2020 Senior Bowl Stuff...

boozeman

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Scout’s Take: Observations from Day 1 of Senior Bowl Practice
Posted on January 21, 2020

By: Scott Bischoff
The 2020 Senior Bowl got underway today with a weigh-in this morning, and practices for each team this afternoon. The Cincinnati Bengals are handling coaching duties for the South team while the Detroit Lions are at the helm of the North squad. I focused on the trenches today, but I also caught some action out of the quarterbacks and receivers. Here are some observations from each of the practices.

South Team:
Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon

Herbert is a clean thrower with a big arm, and he had no problems driving the ball through the wind like some of the other quarterbacks did today. He placed the ball well for the most part, but it is hard to gauge accuracy for quarterbacks on the first day because of the lack of familiarity with the receivers to whom they are throwing. Herbert’s footwork is not super clean, and it something to work on, but he had a good day.

Eno Benjamin, RB, Arizona State
Benjamin is a nasty route runner coming out of the backfield. He showcased precise footwork and created easy separation from those trying to cover him.

Cameron Brown, EDGE, Penn State
Brown is very wiry, weighing in at 232 pounds at over 6’5” tall. However, he is a twitchy athlete, and his athleticism was on display during a pass-rushing repetition today. He rushed from the edge and pulled out a spin move that left the offensive lineman lunging and missing entirely.

Damien Lewis, OL, LSU
Lewis showed an outstanding anchor, dropping his hips and stopping interior defenders in their tracks. He gave very little ground today.

Ben Bartch, OL, Saint John’s
Bartch was one of the better offensive linemen today. He showed a nasty demeanor, playing with an edge. He showed plenty of power, showing an excellent anchor that stems from sound technique and a sturdy base. He looked fluid in his movements and held his own on the left side. He got beaten when he moved over to the right side, but he had an outstanding day.

Terence Steele, OT, Texas Tech
Steele showed fantastic footwork in pass protection, and he moves exceptionally well. He got in trouble multiple times today when he lunged, which opened the door inside for the defender. He was the victim of the Cameron Brown spin move as Brown had him reaching, and Steele needs to be a touch more patient because he does move well.
Marlon Davidson, DT, Auburn
Davidson was a handful today, and that is putting it lightly. He looked dominant at times and was able to win in a variety of ways. His motor is always running, and he plays with excellent pad level and heavy hands. He showed the first-step quickness to make offensive linemen uncomfortable, and the lower-body power and leverage to keep them uncomfortable. Davidson is a dangerous interior defender, and he had a solid first day.

Javon Kinlaw, DT, South Carolina
Kinlaw is a nightmare for the opposition. He showed incredibly heavy hands and paired that with excellent usage of his natural length. Kinlaw also possesses excellent initial quickness and trounced blockers at times. Interestingly, he showed surprisingly good bend and flexibility to turn the corner once he beat his man, and that is a dangerous combination to try and block. Kinlaw looked more comfortable winning his gap with quickness when isolated, and he had more success as a penetrating interior defender than he did occupying space at the line of scrimmage. He showed fantastic football intelligence, sniffing out screens and finding the ball.

North Team:
Jordan Love, QB, Utah State

Love is the best quarterback on the North roster, and it is not all that close. Love drove the ball through the wind, and he made a few eye-popping throws. As stated above with Herbert, it is hard to get a feel for accuracy on the first day for multiple reasons, but Love had a strong start to what could be a massive week for him.

Michael Pittman Jr., WR, USC
Pittman is a big receiver, but he managed to get open relatively consistently throughout today’s practice. He looked smooth and fluid in his movements and was a dangerous weapon down the field today.

K.J. Hill, WR, Ohio State
Hill is a vertical threat with his speed, and cornerbacks were opening their hips early, fearing getting beat deep. That allowed Hill to run in their blind spots, and he made getting open look easy at times in today’s practice. He is a savvy route runner, and he is off to a strong start with his excellent play today.

Matt Hennessy, OT, Temple
Hennessy looks very technically sound, and his feet and hands work well together. He did an excellent job of keeping his man in front of him during the first practice.

Justin Herron, OT, Wake Forest
Herron is a smooth and fluid mover, showcasing excellent footwork and mobility. He is a strong candidate to be a developmental tackle, as he in underpowered, but Herron’s movement abilities make him intriguing.

Matt Peart, OT, Connecticut
Peart looks the part as he moves his feet well, and he will bring excellent length to the NFL, but he needs to get stronger as there were a few moments during practice when he looked out of his element from a power standpoint.

Carter Coughlin, EDGE, Minnesota
Coughlin is very flexible, and he plays with great bend, which he uses to turn the corner as a pass rusher. He comes out of his stance like a rocket, and he went low to the ground while executing a rip move, and that forced the tackle to reach for him. Forcing a tackle to reach means a player like Coughlin is winning that repetition.

