Senior Bowl Day Four – North Practice Report

January 28th, 2010 by Drew Smith

Today I will share my thoughts on the North Team, recapping some of the observations I had over the last two days. It is as if I am at two different events when at the North practice opposed to the South, with just the amount of fans and media coverage watching the South. This is the 4^th year in a row I have attended the Senior Bowl week and this year was easily the craziest, but still an amazing experience thus far.

I was not impressed with Dan LeFevour (Central Michigan) or Tony Pike (Cincinnati) in the Wednesday’s practice as they both were not throwing the ball with any authority in what appeared to me as a deliberate attempt to be more accurate. However, that totally changed today as I thought both QBs were throwing the ball with much more zip while still remaining on target. I don’t think either player has helped their draft status here in Mobile, but they showed enough to remain in that second tier group of QBs.

Sean Canfield (Oregon St) received some decent reviews but I have not seen anything that would move him into the 2^nd tier of QBs. It almost seems that he is getting a pass from scouts because they expected so much more from LaFevour and Pike.

LeGarrette Blount (Oregon) looks like a NFL back; he has the size and quickness scouts would of fell in love with 10years ago before the trend of the two and sometimes three headed running back committee. Obviously his character issues will hurt his draft stock but he is the type of player that if he can get a good head on his shoulders, 5 years from now fans will be wondering why he didn’t get drafted higher.

Lonyae Miller (Fresno) is a player that held his own but did seem to run a little up-right when hitting the holes in Weds practice.

Joique Bell (Wayne St) is not a player I knew too much about before this week but I was quickly impressed with his balance which is often an over-looked attribute. He hits the holes quickly but does appear to lack top-end speed. Players from these small schools must prove they can play with the big boys and Bell did just that.

Taylor Price (Ohio) has received tons of hype during the Senior Bowl and if he runs in the low 4.3s as many expect, he should solidify a draft spot in the 2^nd round. He still needs to do some work with consistently catching the ball but has a frame that should allow him to be more than a fly-pattern WR.

Chris Brown (Oklahoma) is a back that I was a big fan of during his playing days in college but I barely noticed him out on the practice field this week. And you know what? I didn’t hear anyone talking about him either so it must not just have been me.

Mardy Gilyard (Cincinnati) will be on a NFL team this time next year based on his return skills alone but really needs to be much more consistent catching the ball if he wants to see some passes thrown his way in the NFL.

Dorin Dickerson (Pitt) and Donald Jones (Youngstown St) are both bigger WR who don’t have the speed to be anything more than a possession receiver in the NFL. The problem is that I didn’t see either player use their size to their advantage and was far too inconsistent catching the ball. Both of these players have serious work in the next two months.

Danario Alexander was a no-show for the Thursday practice but did a good job using his height (6’5 221lbs) and jumping ability to go up for the ball in the Weds practice.

Ed Dickson (Oregon) has easily been the most impressive pass catching TE in Mobile and had a beautiful catch in which he easily beat Daryl Washington (TCU) off the press.

Share the college football love: