2009 Senior Bowl: Thursday South Recap

By: Roshan Bhagat | Updated: 1/22

I liked how Jack Del Rio conducted his practice. He seemed to emphasize more team drills rather than one-on-ones. This allowed me to finally see what these players can do with a week of a NFL coaching. It was a practice that emphasized quarterbacks, receivers, and defensive backs and that’s where I spent most of my energy into scouting.

Pat White has improved his stock as much as anyone at the Senior Bowl I feel. As I said earlier this week, I was just about ready to change his position in my rankings, but after a solid week, I feel he’s earned a spot as a quarterback. He drilled several passes today which were about as good as we’ve seen all week from anyone. His footwork is remarkable considering the offense he comes from and the zip he gets on his football once he reaches that last step is great. White will be an interesting prospect because he could be a Seneca Wallace type of player. The problem is that Seattle has been hesitant to move Wallace around much because back-up quarterbacks are so valuable. I’d really like to question Pat White myself to see what he wants to be in the NFL and how he thinks he can best help his team. John Parker Wilson looked nothing better than okay showing sound mechanics, but inconsistent accuracy. Cullen Harper continued to look like the worst of the bunch throwing off his back foot.

Working with the running backs coach, the backs were taught how to play physical and keep their head straight in front of them. Andre Brown was the most impressive here and according to the coach, he’s been the most impressive back he’s coached all week. After watching him hard the last two days, I concur. Brown is a very unique back. Day after day I’m continually impressed by his burst because his thick body would have you believing otherwise. Brown should go no later than the 3rd round this year. Quinn Johnson, LSU’s fullback also did a nice job of keeping his down and hitting the target squarely. James Davis may have had his best day of practice from what I saw. He has a nice run up the middle and a nice touchdown reception on a wheel route near the end of practice. I’m still waiting for Rashad Jennings to show up, but he’s down to his final chance now. In case you think you saw someone wearing a Jaguars helmet, don’t worry, you did. That was recently added running back Antone Smith from Florida State who replaced Arian Foster who tweaked his hamstring on Wednesday.

By the end of practice, all of the receivers were dropping a ball here and there expect Quan Cosby. He’s been the most consistent wideout for the South team all week, but his age is a bit of a concern and he lacks a little explosiveness. Patrick Turner had another inconsistent day. He sometimes allows balls to get into his body and sometimes just drops passes. Other times he can go up and make a terrific catch in the corner of the end zone against a tall corner like Dominique Johnson, as he did today. Turner has good feet for a 6’5 receiver, but consistent catching is something he’ll need to work on. Once again Mike Wallace looked good in the short passing game and even turned a short reception into something bigger. Greg Carr was another late addition to the team like Florida State teammate Antone Smith, but that isn’t a good excuse for all of the drops he had today.

Shawn Nelson and Anthony Hill both showed up in team drills. The both made nice catches in traffic on opposite sides of the field. I prefer Nelson slightly to Hill because of his more natural pass catching ability and willingness to block. He has pretty good technique and footwork so it’s only a matter of bulking up before he can sustain those blocks in the NFL. Hill I also like, but a round or two lower because he doesn’t bring quite as much in the passing game. He’s a better blocker, but doesn’t have the potential of Nelson.

There was hardly much to see on the offensive line Thursday. Most of the practice time was used in 11 on 11 team drills. I didn’t pay too much attention to the trenches because of no pads, figuring there wouldn’t be nearly as much physicality from the linemen. The offensive line did protect well as a whole giving quarterbacks plenty of time to throw around the field. I noticed that Michael Oher did move well and play with good technique when I saw him playing left tackle. Antoine Caldwell also did a nice job with his footwork.

On the defensive line, there was nothing out of the unusual. The offense ran a lot of passes in preparation for the game and the defensive line was left to rush four the entire time. It’s almost unfair to mention anyone’s name because they played at around the same level, but at times, Robert Ayers showed me a little explosiveness and strength off the edge. Likewise, I liked what I saw from David Veikune. He moves well.

The linebackers were forced into dropping a lot into coverage today. Naturally, Brian Cushing looked smooth as he has all week. He moved well and covered lot of ground. His teammate Clay Matthews didn’t look quite as good. It’s obvious that’s he the best of the bunch at or around the line of scrimmage, but the worst at dropping into coverage. Rey Maualuga was surprisingly good today in the middle of the field, though his slow reactions are still killing him. Great natural instincts are hard to come by and Maualuga doesn’t seem to have them. Maybe after more preparation and experience it will start to slowly come to him. I also want to see him shed a little bit of weight. He tends to fluctuate from anywhere around 245 to 265. I want to see him in that 245-250 pound range more because that’s where he can be the most effective three-down linebacker. Moise Fokou might have had the least number of bad plays I’ve seen from a South linebacker. Granted I didn’t get to see him as much as I would have liked, but Fokou definitely helped his stock this week.

Every time I see Alphonso Smith on the field, I see him competing for a football. As far as cornerbacks go, that’s as good a job as you can do. Make the wide receiver come down with difficult catches and jump a couple routes to make plays for yourself. That’s all Smith has done this week. In 11 on 11’s, he had a pretty pick today. For the first time all week, I saw Sherrod Martin step up. He breaks on the ball and closes on the receiver very quickly. I believe he played free safety at school, but he looks like a more natural cornerback to me. Michael Hamlin had a very solid day in deep coverage as well. He didn’t blow any assignments when I was watching and was very consistent today. Hamlin showed great discipline by not biting on fakes or decoys. Dominique Johnson was put on the practice week highlight reel again after giving up a red zone touchdown to Patrick Turner. He just failed to recognize the ball in the air.

The South offense looked very sharp today in team drills, specifically on drives led by Pat White. Both the North and South teams concluded with sharp practices, for the most part as they get ready to face off on Saturday. The NFL Network’s coverage of the game begins at 6:30PM (ET) with a special pre-game edition of NFL Total Access. The game will be brought to you live from Mobile, Alabama at 7:00PM (ET).