Well, hopefully I can punch things up a
little. Non-professional scouting notes by position:
QB: Nothing special at QB. Alex
Carder's (Western Michigan) first drive ended with a bad-looking INT,
but he had the best numbers of anybody (9-11-95), and the INT was
part poor recognition and part poor route by Jasper Collins. Carder
did show nice rhythm in the short passing game, and threw well on the
run, when he could outrun the DEs, that is. Arizona's Matt Scott
mostly handed off, and he had to blow two timeouts because this is
the first time in college he's ever had to call a play in the huddle?
What the hell are some of these college coaches doing? He did fire a
pretty bullet to the sideline that Chad Bumphis turned into a 57-yard
TD. Seth Doege (Texas Tech) did not impress. He has a good play-fake,
but he's tiny, he missed open receivers and threw a bad pick into a
crowd at the end of the game. Collin Klein looks a lot more like Tim
Tebow than Colin Kaepernick, which is not a good thing. Same goofy
hitch in his delivery, same terrible accuracy on sideline passes...
make it stop. I didn't see his speed as elite, either, though he did
some successful scrambling (5-35) here. Colby Cameron (Louisiana
Tech) threw a terrible sideline pick-six right before halftime. Read
the defense poorly, threw too late and threw too far inside. Nathan
Stanley (SE Louisiana) couldn't get anything done on read options and
had a pass batted down despite his 6'4” height.
RB: Remember Johnny Cash's “A Boy
Named Sue?” I learned today there is a football player named
Christine. And no, pronouncing it “Kristin” doesn't help. And
Mike Mayock's calling him one of the best RBs in the country, even
though he broke a leg two years ago, tore an ACL last year and was in
the coaches' doghouse at Texas A&M this year and had only 92
touches. Seriously? But Christine Michael was probably the most
complete RB in this game. Ran with good power, ran well after
contact, showed nice jump-cut and cutback maneuvers, had a catch out
of the backfield and ran well in traffic. Admittedly didn't have
great numbers (13-42) to show for it, and he had a fumble hacked
loose by Devin Taylor. Pitt RB Ray Graham (6-23) fumbled on the first
play of the game switching hands. Zach Line (8-33) of SMU did some
tough middle running, but nothing like I remember Morris doing last
year. (Ask) Kerwynn Williams (8-28) was the closest thing this game
had to a breakaway RB. He could get the corner, ran well after
contact and bounced a draw for 12 for the longest run of the game.
Zac Stacy (Vanderbilt) got stuffed a bunch of times and dropped a
pass.
WR: A couple of wide receivers looked
like they'll be worth closer looks. Chad Bumphis (Mississippi State)
is a little small at 5'11” 198 but made a variety of catches (4-92)
and sped off with a 57-yard TD for the game's biggest play. Anthony
Amos (Middle Tennessee, 6'0”, 185) had 4 catches for 59, looked
like a reliable WCO receiver and showed a little ability to get YAC.
He also scored the first TD of the game on an end-around and drew a
deep DPI. Corey Fuller (Virginia Tech, 6'3”, 195) looks the part,
and had a 21-yard catch, but with a hold and a false start, hurt his
team as much as he helped it. The NFL Network gang fussed a lot over
Jasper Collins (Mt. Union), but he did not deliver. He ran an awful
route that helped Carder get picked off in the 3rd and
muffed away a punt. TE D.C. Jefferson (Rutgers) will need to improve
his mental game; he missed a block to get a run stuffed and lined up
wrong another time, causing a penalty. BC TE Chris Pantale made the
game's best catch, a 17-yarder off his shoetops.
OL: One of my favorite players of this
game was Kansas LT Hawkinson Tanner (6'5” 300). He had an epic
battle with South Carolina DE Devin Taylor, which he ultimately lost.
He got pushed around at times and got beaten for two sacks, one a
sack/fumble. He was beaten so badly on one play I initially thought
it was a blown screen pass. Other times, though, he used his hands
well in pass protection, and he made some pancake blocks and some
absolutely mauling run blocks. I think he's a player a good line
coach could turn into something. Nick Speller (UMass, 6'5” 290)
run-blocked well and had some good moments in pass-protection. He
didn't give up a sack, but did get beaten pretty good by Wes Horton
of USC a couple of times late in the game. Mike Mayock compared
Terron Armstead of Ark.-Pine Bluff to Rodger Saffold, for his size,
natural bend and quick feet. He looked good run-blocking but got
caught holding to erase a long Klein scramble.
