QB Christian Ponder needs to be more consistent if he wants NFL playing time.

On the full day of practice in pads, we saw the Buffalo Bills coaching staff cut the South team’s practice short by thirty minutes. They worked primarily on red zone offense/defense and a little bit on punt returning. There was nothing really to report on the special teams portion of the practice as it was very brief. The red zone drills, however, brought about a couple of interesting observations.

None of the quarterbacks looked great today. Then again, they didn’t look poor either. Florida State’s Christian Ponder looked sharp be threading a perfect pass between two defenders to Hawaii wide receiver Greg Salas for a score. The very next play, Ponder threw a near-interception to the safety due to making a poor read. TCU’s Andy Dalton did the same thing. He threw a couple of short passes to USC’s Ronald Johnson to get the team near the goal line, but then almost threw an interception on a fade route in the back right corner. Primarily working in a shotgun based offense, I noticed that Dalton dropped the handoff under center a couple of times. This reminded me of last year’s Tim Tebow issues. If Dalton is drafted, his ball handling skills will be a focus for his coaches. Alabama’s Greg McElroy used several check downs in his session and when he had his shot for the score, Ronald Johnson and Salas collided with each other in the end zone leaving McElroy with no one to throw to, so he just ran up the middle for the score. McElroy never tried a pass over 5 yards, so he kept it short and accurate. Read the rest of this entry →

RB DeMarco Murray showed that he wants to be featured on Sundays.

Today was the last real day of practice as tomorrow will be just be a short walk-through.  Essentially, the players had one last chance to impress.  In this article, I am going to share my thoughts on the North Squad based on my observations the last few days.  The most impressive player for me has to be running back DeMarco Murray (Oklahoma), who appears to be a three-down back showing a great combination of speed and power which extremely soft hands.  Murray will continue to fight the label as an injury-prone back after being banged up his four years in college.  This will likely scare some teams.  However, he looks like a back with some nice upside which could pay a big rewards to a team if he slides into the third round.  Hear our audio interview with Murray here.

Other observations… Read the rest of this entry →

College football season is over and the final two teams are determined that will be playing for the Super Bowl.  For many, the Super Bowl is a special day that would easily rank in the Top 5 “holidays”. However, I am neither a Packers fan nor a Steelers fan.  In fact, my favorite Pro team hasn’t been to the Super Bowl in so long that I could make an argument that the NFL Draft is my Super Bowl.  With all that said, Jeremy Shory and I will be make the short 10 hour drive to Mobile, AL for the Senior Bowl practices and game.  This will be the 4th time in the last 5 years that I will be attending and with the exception of Juaquin Iglesias, it is pretty amazing how the guys that shine at the Senior Bowl seem to be the same guys that make impacts in the NFL.  Whether you are a draft nut or looking for that next fantasy sleeper (i.e. LaGarrette Blount), you will want to check back to get updates on the events this week. Read the rest of this entry →

In contrast to last year, the 2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl is loaded with talent on the offensive side of the ball. Last year was headlined by departing “god to football” Tim Tebow, which brought more attention to that side of the ball then it deserved. This time, both the North and South rosters are so loaded with talent that it’ll be really interesting to see how the coaches scheme and develop some packages for certain future super stars. What’s impressive is that the defensive side of the ball is loaded with just as many big names as the offense, which should make for a superb football game on Saturday. Read the rest of this entry →

Tony Pike wants to ensure that Jeremy just asked him about that interception...(Icon SMI)

After the 2010 Under Armour Senior Bowl I grabbed some of the more interesting NFL Draft prospects at the game not named Tim Tebow – I think he hired the Secret Service to get him through the week’s festivities.

Zac Robinson, QB Oklahoma State

Tony Pike, QB Cincinnati

Sean Weatherspoon. LB Missouri