Day 2 of Senior Bowl practice coverage
provided another look at the North team in action and a briefer look
at some of the South team’s drills. Day 3 didn't provide much of a
look at anything. South coverage was almost all red zone drills.
North coverage was pushed back 45 minutes because the Patriots are a
bunch of freaking cheaters, not exactly a TiVo-friendly move, so
RamView's scouting was limited to, well, nothing. Some last
observations and players to watch from this untrained eye before
Saturday's game:
* QB: The Rams picked the wrong year to
be QB hunting in the draft; it looks like a crapshoot after the first
two picks. Emphasis on the first syllable. So many QBs this all-star
season, including Bryce Petty (Baylor) a couple of times here, blow
the exchange from center because they’re spread system QBs who
never lined up under center. Sean Mannion (Oregon State) has thrown a
lot of bad sideline passes. At best, you’d have to call him
inconsistent. He threw a pretty deep corner to Nick Boyle (Delaware)
in 11-on-11, but other times, he’ll throw an awful wobbler on just
a 10-yard out route. I’m not sure he’s comfortable throwing on
the move. And I’ll have to question Blake Sims’ (Alabama) deep
ball; early on, he had a receiver open on a deep post route for a
40-yard TD but underthrew him by about 10 feet. Garrett Grayson
(Colorado State) is the QB I have my eye on for now; threw a nice and
consistent deep ball.
* LB: Not that most of the South TEs
and RBs looked like very good receivers, but most of the South LBs
looked like they had no business even trying to cover routes. In
their defense, a couple of those guys – Lyndon Trail (Norfolk
State), Lorenzo Mauldin (Louisville) - were probably dropping back
in coverage for the first time in their lives. Clemson LB Stephone
Anthony toyed with this drill, though, displaying excellent “length”
and mobility. Trail may be drafted as an athlete as much as anything.
He has lined up at LB, DE AND tight end.
* Clive Walford, TE, The U: Walford
also toyed with this drill, against LBs and even corners. He has a
ridiculous number of moves and could get major separation on some of
these guys in just a couple of yards. He also has plenty of speed to
get separation downfield and should pretty easily be the first TE off
the board this year. He also has to lead this draft class in
trash-talking, though so far, he is backing it up.
* Tyler Lockett, WR, Kansas State: Like
the North with Jamison Crowder (Duke), it looks like the South’s best receiver is a small guy.
Lockett brings a lot to the field, though: good hands, very good
route-running and he’s also impressively strong. On one rep, he ran
a slant and didn’t get knocked off his route despite a lot of contact. He
had a couple of deep TDs and showed good long speed. On one, he
impressively fought off the press at the line and contact downfield
to make the long TD catch. He got open for an easy red zone TD day 3
with an absolutely sick shimmy. If he's got the competitive fire, he
can be another Steve Smith.
* Sammy Coates, WR, Auburn: A big WR
who plays like it. Has that “my ball” attitude and won every
contested ball. Good hands and was reliable on short routes. Looks
like he was born to catch end zone fade routes. I like his pro
prospects a lot, and he’s a big receiver, from AUBURN; the Rams
will be taking a good, long look.
* Ty Montgomery, WR, Stanford: nice
bounceback day for the Stanford wideout. Caught everything and caught
a deep TD with Josh Shaw (USC) blanketing him.
* Kevin White, CB, TCU: Seems to have
everything a corner needs to succeed: excellent feet, nice backpedal,
quick reaction to break well on throws in front of him, and superior
closing speed he used to catch up on one deep throw and make a pretty
breakup. Also picked off Grayson day 3. What bothers me is the times
he got burned downfield. Closing speed’s not always going to be
enough, and the Rams already have enough corners who are good at
getting burned deep, but keep an eye on White.
* Ladarius Gunter, CB, The U: Strong
competitor for best cornerback in Mobile. Defended every red zone
pass perfectly, with 3 or 4 very nice pass breakups, including one on
a slant route for Lockett. Only Sammie Coates beat him, and Gunter
was on Coates like a second skin that rep.
* Also at DB: Adrian Amos (Penn State)
continues to look good; cut off a double-move route perfectly in
1-on-1. Damarious Randall (Arizona State) still looks like the best
cover safety there, and I still can’t believe he’s not a corner.
