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Feature
The 2008 Senior Bowl
Wednesday & Thursday
by Sam Monson
25/1/2008
 
Wednesday
 
North
 
Last day for everybody in full pads (Link to Mon & Tues practises) and what should be the best day of practice after all the installs have been largely put in place. Let’s see what we can see.

• East Carolina running back Chris Johnson got injured. Left shoulder and is done for the week, they are bringing in someone to replace him. North Carolina defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer injured his hamstring and was also sent home.

• Both Eastern Michigan’s Jason Jones and Notre Dame’s Tom Zbikowski were playing some linebacker. Zbikowski looked excellent at LB as well as in coverage, whilst Jones struggled a bit.

• When he was moved back to DE Jones pulled a sweet swim move on Ohio St’s Kirk Barton.

• Joe Flacco finally has his Delaware helmet, he was previously in an all-white helmet whilst his was missing, presumed dead. He also has a cannon for an arm. He’s been looking very good over this week, and this is certainly helping his stock. He looks better during this week than I’ve seen on tape.

• Schuening from Oregon State is impressing at Guard. He seems to get lost a little when he’s asked to operate at T, but when he’s in a tight space at G he can dominate. He’s Mike Mayock’s top rated OG

• Sedrick Ellis is head and shoulders above anybody else at the Senior Bowl this week. He’s not been quite as dominant as Amobi Okoye was last year, but its close, and he’s the only guy who is consistently beating the top linemen.

• Chad Henne is stepping to the front of the QB pack at the Senior Bowl, he’s been the best performer so far, showing an arm and some football smarts. He has everything you look for in an NFL passer.

• Justin Forsett from Cal made some nice gains on the ground in the full scrimmages

• Jordon Dizon, OLB from Colorado is stepping up this week. He’s a tackling machine, as evidenced by leading the nation in tackles this season, and he might end up being drafted higher and succeeding at the next level.

• Kansas St WR Jordy Nelson looked good catching some tough balls in traffic. He looks more like a TE though, and does not move with any kind of speed. The buzz here seems to be a lot of I don’t know how, but he gets open.

• Adarius Bowman’s week has been so bad thus far that we’re calling it a win when he doesn’t do anything horrid. He had a much better day today, but he’s got a long way to go to redeem himself.

• Trevor Laws, DT from Notre Dame has been impressive, blowing up a lot of run plays in the scrimmages.

South

• OT Chris Williams from Vanderbilt has great footwork, and when he gets his hands on the defender it’s over. He’s a natural knee-bender and is one to look out for as far as LEFT side OTs go. Also got into a little punch up with Red Bryant, DT from Texas A&M.;

• Mike Singletary needs his own TV show. There’s nothing finer than watching that man coach. Every play he’s picking up on something to correct, however small.

• Mike Martz continues to focus a lot on Colt Brennan, helping with his footwork as Brennan moves under C for the first time since being Matt Leinart’s backup in High School.

• Colt Brennan actually dropped back into a cameraman who was filming Martz coaching him up, despite that though he stepped up and fired an accurate ball. The early jitters he had with wayward balls seems to be gone now.

• Newberry offensive tackle Heath Benedict and Kendall Langford from Hampton got into a brawl during drills. Colt Brennan briefly thought about breaking it up before thinking better of it. Some high quality slapping was seen. Benedict looks like he’s capable of playing OT at the next level.

• Wesley Woodyard, LB from Kentucky has been the most impressive of the South’s linebackers, showing well in positional drills.

• Limas Sweet reinjured his wrist, and has been replaced on the squad with Appalachian St burner Dexter Jackson. Jackson looked ok, flashing a couple of great plays, including one diving catch over the middle.

• Andre Woodson looked very average today, missing on a lot of deep balls, and generally struggling during the team drills.

• Eric Ainge looked no better, struggling to even throw a spiral during a good portion of the drills. The game itself could be a North walkover if just for the difference in QB play.

Thursday
 
Cold, wet and rainy at the Senior Bowl today with the last full practices before Saturday’s game, which will allow everyone to get a different look at everybody.
 