Joshua Uche, OLB, Michigan
Uche showed excellent agility while rushing the passer today, flattening and reducing the amount of ground needed to cover while cornering to defeat his blocker.

Kenny Willekes, EDGE, Michigan State
Willekes was everything you would expect. He plays a relentless style, which makes blocking him difficult. He came in with short arms, but he gets off of blocks well because he plays with excellent leverage, getting under the offensive tackle’s pads.

Jason Strowbridge, EDGE, North Carolina
Strowbridge was awesome during practice on the first day. He displays a very aggressive style, and he brings a non-stop, hair-on-fire approach, which makes blocking him a tough task. Strowbridge won outside, inside, and with power today. He was one of the day’s big winners.

Neville Gallimore, DT, Oklahoma
Gallimore is incredibly powerful and explosive, and his ability to get off the ball proved too much for interior offensive linemen today. He plays with plenty of power, and he can penetrate gaps to get into the backfield. He can also push the pocket and reset the line of scrimmage, and his overall versatility makes him a very intriguing prospect.

Larrell Murchison, DL, North Carolina State
Murchison was slippery and powerful in practice today, and his short stature gives him natural leverage over his opponent, and he had a good first practice on Tuesday.

DaVon Hamilton, DL, Ohio State
Hamilton displayed great power in today’s practice, putting his man on skates with ease at times. Hamilton is a huge man, and his strength was entirely on display today.
 

midswat

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"Jauan Jennings is separating himself from the rest of the pack in front of NFL scouts and player personnel directors as a physical, brute force at the Senior Bowl. "

y’all gonna learn today
 

Cowboysrock55

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DRAFT 2020
Seven biggest winners from Senior Bowl practices
Published: Jan 23, 2020 at 05:21 pm
Updated: Jan 23, 2020 at 05:51 pm
Which Senior Bowl QB could have Daniel Jones-esque rise?

SENIOR BOWL: DAY 3

MOBILE, Ala. -- With Reese's Senior Bowl week winding down, 100-plus prospects for the 2020 NFL Draft had one last chance to impress scouts in a practice setting on Thursday. NFL.com's Lance Zierlein and Chase Goodbread provide a look at the week's biggest standouts, as well as notes from NFL scouts and Thursday's media sessions.

Tune in for one-hour 2020 Senior Bowl Practice recap shows Tuesday, Jan. 21-Thursday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network and watch the Senior Bowl game live on NFL Network as well as the NFL and Network apps at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 25.

7 biggest winners from the week of Senior Bowl practices
Chase Claypool, WR, Notre Dame. I really enjoyed watching Claypool on tape and couldn't wait to see him perform in person on the Senior Bowl stage. I was not disappointed, and neither were the NFL evaluators in attendance. Not only does he look the part of a big, imposing receiver, he showed off how fluid and natural he is with his movement. He snatched the ball away from his frame with strong hands and created separation using his size and athleticism. The easy comparison for him is former teammate Miles Boykin, who had the same type of size and explosiveness, but Boykin went to the Baltimore Ravens at the end of the third round in last year's draft. Claypool may not last that long now. I think he pushed himself into Round 2 this week.

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Neville Gallimore, DT, Oklahoma. Gallimore benefited from Oklahoma's slanting, stemming defensive front that allowed him easier access to gaps and edges, but his production was still somewhat average. Personnel directors and scouts I spoke with worried about his ability to create disruption on his own. This week, Gallimore may have put some of those concerns to rest. He opened the door for teams to view him differently, at minimum. The former Sooner was able to translate his trademark high energy and athleticism into frequent pocket pressure in one-on-one drills. He also helped muddle lanes vs. the run. Gallimore might be a somewhat polarizing prospect, but this was a good week for him.

K.J. Hill, WR, Ohio State. The Hill game tape that I watched was just OK. There weren't a bunch of reps that allowed him to stand out as anything more than a solid slot receiver, but the Senior Bowl was a much different story for him. You know who was in a similar position at this same event in 2019? None other than Hill's former teammate, Terry McLaurin, who burst onto the scene a year ago with a big Senior Bowl week before his fantastic rookie season with the Washington Redskins. Like McLaurin, Hill consistently put cornerbacks in the spin cycle with great releases and well-disguised routes. His footwork was crisp getting in and out of breaks. Hill doesn't have McLaurin's speed, so he may not see the exact same climb that McLaurin did, but he clearly put himself on the map.

Josh Jones, OT, Houston. There has been buzz building around Jones from the midpoint of the 2019 season, but this was going to be a big week for him. Would he continue the momentum or fall behind others at his position? Jones struggled to find his footwork and consistency on Day 1 here in Mobile, but he stood out on Day 2 with strong reps, stoning rushers in pass protection and sustaining run blocks on the second level. On the final day of practice, Jones had impressive victories over North Carolina's Jason Strowbridge -- another big winner this week -- including a pancake at the end of a one-on-one rep. He heads toward the NFL Scouting Combine with great momentum, and should only help his case even more with his athletic testing.