DL: The star of this game was big (6'8”
269) South Carolina DE Devin Taylor, who was a nightmare for the West
QBs. He beat Tanner twice for sacks, once with an impressive bull
rush. He forced two fumbles in the first half with tomahawk chops on
Doege and Michael. He flushed West QBs several times. He got sucked
in a little bit on runs but showed he could set the edge. Carder
tried to take advantage of him on a bootleg run but Taylor tracked
him down anyway. He outran the QB on a designed bootleg run! I don't
think we're done seeing Devin Taylor this offseason. Another strong
performer came from, of all places, Princeton. 6'4” 270 DE Mike
Catapano dominated Western Michigan's Dan O'Neill. He beat him to
stuff a sweep, beat him to bat down a pass, put him on his butt in
the 1st to stuff a run and smoked him and held up Doege
for the sack/fumble in the 1st. Travis Johnson (San Jose
State) played the read option really well, stuffing Klein a couple of
times. Caleb Schreibis (Montana State) showed good edge rush and good
bull rush but got caught overpursuing other times.
LB: A.J. Klein (Iowa State) stuffed
several runs early, showed he could play sideline-to-sideline and
swallowed a draw play whole to close out the first half. Devonte
Holloman (South Carolina) popped up a lot, blowing up a couple
of draw plays, though Collin Klein beat him on a scramble. Matt Evans
(New Hampshire) also popped up a lot. On the Doege sack/fumble, Doege
had to eat the ball because Evans picked the back up out of the
backfield nicely, and Evans was the man who recovered the fumble.
DB: Illini corner Terry Hawthorne had a
productive game, with a fumble recovery to start the game and an
excellent INT in the back of the end zone in the 3rd,
getting inside position and shielding off a much bigger receiver.
Nigel Malone (Kansas State) had a huge game, returning a terrible
pass for a short pick-six right before halftime and later breaking up
an end zone pass. Sio Moore (Connecticut) looked like a strong
in-the-box safety, stuffing several runs and destroying Kerwyn
Williams on a sweep. Aaron Hester (UCLA) should be fine, if he can
get coached up. Great size at 6'2” 195 and he showed the skill to
blanket receivers. But he badly overran a play to give up a 21-yard
gain and committed a couple of long DPIs by making contact with his
man when he didn't really have to. Take those penalties away and he
had a strong game. (One should have been taken away anyway; the ball
wasn't remotely catchable.) Branden Smith (Georgia) blew the play
badly on Bumphis' 57-yard TD by going for the INT, but he made up for
it by picking one later. Jaleel Addae (Central Mich.) flashed the
best closing speed of anybody to shut down a short pass in the 3rd.
Sheldon Price (UCLA) showed blanket coverage ability on deep routes
and on punts. Khalid Wooten (Nevada) picked off a poorly-underthrown
bomb from Klein at the end of the game. Earl Wolff (NC State)
finished things off with a nice play in the end zone, getting inside
leverage on the receiver to intercept a dumb throw by Doege.
ST: The East won the kicking game
decisively. Caleb Sturgis (Florida) nailed 2 FGs and looked Greg
Zuerlein-like on a 48-yarder that would have been good from 60. Zach
Brown (Portland State), meanwhile, duck-hooked a chip shot into the
woods in the 2nd. Yeah, thanks for coming. Kerwynn
Williams had the only interesting kick return, returning a bouncer
for 38. Those are usually harder to return for long yardage. I don't
think the folks running this game even invited a decent long snapper.
The punters had to make like Tim Howard all day to keep snaps from
getting by them. Army WR Trent Steelman apparently also volunteered
for that duty, and got to do it, not well.
Takeaway: Devin Taylor dominated the
game at DE and I'd think we'll see him again at the Combine, if not
the Senior Bowl next weekend. Looked like a lot of good DB talent was
there as well. The best offensive player, though, may have been the
kicker, Sturgis. Bland offenses run by bad QBs – the Shrine Game
people have to find a way to spice this thing up. Better players,
less rules restrictions, or maybe coaches who have actually coached
in the last 20 years. I did not see a game-breaking RB or a
field-stretching WR, either. If the Rams are to add significant
offensive talent in the offseason, I don't see much of it coming from
this game.
Up next: I will probably concentrate on
the conference championships tomorrow. I may get the NFLPA game out
on Monday; we'll see. Doesn't sound like that one was a thriller,
either. The Raycom Classic should be hitting my DVR overnight, and
this week will be filled with Senior Bowl festivities.
-$-
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