Singletary's son, Mike Iupati's brother and Nick Folk's brother.

Vermeil avenged his loss in Super Bowl XV, as his “Nationals” beat Tom Flores' “Americans” 20-14 (box score) before a crowd that looked like about 500. There were probably more marching band members there than actual ticketholders. My scouting effort for this game isn't even professional enough to do a positional breakdown like I did for the Shrine Game, but here are players who stood out to me:

* Asa Chapman, DT, Liberty. Oh hell yeah you bet I'm starting with this guy, who I cannot believe was not mentioned even once during the broadcast, even though He. Weighs. Four. Hundred. Pounds! His strength looks like a serious question, though. He looks like a guy who's used to leaning on guys 100 or more pounds less than him for success. Hanifan's guys would typically double him at the snap, but it never took more than one to finish him. He's too big to be explosive enough to split those double-teams quickly, or to re-gather his momentum quickly after the hit from the double-team. He's always moving forward, and has pretty quick hands. Any decent linebacker play at all behind him would have brought attention to his obvious success occupying blockers. But instead of lifting cheeseburgers, he needs to get in the weight room and turn about 10% of that mass into muscle. I can see him in a training camp but not as a draft pick.

* Gerald Gooden, DE/OLB, Purdue. Shouldn't be any surprise that Purdue has a player in this year's draft who can really get after the QB. Gooden may have been the dominant defensive force of the game. Had a sack, drew a hold that saved the National team a TD, and pressured the QB pretty much every play.

* Marrell Evans, LB, Michigan. Was not only one of the best defensive players in the game, but he also had two tackles on special teams. Got faked out badly by G.J. Kinne on a TD run but he made a ton of plays. Spent a lot of the game in the opposing backfield. Solid against the run and also made a nice play downfield to break up a pass. Was all over the field. This performance, plus his good size at 6'3” 238, would seem to make him one of the best prospects in this game.

* Jonte' Green, CB, New Mexico State. Definitely Chavous' favorite player and the best defensive back in the game. A hair shorter than six feet. Made a diving interception. Good physical presence, good hitter. Excellent closing speed and open-field tackler on quick screens. Pretty much owned Jared Green. I have a feeling he must fail the stopwatch test. In this game he looked easily like a 4th-round talent, or better.

* Max Holloway, DE, Boston College. A very lightweight 242, but his quickness made him one of the defensive stars of the game. National team tackles had difficulty handling him. Spent a lot of the game in the opposing backfield. Flashed in a couple of times to blow up runs and pressured the pocket consistently.

* G.J. Kinne, QB, Tulsa. Officially the star of the game, Kinne was 6-9-79 with an impressive 20-yard TD run where he put ankle-breaking fakes on Evans and on Ahkeil White. Also showed a strong, accurate arm. The QB talent in this game in general had stronger arms than we saw in the Shrine Game.

* Bo Levi Mitchell, QB, Eastern Washington. Very live arm. The only QB with over 100 yards in this game, largely because he's the most confident QB I saw this weekend flinging it deep. Throws very well on the move. Flick of the wrist and it's gone. 6'2.5”, 199, intriguing prospect.

* Jarrett Lee, QB, LSU. Threw a TD pass and looked like the most accurate QB in the game, with a strong arm to go with it. Would have liked to see more of him.

* Antwan Bailey, RB, Syracuse. One of two notable RBs from the game, Bailey is not even 5'7” but comes in at a pretty solid 195. It may have been the level of defensive competition, but the running backs in this game looked consistently faster than the Shrine Game's. There was also much more cutback running. Bailey's quick, makes people miss, and takes full advantage of his size making him hard to find.

* Jacquise Terry, RB, Kent State. Like his size: 6'0 191. Good and quick, good cutback runner, bounced plays outside well when he had to.

* Jason Ford, Illinois. Another game that criminally underused a solid Illini player. And the American team seemed to be messing around with him at fullback, which I don't see as his forte. Broke a 20-yard run that allowed him to lead the American team in rushing, with 27 yards.

* Tracy Robertson, DT, Baylor. Really took over down the stretch. Got a lot of pressure on the pocket and had the 4th-down sack that sealed the game for the Nationals. Also stuffed a run. Only goes 275-280, though.

* Zack Masch, DT, Hawaii. Definitely undersized at 278, but strong enough to bull-rush Tulsa G Matt Romine almost over the QB for a sack. Also deflected a pass. Romine appeared to have trouble with speed, and I imagine he'll face better in training camp.

* Patrick Butrym, DT, Wisconsin. Another undersized DT who gave the American o-line fits. Had a pass pressure that forced a throwaway, deflected a pass and also stuffed a run for a loss, I think all in the second half.

Those last three are all nice performances, but I'm just not sure a lot of NFL interior offensive linemen stay awake at night worrying about getting beat by defensive tackles that don't even top 280.

* Peyton Thompson, CB, San Jose State. A shade over 5'11”. Hung pretty well with secondary mate Jonte' Green, blowing up a screen and making a sweet play on the sideline to break up a perfect pass for Jared Green.

* Scott Wedige, OL, Northern Illinois. 6'5” 304. Believe he played center but was also listed at guard. Showed he can really tie up the nose tackle and destroyed Andrew Iupati on one run.

* Jared Green, WR, Southern. Intriguing size (6'1.5” 190). Intriguing bloodline (father is Hall-of-Famer Darell Green). But he struggled miserably in this game, even given multiple chances to handle the ball. He dropped passes, ran wrong routes, fumbled the exchange on an end-around attempt. Unfortunately for the Rams, this game wasn't a showcase of WR talent. Jason Barnes had a couple of drops. Been there, done that. Nearly 6'6”, Lavasier Tuinei ran through three tackles on a slant route TD and had another nice catch, but struggled in the 2^nd half and had a drop.

* Takeaway: Like I said, the Rams ought to be able to get info from Vermeil and Hanifan about a lot of these players that other teams won't be able to get. I thought Marrell Evans and Jonte Green were the best players who could help the Rams right away at their positions. Also liked Jacquise Terry. Quite a bit of legitimate pro talent available.

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