He was perfect on a rep against Crowder, blanketing him off the line, keeping him within arm’s
length on his cutback and then jumping his out route for an INT.
Textbook.
* D-line: Local accounts say Marcus
Golden (DE, Mizzou) has been killing it. I only saw one rep, where
his short reach really hurt him. He reached out to punch the OT in
1-on-1, whiffed and nearly fell over. Danny Shelton (DT, Washington)
continued to prove impossible to move in the middle on run plays. The
Iowa DTs – Carl Davis and Louis Trinca-Pasat - are both strong and
can really truck blockers backwards. Davis is no Aaron Donald but
looks like the quickest DT there. Henry Anderson (listed as a DE,
btw, not DT) continues to be quick off the ball and showed some
strength winning reps with his punch and some very good handwork.
Za’Darius Smith (Kentucky) has picked up his tempo, winning a
couple of reps with spin moves and inside moves.
* O-line stock up: Guards Laken
Tomlinson (Duke) and Max Garcia (Florida) continued to hold their own
pretty well against Shelton in 1-on-1 pass pro. Both are strong and
tough to move. Tomlinson made an impressive pull block in 11-on-11 to
spring a long run. La'el Collins (LSU) will likely kick inside in the
pros and looks comfortable there. Very strong, can “anchor”, gets
people off balance and flattens them. Though no Eric Fisher, Donovan
Smith (Penn State) continues to look like the best tackle there. He
made a play in 11-on-11 I’m always going to like, mauling the DE on
a run and then getting downfield to maul a LB. Robert Myers
(Tennessee State) laid out Marcus Hardison (Arizona State) THREE
different times in the North 1-on-1 drills. Rob Havenstein
(Wisconsin) looks a lot more comfortable at right tackle than left.
He goes to his left much better than to his right, so at RT, he’s
not as susceptible to inside moves. Shaq Mason (Georgia Tech) was
mainly a run-blocker in college. Grady Jarrett (Clemson) beat him
once 1-on-1 clean past his right shoulder at RG. The second time,
though, Mason drove Jarrett down the line clear over to left tackle.
There's some power to be harnessed.
* There is coaching going on at these
practices. Arie Kouandjio (Alabama) struggled with speed throughout
1-on-1 early on, but Mike Mayock said the coaches cleaned up his
technique throughout the week. They had him using his arm length
advantage to make up for his slower feet, and he stopped getting
beaten immediately off the whistle. Giving him that extra second let
him anchor and made him pretty immovable. And he's already a classic
run mauler, as he showed multiple times in 11-on-11. Any chance the
Rams could get Jagwires assistant o-line coach Luke Butkus to work
with Joseph Barksdale?
* Maybe not enough coaching, though. A
team that needs a center and whose front office loves everyone who
has ever played for Auburn is likely to look hard at Reese Dismukes,
but so far, I've only seen him get trucked back to the QB or beaten
immediately off the snap by Jarrett. I haven't seen any power out of
Dismukes at all. The Rams are already too light in their spikes in
the middle. Austin Shepherd (Alabama) has been getting beaten at
tackle all week. Trey Flowers (Arkansas) got him with quickness in
11-on-11; Preston Smith (Mississippi State) bull-rushed him 1-on-1;
Lorenzo Mauldin (Louisville) beat him with spin moves 1-on-1.
* I think I’ve seen all of T.J.
Clemmings (Pitt) I need to see. He looks like a hot mess and I don’t
even think he’s a first round pick. He gets repeatedly whipped by
inside moves because of bad footwork and balance. I gave up on him
when Nate Orchard (Utah) beat him in a rep that was all hand fighting
and did not live to regret that decision when Orchard bull rushed him
like a little, um, girl the next rep. Clemmings’ footwork, balance,
positioning are all terrible, to the point I don’t understand any
of the fuss about him. The team that drafts him better not do so
thinking they can play him right away.
Like last year, nobody, though some
will say Shelton, really stepped forward as the dominant player of
the week. But Ziggy Ansah was the star of the game two years ago even
though he looked terrible in practice, so maybe Clemmings is on his
way to a big game. The WRs and DBs look like the best units there,
but the passing games are usually so awful in these all-star games, I
don’t have a lot of faith in them getting the spotlight Saturday.
For the Rams, unexciting as it may be, keep an eye on the guards and
the safeties.
-$-
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