Senior Bowl 2013: South practice, day 2

The first televised action of the South team at this year’s Senior Bowl practices featured the biggest hit I’ve ever seen at this event and 3 QBs who are all better than any of the QBs on the North team. In receiver drills, we got to see deep balls consistently overthrown instead of underthrown for a change. I’m not sure if NFL Network has stopped airing these live or has taken complete control of the team practices, because they again covered the 1-on-1 receiving drills and 1-on-1 pass protection drills, also known as Mike Mayock porn, brilliantly, giving us tons of reps to watch and not interrupting it with stupid garbage like they’ve done in the past. For instance, in past years, they would have done the stupid interview with Jerry Jones instead of showing us drills. This year, he’s shoved back in the 9:30 recap show where he belongs. Some more stabs at who belongs in the spotlight or doesn’t:

* Best-looking wide receiver for the South was Tavarres King (Georgia). He’s 6’1” 200 and runs beautiful routes. He ran a perfect out route to beat J.J. Wilcox (Ga. Southern) after making a sweet side-to-side fake to beat the press. He ran an excellent corner route and lost college teammate Sanders Commings, and beat him again later with an excellent catch. King has nice hands, runs excellent routes, makes great fakes without losing speed, is quick, is sudden, and can create separation. The NFL-N analysts obviously have “their guys” – that’s how we heard so much about Terrance Williams (Baylor) Tuesday even though he didn’t beat anybody, not on camera, anyway. King is the receiver to watch from this group so far, though he may have gotten a wrist injury when Leon McFadden (San Diego State) ripped a ball away from him in 11-on-11.

* The eye-opener of the DBs was B.W. Webb (William & Mary). He showed he could get both physical with Terrance Williams (probably illegally) and blanket him on deep routes. Broke up at least three passes and was the only DB I saw who could stick with King. Webb had a lot of good company. Marc Anthony (Cal) showed tight cover skills in man and zone. Shawn Williams (Georgia) was pretty much a blanket on TE Mychal Rivera (Tennessee). 

* Rice has had two tight ends play in all-star games this month; apparently the NFLPA game got the backup. Vance McDonald’s getting graded as the best TE in Mobile. He beat safety Robert Lester (Alabama) deep but is showing a nasty habit so far of double-catching the ball. Lester’s about the only DB that looked like he struggled Tuesday. He’s behind in speed and quickness. The best throw of the day came early in 1-on-1. Robert Alford (SE Louisiana) had pretty good deep coverage on Quinton Patton (La. Tech) but Landry Jones hit Patton in the end zone with a perfect pass. We haven’t seen anything close to that kind of pass from the North team’s QBs. Tyler Wilson (Arkansas) made a nifty play in 11-on-11; he dropped the snap but managed to scoop it, bootleg left and hit Rivera.

* Vince Williams (Florida State) won the hit of the day award, possibly also the hit of the week award and the all-time Senior Bowl practice hit award. Coming downhill on a run play, he fired into the gap and had a massive head-on collision with pulling guard Dalton Freeman (Clemson), and Williams won, bowling the bigger lineman onto the ground. Not only did Williams win the trainwreck, he got a piece of the ballcarrier on the tackle and got interviewed by NFL-N for the play.

* 2013 looks like a good year not to need a defensive lineman in the draft. The South offensive line dominated 1-on-1 drills. Ziggy Ansah (BYU), the most hyped of the group, lost three out of four reps. His bull rush failed against Xavier Nixon (Florida), though he was able to beat Nixon with a nifty spin move. Everett Dawkins (Florida State) likely saw Larry Warford (Kentucky) in his nightmares Tuesday night. Warford stuffed him decisively three times and never let him get even a sniff of the pocket. Brian Schwenke (Cal) was impenetrable at center, combining tree trunk-like immovability with excellent handwork and footwork that can mirror anybody. Tied up everyone he faced and put Corey Grissom (South Florida) on the ground. The South d-linemen could really use some coaching from the Detroit staff, though, which I’m not sure is doing any. None of them really look like they have a second move; if their bull rush fails, they’re dead in the water. A lot more to pro pass rush than bull rushing.

* Did I say it’s a bad year to need a defensive lineman? Really, it’s a great year to get an offensive lineman. I didn’t even get to Lane Johnson (Oklahoma) yet, who’s expected to be a first-round pick who could be on the board when the Rams pick. He plays with excellent leverage, as seen when he put Malliciah Goodman (Clemson) on the ground. TWICE. He also stonewalled speed-rushing LSU DE Lavar Edwards, so he seems able to handle whatever’s thrown at him. All the South o-linemen looked like Eric Fisher Tuesday; Johnson bears keeping an eye on.

* About the only d-lineman who did anything was Cornelius Washington (Georgia), another speed rusher. He whipped across Oday Aboushi’s (Virginia) face at left tackle with ease, though Mayock said Aboushi should be limited to the right side. Washington could also bull-rush well because he had the o-linemen worried about his edge speed. He put a solid punch on Nixon another time to get pocket penetration. He was also pulled out of the DE rotation at one point for jumping offside, but got back in later when his replacement jumped offside.

That’s just another “benefit” of being coached by the Lions staff, I guess. The pass pro drills and 11-on-11 were plagued by offsides and false starts; it’s no surprise seeing players coached by the Detroit Lions committing poor-discipline penalties. I hope the South’s players will be able to overcome their week of exposure to that staff.

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