Senior Bowl Report

Senior Bowl Report

1/24/09

Me and a few of my friends are putting together a college post season bowl wrap up which will hopefully be interactive and allow people to get on here and represent their conference and make an argument for which is best. Look for that early next week as along with my Super Bowl picks. On to what is currently on my brain: The Senior Bowl. I’ll go position by position grouping the OG and C’s together.

Quarterbacks: I feel like Rhett Bomar showed himself to be the clear favorite in this category. Watching the Senior Bowl practices on the NFL Network, it is easy to not pay much attention to who is throwing the passes or under center unless they make a mistake. Bomar’s name was rarely called for making an error and the analysts said he made the best NFL caliber throws all week. Contrast that with Graham Harrell who consistently botched the center-quarterback exchange all week. Fast forward to the game and these two quarterbacks stood out the most again. Rhett Bomar showed that he could make all the throws. However, he showed some questionable decision making when he took a sack and fumble which turned into a touchdown. He should have gotten rid of the ball on this play. Graham Harrell struggled and demonstrated that he doesn’t possess the arm strength to make the NFL throws. A good number of his throws ended up in the dirt. He also through what should have been an interception to Alphonse Smith (a guy I’m high on at corner but we’ll get to this later) and one later to Lankster. The analysts were also pretty high on John Parker Wilson. Me, not so much. I mean he can make the throws…within like 15 yards. That’s not good enough of the next level. There was a long pass that he threw during the third quarter which was one of the worst wounded ducks I have seen in a while. So needless to say I wasn’t overly impressed with him, but I think he could be a solid career back up quarterback. Central Arkansas QB Nathan Brown looked pretty good as well. His game numbers speak for themselves. Now the last quarterback I’ll mention is Pat White. He is like a Drew Brees type quarterback (in size and stature). Everybody is going to say that he is too small to be affective and they will say he is so much athletic that he should look at another position. But, only Rhett Bomar showed the ability to make better throws or more arm strength in the actual game itself. He made some long throws down the field, showed that he can still run, and then even made some solid throws over the middle on some square in routes. And to top it off, he was the games MVP!

Running Backs: ANDRE BROWN! I can’t say his name enough. Watching Fla. St. football for the last four years I saw this guy a lot. He beat us up pretty bad a few times. He is big and fast and that is a devastating combination that goes over very well on the next level. Backs aren’t able to show too much in Senior Bowl practices other than their ability to block or catch out the backfield, but Andre Brown made a nice showing in the game itself. He had a few nice long runs and then a few nice catches out of the backfield. But, what I was most impressed with was his ability to convert in short yardage situations. There was a 4th and 1 and a goal line situation. Kory Sheets out of Purdue made a solid showing as well. He had a nice touchdown run that got called back as well a nice kick off return. As a Saints fan I’ll say he looked Pierre Thomas-esq in that he doesn’t have break away speed, but he looks serviceable at RB on every level. Jeremiah Johnson out of Oregon also looked impressive on a drive to close out the first half where he had more than half of the yards on the drive. Rashad Jennings out of Liberty had a few flashes on some of his carries. At the FB position the one player that stood out to me was Quinn Johnson out of LSU. He is the type of fullback that does it all. At 6-1 262, with soft hands and the ability to convert in short yardage, I like what he brings to the table.

Wide Receiver: Wide Receiver is one of the positions where you probably pick up more from practice than you do from the actual game because a lot of times there just aren’t enough balls to go around during the game. With that said Juaquin Iglesias mad e a nice showing in the senior bowl. He demonstrated good hands during practice, and had the most productive game of all of the wrs. Ramses Barden out of Cal Poly also stood out during practice and made a few nice catches during the game. The 6’6 220 wide receiver kind of reminds me of Marques Colston (another shameless Saints plug). I also really like Patrick Turner as a big target. Mike Wallace showed his speed on a long TD catch from Pat White. Brian Robiskie demonstrated that he is in a league of his own in terms of being mentally prepared to play at the next level. For what he lacks in athleticism he makes up for in this preparedness. Mike Thomas out of Arizona and Derek Williams out of Penn State showed themselves to be of the Santana Moss mold. Small wr’s with good hands and route running and punt return abilities.

Tight End: I’ll keep this one short. Shawn Nelson. If you didn’t know him before google him. Or you can youtube him pancaking Maualuga.

Guard/Center: Two names stuck out to me here this past week. Max Unger out of Oregon and Alex Mack from Cal. I like these two a lot, but you can’t turn your nose up at Herman Johnson- the man is large, plain and simple. With defensive tackles get bigger and bigger who can’t use a 380lbs guard out front. Antoine Caldwell and Eric Wood also had their moments in individual drills and during the game.

Tackle: Michael Oher was the premier tackle in this game to me. Throughout practice he showed that he was the best tackle in this game and the game it self was no different. However he has some consistency issues that he needs to work through. Phil Loadholt from Oklahoma also showed some promise with his long arms and large size. Tackle William Beatty from Connecticut also showed some promise.

Defensive Tackle: BJ RAJI BJ RAJI BJ RAJI- I wish he could end up in a Saints uniform. I didn’t hear his name called much in the game, but he was dominant in practice all week. Peria Jerry also demonstrated what he was capable of forcing a fumble in the game. And if you watched any of the practices, you were treated to Ziggy Hood out of Mizzou and his patented spin move.

Defensive End: Robert Ayers looked good all week and again in the actual game forcing a fumble on a sack which ultimately led to 7 pts. David Veikune out of Hawaii was solid all week as well.

Linebacker: The trio from SC performed well as expected. Maualuga blew up a screen pass and forced a fumble. Matthews and Cushing had a good week of practice as well. Clint Sintim had some flashes during the week as well showing some speed of the edge. He may make a good edge rusher in a 3-4 scheme. Nic Harris showed the ability to move from the Safety position down to the Linebacker spot.

Defensive Back: Ellis Lankster and Alphonso Smith were solid at the corner. Lankster had a nice pick and Smith should have had one. Keenan Lewis out of New Orleans also had a strong week of practice. Louis Delmas and Patrick Chung showed some good potential flying up in run support and making some big hits. The jury is still out on there ability to play solid over the top coverage. This in contrast to Will Moore who had a very poor showing at the Safety position in the senior bowl.

For a good day by day analysis of the rise and fall of players draft stock check out:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/nfl/01/21/senior.bowl.day3/index.html