Senior Bowl weigh-ins
Here are the weigh-ins from the Senior Bowl in Mobile. Some players listed height and weight in their school’s media guides are exposed on this day.
The weigh-ins were put together by DraftInsider.net. The tallest player was Ohio State OT Joe Adams, who checked in at 6’7″ 323. The shortest was Alabama WR Marquis Maze at 5’7 3/4″ 184.
The heaviest player was Georgia OL Cordy Glenn, who at 6’5 1/2″ weighed 346 pounds. The lightest player was Houston WR Patrick Edwards, who stood 5’8 7/8ths and 168 pounds.
Bengals picked Sr. Bowlers
The Bills weren’t the only coaching staff at the Senior Bowl that wound up picking players that were performing down there through the course of the practice week and game in Mobile in late January. The other coaching staff did as well.
With a total of nine picks, Buffalo took three players in last weekend’s draft that they spent a week with at the Senior Bowl including two on their South Team roster. The Cincinnati Bengals took two players from the Senior Bowl with the eight picks they had last weekend, one of which was a quarterback in Andy Dalton in round 2. They also took OL Clint Boling in round four out of Georgia.
Both of those players were on Chan Gailey’s South Team. The exposure on the practice field and in the meeting rooms going over tape and scheme is where the coaching staffs really felt they got a handle on how the players would operate as professionals, something that’s hard to get in an interview setting. Pairing that up with what you can get off of game tape in terms of playing ability paints a pretty complete picture.
D-line could be headliner
Tags: Senior Bowl
With the South Team’s defensive tackles standing out the most this week and the North Team’s defensive ends flashing the most, today’s Senior Bowl could see a lot of plays being made in the trenches.
The most interesting matchup figures to be the North’s running backs against the South’s interior defenders. Clemson’s Jarvis Jenkins and Baylor’s Phil Taylor have become fast friends inside.
“We established a relationship and held each other accountable and we’re trusting each other and pushing the pocket to make it easier for these ends and these linebackers,” said Jenkins. ”That’s what me and Phil (Taylor) are doing.”
Inside run plays have gone nowhere for the South squad in practices all week, but the North squad arguably has the better talent at running back with Nebraska’s Roy Helu Jr., Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter and Oklahoma’s DeMarco Murray leading the group. Add in a solid lead blocker in Stanford’s Owen Marecic and there could be some entertaining collisions up front in this one.
For the South team’s offensive line they’re going to be supremely challenged on the edges by the likes of Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan, Cal’s Cameron Jordan, Oklahoma’s Jeremy Beal and Iowa’s Christian Ballard. Kerrigan is the only true up the field guy. The other three are all power and strength. The South’s offensive linemen should be happy that there is no blitzing allowed in this game. They’ll have their hands full with just the ends.
What Gailey expects
After a week of practice with the South roster under the guidance of his coaching staff in Mobile, here is what Bills head coach Chan Gailey is expecting from today’s Senior Bowl.
“It’s like walking into the first preseason game with your rookies,” said Gailey. ”You go in and see if what you have been coaching these guys, can they take that into a game type situation. We’ve been able to see them take it into practice, but can they take it into a game type situation where there will be tons of people watching and the lights will be on and here we go. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Gailey said as late as Thursday that there were still a few too many mistakes in the practice setting, but also said he was confident the players could tighten up their execution for the game. Kickoff is set for 4 pm ET.
Sr. Bowl’s best
Tags: Senior Bowl
Here are the players that I felt showed the most during the practice week at the Senior Bowl.
At quarterback I felt TCU’s Andy Dalton was the most consistent. Kaepernick had some eye-opening plays and Ponder might still be the best leader in this whole group, but Dalton was effective each day and made the fewest mistakes.
Among the RBs I liked what I saw from Nebraska’s Roy Helu Jr. and Oklahoma’s DeMarco Murray, particularly in pass protection 1-on-1′s. There weren’t many RBs here that could handle the linebackers effectively, but those two did and ran low and hard.
At receiver it was hard not to notice both Boise State WRs in Austin Pettis and Titus Young. Both look pretty polished with their routes and Pettis has a build similar to Stevie Johnson. At times they made some eye opening plays. Honorable mention to San Diego St.’s Vincent Brown. He put together a solid week and made good receptions outside his body frame.
At tight end Tennessee’s Luke Stocker was the clear top performer. He’s got the body to be an in line blocker and just enough speed to be a factor down the seams in the pass game.
On the offensive line I realize that watching the big guys like Colorado’s Nate Solder (6’8″) move is eye-opening, but for my money the lineman that performed the best was Baylor’s Danny Watkins. The left tackle kicked inside to guard and didn’t miss a beat having to face the bigger DTs. Hard to believe this is only his third year in football. A lot of upside there.
On the D-line Watkins college teammate Phil Taylor was a force. Clearly the most dominant interior defender of the week. It wasn’t even close. Now there’s some background there that will have to be investigated by NFL clubs, but he brought it to Mobile this week. Among the ends Cal’s Cameron Jordan was far and away the most consistent and dominant performer.
Among the LBs Texas A&M’s Von Miller and LSU’s Kelvin Sheppard were the ones that caught my eye the most. Miller and Sheppard looked to be stout enough in the run front with enough coverage ability to be multi-faceted at the next level.
At defensive back North Carolina CB Kendric Burney really played well from start to finish this week. He had 3 INTs during the practice sessions and was frequently around the ball.
LSU K Josh Jasper was hooking some kicks on Thursday, but other than that showed how the ball just pops off his foot. He was kicking 60 yarders with a slight breeze at his back Thursday. One of the most accurate kickers in college history stands a good chance of getting drafted.
Why Titus feels 4.2 possible
As we mentioned in this space earlier this week, Boise State WR Titus Young intends to run a 4.2 40-time at the NFL combine next month. Now we understand why he believes it’s possible.
Young is training at Elite in Calabasas, California in preparation for the NFL Combine drills with a very well known U.S. Olympic sprinter.
“I’m training with Maurice Greene, a world class sprinter,” said Young. “I’ve got a lot of goals for the Combine coming up here in February and I feel like I can reach them.”
Young believes Greene has already helped him with his running technique and feels his assistance will help him shave time off his personal best of 4.35.
“Just with his coaching and his experience with his techniques I feel like he can cut my time down in the 40,” said Young. “So I’m very grateful to be able to train with him.”
When asked how much time can be cut off his best 40 time Young believes the sky is the limit.
“I don’t know how much he can help, but I believe he can help a lot,” said Young. “Hopefully we can cut off a lot of it, hopefully a whole tenth of a second. I’ve run a 4.35 for a fastest time, but that’s without technique or anything like that. Hopefully I can run a little bit faster.”
Rare advice
A lot of the Senior Bowl prospects here in Mobile have former college teammates that have gone on to the NFL before them, and they’re often good at offering advice and giving their younger teammates an idea as to what’s coming in the course of the pre-draft process. But no one has quite the resources that Oklahoma RB DeMarco Murray has at his disposal.
Pitt OT Jason Pinkston has Carolina’s Jeff Otah. USC DB Shareece Wright has Taylor Mays, but Murray has them all beat as he stays in contact with three of the top four draft choices from the 2010 NFL draft.
“I’ve talked to Sam (Bradford), Trent (Williams) and Gerald (McCoy). They all told me the same thing, come out here be yourself and have fun, but the number one goal is to compete and this is the biggest job interview that I’ll ever have in my life,” said Murray. ”It all comes down to coming out here and playing hard. That’s what it comes down to.”
Oklahoma had three players come off the board in the first four picks with Bradford going to St. Louis, McCoy to Tampa Bay and Williams to Washington. A fourth, Jermaine Gresham went 21st overall to Cincinnati. Add in the fact that Murray will exchange the occasional text with the running back he succeeded in Adrian Peterson and odds are Murray will be ready for anything through the rest of the pre-draft process.
Murray is forecast by some as a late second or early third-round pick.
South QBs repping Texas
Tags: Andy Dalton, Christian Ponder, Greg McElroy, Senior Bowl
The South team roster at the Senior Bowl has three quarterbacks and all of them are from the state of Texas. Two of them even played high school ball in the same district, making for a rare camaraderie here in Mobile.
Florida St. QB Christian Ponder grew up in Colleyville, Texas just outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Alabama’s Greg McElroy played at Carroll high school in Grapevine, Texas and won a Class 5A state title as a first-year starter setting a state record with 56 touchdown passes that season. The team that McElroy and his Carroll team beat was Katy, whose quarterback was TCU’s Andy Dalton out of the Houston area.
