[Coogs]

Day 2 morning practice. Again from GBN:


Preliminary Senior Bowl Day 2 morning practice observations … The morning practice session at this week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile is in the books. Again, one doesn’t want to draw too many conclusions as there is a limited sample of plays for each player in the all-star game format. As well, while the players were in full pads, there really wasn’t any tackling allowed. We also don’t see everything. However, with all that said, here are some thoughts on the highlights and lowlights from this morning’s workout:

It was probably a better day for QB Michael Penix, whose passes were just a little crisper today. Still, there were still too many outright misses for Penix who really didn’t appear to be setting his feet. One also worries a little about what appears to be a somewhat elongated release. On the other hand, it appeared to be an outright miserable day for Bo Nix who appeared to be rushing things and tryimg to put too much mustard on his throws which resulted in a lot of wild passes that weren’t all that close to the intended receiver. And that’s just not his game which has always depended on precision accuracy.

No question that Michigan WR Roman Wilson has emerged as the top receiving threat for the morning team. Wilson isn’t all that big or physical, but he’s quick with an extra gear in space, plus he’s got great hands. It was also a nice day for Florida WR Ricky Pearsall who made a number of catches in the team drills. Again, not necessarilly going to burn people deep, but runs precise routes and has good hands. At the same time, UCF’s Javon Baker might have sent more than one team’s scouts back to the tapes as he showed some sneaky quick deep speed. On the other hand, North Carolina’s Tez Walker continued to fight the dropsies, although he didn’t appear to have a whole lot of trouble getting open.

It was also another nice day for Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell, while like UM’s Wilson has clearly established himself as the top cover corner on the morning team. He punctuated that with a really nice interception. It was also an interesting day for Washington State CB Chau Smith-Wade, who isn’t exactly one of the most well-known prospects in Mobile. He’s also not all that big (5-10, 187) or long (with less than 30-inch arms); he’s also a little handsy in coverage, but he is very physical and will battle for position. As a result, he had a pick in today’s practice, but also stumbled on another occasion and gave up a big completion.

Very interesting day in the trenches. It was certainly a much better day for UCLA ER Laiatu Latu, arguably the highest rated player in Mobile who looked very tentative yesterday. He was particularly disruptive in the team drills as he just kept running around people either on quick outside moves or stunts to the inside. Indeed, he could have had 2-3 sacks on the day if sacks were allowed. He also showed a nice inside spin to slide away from Taliese Fuaga, the National team’s top OT in the one-on-one stuff. However, what we still haven’t seen from Latu is much physicality and the ability to take on and shed blockers. It appeared that Kansas DE Austin Booker also could have had a couple of sacks as could underrated Michigan DE Jaylen Harrell, while Western Michigan DE Marshawn Kneeland also got some pressures. On the other hand, we’re still waiting to see an impact from Oregon DE Brandon Dorlus who just hasn’t been able to get off blocks in Mobile. Meanwhile, Clemson’s DT Tyler Davis had a really nice workout with a couple of solid run stuffs as well as a couple of QB pressures; he’s a low built guy who gets off the snap quickly and is relentless getting after the ball.

Not surprisingly, with the National DEs racking up the pressures, it was a bit of a struggle for the team’s OTs this morning. Even Taliese Fuaga, who was so dominant yesterday struggled at times especially when forced to cut off the edge. At the same time, Jordan Morgan of Arizona, Marshall’s Ethan Driskell and Washington’s Roger Rosengarten all struggled to keep people in front of them today. On the other hand, several interior offensive linemen continued to play well for the National team. It appeared, for example, that Kansas C/G Domininck Puni had an outstanding workout; same for Wisconsin C/G Tanor Bortolini, while Isaiah Adams of Illinois was solid for the second straight day.