North

• We’re not in full pads today, but with the installs all complete, there’s a lot more full-team drills.

• It sounds like the word from the players is that Joe Flacco isn’t quite as commanding in the huddle as Chad Henne or JD Booty, who show much better leadership ability in the huddle.

• Hawkins, WR from Cal makes a nice fingertip grab in deep throws. He runs crisp routes and looks to have soft hands. One of the better looking WRs of the week.

• Adarius Bowman goes up and gets the ball at its highest, working his way back up out of the hole he dug for himself during the early part of the week. Looked much better today, making some solid grabs in the wet.

• Eddie Royal has had a pretty good week, opened a lot of eyes, has some serious quickness and nice hands.

• Flacco needs to show a bit more touch on the ball, we all know he has a cannon, but sometimes that’s just uncatchable, and wayward

• Rucker, TE from Mizzou had a great catch in the rain, picking it out of the air high.

• Bryant from Purdue beat BC corner Tribble twice on the same play, once to the inside and then over the top.

• Dexter Jackson looks like a dangerous weapon with all that speed. Whether he can hold up in the NFL is another matter, but he has speed and explosion to burn.

• OSU RB, Savage had a nice little play on a screen, despite being pretty small he looks tough.

• Kellen Davis, TE from Michigan State has had a really good week, and with his measurables he must be rising up draft boards. If he can run well at the combine, the sky is the limit.

• The daily gush over Sedrick Ellis continues, his speed and strength is ridiculous. I said before that he hasn’t been quite as dominant as Okoye was last year, and whilst that’ true, I think he’s a better player, because he’s stronger.

• Jason Jones, from Eastern Michigan showed another couple of nice moves at DE, he’s an interesting prospect at DE, with serious measurables and a nice repertoire of skills.

• Jordy Nelson continues to get open, somehow, and is particularly effective in the red zone. He just seems to know how to get himself a bit of space and get at the ball.

• In full team red-zone drills, the QBs were allowed to call their own plays, including personnel groups.

  • Chad Henne went play action pass and missed the shallow TE.

  • JD Booty called for a play action pass and it was broken up

  • Flacco called a 3 step drop and fired in the direction of two receivers. His TE Kellen Davis came up with the ball. Whether he was aiming for that guy or not, Flacco was the only QB to score on his own play.

South

• Colt Brennan looks so much more comfortable under Centre then he did initially, he was taking charge when the team was running some screens and trick plays

• McKelvin, CB from Troy looks exceptional as a CB, incredibly fast, fluid hips, fast drive on the ball, he has everything except hands.

• Rogers-Cromartie has exceptionally quick feet, has looked dominant at times during this week.

• It was Kentucky day for a good portion of the practice today, with Woodson hooking up with his receiver and RB in the team drills.

• Windy day in practice today, and whether it was designed or not the QBs were all running themselves around the edge.

• Martz is still spending every break between plays coaching up Colt Brennan. Brennan figured to be a Martz kind of QB before this week, and I think Martz does really like the Hawaii product.

• Dexter Jackson has been impressive again, with his speed, he’s every QB’s favourite target.

• Dominique Rogers-Cromartie picks off a deep pass by Andre Woodson, it wasn’t a bad ball, but Cromartie, like his NFL namesake, went up with a huge vertical and picked it out of the air. Comes inches from doing it a second time on a similar play in the end zone this time.

• The South’s D absolutely owned the Offense all practice, with repeated blankets in coverage, causing the QBs to either take off themselves, or try and fit balls into windows, which resulted in a few picks.

• Brennan drops the ball into a window on a Wheel route to Little the RB from Kentucky, really nice throw, trademark accuracy.

• Brennan has an extra hitch step in his throwing motion which seems to allow DBs to get a good break on the ball. He needs to think about eliminating that.

• Singletary was at his best today, coaching up all the LBs, he seems to be taking a shine to LSU LB Ali Highsmith, who he spent some time with and began to compliment as the practice went on.