“We’ve been around each other for a long time,” said Dalton. ”We all knew each other in high school. We went through recruiting and all that kind of stuff. It’s been fun to watch how each of us have grown up and learned how to play and now being back with one another.”
“It’s pretty cool and very unique,” said Ponder. ”Greg and I worked out together back in high school and we know Andy as well. We’ve all crossed paths at some point. So we’ve kept up with each other throughout our whole careers in college. For us to be here is pretty unique. We’re having fun with it. We’re friends, but at the same time we’re both very competitive in what we’re doing.”
The three signal callers could be heard from the sideline all ribbing each other’s game during the course of practices this week.
“We kind of knock on each other,” said Ponder. ”But we’re close friends.”
And though it may sound unusual to have three college QBs from Texas at one Senior Bowl, Ponder put the odds of that in the proper perspective.
“Our senior year the class of 2006 there were 26 quarterbacks signed to play Division I out of Texas,” he said. ”Texas is definitely the best high school football out there.”
Von Miller update
Texas A&M LB Von Miller was not at practice Thursday, reportedly due to illness. Head coach Chan Gailey provided an update on Miller’s status with respect to Saturday’s Senior Bowl game.
“I think Von will be fine,” said Gailey. “It was just a minor problem. He’ll be back in the walk through (practice) tomorrow I think.”
Miller is widely considered one of the best prospects here at the Senior Bowl. Unfortunately with no blitzing he won’t be able to rush the passer from an outside linebacker position where he has been lining up this week.
Clemson’s Jenkins doing well
Clemson will be boasting another top ranked draft choice this spring in junior eligible Da’Quan Bowers, but one of his linemates has put in a pretty good week in Mobile.
DT Jarvis Jenkins has been one half of a very good interior duo with Baylor’s Phil Taylor. Jenkins and his Clemson DT teammate Brandon Thompson were instrumental in getting Bowers a lot of single blocks instead of double teams because they were such good penetrators this season. It helped Bowers pile up 17 sacks this past year.
With Bills GM Buddy Nix stating Wednesday in an interview with Buffalobills.com that they’ll be looking to add a couple of more defensive linemen this offseason I asked Jenkins for his thoughts about possibly joining his former college teammate C.J. Spiller in Buffalo.
“C.J. is in a class of his own,” said Jenkins. ”A real good guy, real humble. It would be an honor to be on a team with him, but we’ll see how it works out.”
Jenkins is forecast as a late second or early third-round pick.
Von Miller absent
Tags: Senior Bowl
Texas A&M LB Von Miller is not in attendance at Thursday’s South team practice.
Reports are that he is ill and could not practice today. At this point he still intends to play on Saturday.
Gilbert not practicing
Tags: Senior Bowl
Florida OL Marcus Gilbert is not participating in Thursday’s practice for the South team here in Mobile.
Gilbert is watching practice with an immobilizer boot on his right foot.
CB Burney has 2 INT day
It was certainly a good way to finish out the practice week for North Carolina CB Kendric Burney. The 5’9″ 181-pound corner had a pair of interceptions Thursday and almost had a third in the North Team’s morning practice.
Burney first picked off Jake Locker during red zone work on the left side stepping in front of the intended receiver. A bit later in the practice Burney intercepted a Ricky Stanzi pass in 7-on-7. He also had a pass breakup against Stanzi on a later 7-on-7 series.
“I was joking with everybody that I’m going to be able to take my mom to Ruth’s Chris (steakhouse) now,” said Burney after practice. ”I’ve been blessed just to have the opportunity to come out here. I was blessed to play at North Carolina with some great coaches that taught me a lot and that actually showed out here today that I can play.”
With the contingent of defensive backs not all that strong at the Senior Bowl this year, a week like the one Burney has had can provide a nice boost to his draft stock. Originally pegged as a fourth or fifth-round pick, Burney could move himself up half a round if he finishes out the week strong on Saturday.
North team QB rotation
Tags: Senior Bowl
Here is the expected quarterback rotation for the North team in Saturday’s Senior Bowl.
Based on the rotation in practice all week it appears as though Washington’s Jake Locker will get the start followed by Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi and Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick.
Young to run a 4.2?
Boise St. WR Titus Young has put together a good week here at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, but he has some big aspirations for his workout at the NFL Combine next month.
Young laid out his plans for the 40-yard dash in Indianapolis at the end of February when asked who his fastest 40-time is.
“My personal best is in the 4.3 range,” Young said. ”I think my best time was a 4.35, but at the Combine I’m expecting to run a 4.2.”
Young measured in at just 5’11 1/4″ here at the Senior Bowl and weighs 174 pounds. So there’s not a lot to move that fast. He says he has a lot of respect for fellow University high school (Los Angeles) grad DeSean Jackson, who has the same build. He did run track in high school, but shaving off .15 seconds from your 40 time is a lot. Guess we’ll all find out next month. Can’t hurt to have lofty goals I suppose.
Staffs to swap meetings
Tags: Senior Bowl
In an effort to get a feel for all of the players on hand at this year’s Senior Bowl, the Bengals and Bills will swap players during meetings Thursday.
Cincinnati and Buffalo have largely spent the week with the 52 players on their North or South team roster. Most coaching staffs during the Senior Bowl swap players during meetings at some point during the week. It’s usually later in the week when practices get shorter and the game approaches.
This way instead of getting a good feel for 52 players both the Bengals and the Bills can double that figure.
Bills well versed on Ponder
Tags: Chan Gailey, Christian Ponder, Curtis Modkins, Senior Bowl
The Bills coaching staff has had the chance all week to get to know the 52 players on the South team roster, but there was one guy they didn’t have to do quite as much homework on. That’s because Florida State’s Christian Ponder is someone Chan Gailey and offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins have known since the quarterback was in high school.
“I recruited Christian out of high school so I’ve known him for a long time,” said Gailey.
Gailey was the head coach at Georgia Tech when Ponder was contemplating his options as to where he would play college football.
“We had a prior relationship,” admitted Ponder. ”When he was the coach at Georgia Tech they recruited me pretty hard and they were probably my second choice next to Florida State. I actually had a good relationship with Coach Modkins. He was the guy that recruited me personally. It’s good to work with them finally and it’s a pretty unique situation.”
Ponder obviously chose Florida State, but he did it for a couple of reasons. First, his father was a linebacker for Florida State in the 70′s and second he said it was always a dream to play for Bobby Bowden, which he did for his first three seasons.
Ponder not planning to throw at Combine
Christian Ponder is getting some good exposure at the Senior Bowl to show that his arm is back to full strength after a grade-3 separation his junior season, and a forearm problem this past year. But at this point he does not intend to participate fully at the NFL Combine in Indy next month.
“I think the plan right now is I’m not going to throw, which most quarterbacks do,” said Ponder. “Something could change and I could throw, but I will do everything else.”
Provided he has a good showing this Saturday those plans not to throw will likely hold.
Taylor, Jenkins a handful
Tags: Senior Bowl
Bills head coach Chan Gailey said Tuesday that play in practice is going to go a long way in determining his starting lineup on Saturday. After three days he’s going to be very hard pressed to keep Baylor DT Phil Taylor and Clemson DT Jarvis Jenkins off the field.
Lining up alongside one another on the interior of the South team’s defense, the two have been effective in teaming up to neutralize inside run plays and either stand their ground or penetrate.
The two have become fast friends.
“Yeah we’re real cool now,” said Taylor.
Taylor is a very fit looking 337 pounds and can move. He appears to catch offensive linemen off the snap as most aren’t expecting his quick burst.
“Most of the time they think I’m just going to bull rush and that’s when I catch them off guard,” he said.
During team work Taylor and Jenkins held the line on more than one occasion. On one particular play they completely blew up an inside run play earning praise from Bills defensive line coach Giff Smith.
“That’s the way you control the line of scrimmage,” shouted Smith.
Taylor and Jenkins are quickly proving to be the two most difficult defensive tackles to handle in Mobile.
Buddy likes DEs at Sr. Bowl
Tags: Senior Bowl
In a one-on-one interview with Buffalobills.com, Bills GM Buddy Nix addressed a number of topics including one of the more impressive position groups here at the Senior Bowl.
The defensive line contingent here in Mobile has been dominant at times on the field and that’s not even counting junior eligibles like Auburn’s Nick Fairley and Clemson’s Da’Quan Bowers.
Fortunately for the Bills there’s depth at a position where Nix believes they need to make additions.
“I think it is a good group this year, which is unusual,” said Nix. “I think it is a good group of defensive ends here and that’s normally the hardest thing to find. Obviously you’ve got to have a big nose tackle. Last year we drafted one and we’re happy with Troup and we’re happy with Carrington, but we need a couple more.”
