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Notes from PM Senior Bowl practice …
Arguably the best players on the field in Mobile Wednesday afternoon were defensive linemen Darius Robinson of Missouri and Texas’ T’Vondre Sweat. Robinson, a rising prospect with some late first-round aspirations had a quiet practice session on Tuesday, but rebounded nicely earlier today with a dominating performance. He’s not necessarily going to outrun anybody, but he’s got a quick, long first step, has better than advertised lateral agility and uses his long arms effectively to gain the advantage. It also looks like he has a pretty good motor in pursuit. The burly Sweat, of course, is a different kind of cat who is more brute strength than anything, but he was virtually unstoppable today bull-rushing the pocket, but just for good measure threw in a couple of sweet swim moves that opened a clear path to the QB. In fact, it was a pretty good day for the American team pass rushers as Myles Cole of Texas Tech, Nelson Creaser of Houston, UConn’s Eric Watts, and Justin Egoigbe of Alabama all got pressure on at least 2-3 plays. Somewhat surprisingly, the one American pass rusher who didn’t get much pressure was Alabama’s Chris Braswell, the highest rated DE/ER in Mobile.
The Tide’s Braswell did have some really good battles with Texas OT Christian Jones, but in the end it was the Longhorns’ rising star that got an easy decision. In fact, Jones was again the most consistent OT for the American team, although he did get beaten by UConn’s Watts early in the one-on-one pass blocking drills; otherwise, though, he pretty much pitched a shutout. One tackle who didn’t manage a shutout today, though, was Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton who was beaten more than once today in the individual drills. It appeared that while Guyton was setting up very efficiently, he might have been trying to anticipate where the ER was going next and just didn’t have time to react when he guessed wrong. Also didn’t see the kind of consistency that pro scouts are no doubt looking for from Houston OT Patrick Paul who did shut Alabama’s Braswell down quite nicely on one series, but too often gets caught with his pads too high and struggles to both anchor and plant and redirect. In fact, other than UT’s Jones, the best offensive linemen in the American practice today were OGs Javion Cohen of Miami and UConn’s Christian Haynes. Cohen, in particular, was textbook solid technically with great balance, quick feet and lateral agility.
Of note, the American QBs generally threw the ball much better today than Tuesday. Spencer Rattler of South Carolina, in particular, looked very cool and composed in the pocket today as he consistently took what the defence gave him and didn’t try and force anything. Tennessee’s Joe Milton also threw the ball pretty well today, but didn’t have a whole lot of reps. Among the American receivers, unheralded Ja’Quan Jackson of Tulane had a really nice day; he was able to run away from several corners in the one-on-one drills and showed great hands and concentration including one terrific diving, sliding sideline catch in the team drills. Xavier Legette of South Carolina also had a better day today than yesterday as he ran some nice routes to get open for easy receptions and climbed the ladder to make a nice catch in the team drills. Meanwhile, Louisville’s Jamari Thrash continued to get open today, but like North Carolina’s Tez Walker in the morning session, didn’t always make the catches that were in front of him.
Its tougher to get a read on the corners, especially in the team drills, but both of DJ James of Auburn and Louisville’s Jarvis Brownlee stood out in the one-on-one duals with the wideouts with consistently sticky coverage. Both also broke well on the ball with both getting clear shots at picks; unfortunately, though, neither could make the catch, which is presumably why they play defence.
A couple of final notes. You get the feeling that overall the National team practices in the morning are somewhat more spirited than the afternoon American team workouts. That said, today’s session did get a little testy when LSU DT Jordan Jefferson ended up ripping off the helmet of UConn’s Christian Haynes. And they continued jawing at each other until cooler heads intervened. Also wanted to note that while Miami’s James Williams played safety with the Hurricanes he’s been working pretty much exclusively with the LBs after measuring in at over 6-4 and 230 pounds earlier in the week. Meanwhile, the one roster change we noticed today was that Kentucky OT Jeremy Flax has been replaced by Georgia State’s Travis Glover.
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