Javon Kinlaw, DT, South Carolina. Kinlaw shut it down after Wednesday's practice in what appeared to be a precautionary measure, but he probably made money just by walking across the stage at the Senior Bowl weigh-in on Tuesday. His frame is well muscled and carries excellent lean mass along with the arm length of an offensive tackle. Showing up and looking good was the easy part, but he announced his presence with authority over his two days of participation with aggressive forward charges that overwhelmed most blockers in one-on-one drills. Kinlaw isn't the most skilled rusher at this point, but it was hard to look at him operate and not start to see similarities with Kansas City Chiefs standout Chris Jones. Kinlaw always had the traits, but the way he dominated the competition here in Mobile likely propelled him into the middle of the first round.

Jason Strowbridge, DE, North Carolina. Strowbridge can be a challenging evaluation on tape because he has the long frame with growth potential that teams typically gravitate toward, but he is a bit of a tweener from a positional standpoint. This was an important week for Strowbridge to help teams visualize a role for him in their scheme. It looks like that's exactly what he did. He played with skilled, strong hands at the point of attack and in activating finishing moves to get past pass protection in one-one-one drills. The Lions' Matt Patricia, who is coaching Strowbridge's North team this week, paid plenty of attention to the former Tar Heel, which makes sense considering his level of play in practice and the similarity of his build/skill set relative to guys like Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise, whom Patricia coached in New England (as well as in Detroit, in Flowers' case).

Tyler Bass, K, Georgia Southern. Yes, a kicker generated some buzz this week. Bass kicked with tremendous power during his college career, but sometimes his skyball trajectory took distance off his longer field goals tries. Well, those concerns are a thing of the past now. On Tuesday, Bass banged home all six of his field goal attempts at the end of practice, including a 54-yarder. On Thursday, he did miss a 58-yard try that smacked against the left upright, but the kick would have been good from well past 60 yards had he hit it about eight inches further to the right. That's called helping your cause.

-- Lance Zierlein

What we learned from Matt Patricia, NFL scouts and more
North team QBs pass Patricia's test. North quarterbacks Jordan Love of Utah State, Anthony Gordon of Washington State and Shea Patterson of Michigan all passed the Senior Bowl test of grasping the playbook and translating it to the practice field in short order, according to Lions coach Matt Patricia, who leads the North team.

Jordan Love dials up launch codes to Denzel Mims at Senior Bowl scrimmage

"All three guys competed really well. It's certainly most important for the quarterbacks to learn all the verbiage, all the vernacular," Patricia said. "They need to understand what everybody's doing on offense and then try to get everyone lined up and ready to go. They've handled all that well."

Love and Gordon made some of their best throws of the week on Thursday in the University of South Alabama Fieldhouse, where practice was moved due to rainy conditions. Love is considered a potential first-round selection despite struggling with turnovers (an FBS-high 17 interceptions) in 2019.

Herbert shows off big arm. Oregon QB Justin Herbert's arm proved to be as advertised throughout the Senior Bowl practice week, and it appears he'll depart Mobile just as he came in terms of status -- arguably the top draft prospect at the event. But while his size (6-foot-6 1/8, 227 pounds) and arm talent are exactly what clubs look for, some concerns that scouts see from Herbert's tape remain. Among those concerns are instincts and pocket awareness, something scouts can't truly evaluate in an all-star setting where quarterbacks are tagged, not tackled, in practice. For that, game tape is invaluable, but Herbert will give scouts another look against a live-tackle pass rush in Saturday's game.

From the scouts. As my notebook partner Lance Zierlein mentioned earlier in this piece, Oklahoma DT Neville Gallimore helped himself in Mobile this week. "He flashed some pass rush," said an AFC scout. "He's not the biggest guy, but he's pretty quick and several guys had trouble with him." Gallimore weighed in at 304 pounds on Tuesday and measured 6-foot-2. He's one of college football's most freakish athletes, having been clocked by the Sooners at a sub-4.8 40-yard dash, and can squat an amazing 800 pounds. ... Two different AFC scouts made mention of Appalachian State's Akeem Davis-Gaither, an undersized linebacker who could make a rookie impact as a coverage linebacker and on special teams. Both said Davis-Gaither's speed and instincts will make him an attractive selection, one who will prove to be "a third- and fourth-down player."

Dugger unsatisfied. Although Lenoir-Rhyne S Kyle Dugger (6-0 3/4, 217 pounds) is projected by some scouts as a linebacker, he wasn't asked to work with the linebackers at any point during the practice week. That surprised him, but he was more than comfortable playing his more natural position. Although an AFC personnel executive was impressed with Dugger's practice week, Dugger was less than pleased himself.

"It went OK, but it could've been a lot better," he said. "I left a couple balls on the ground that I could've made plays on, balls I got my hands on. I had a couple opportunities where I was right there and didn't finish the play."

Michael Pittman Jr. shares how his dad influenced his game

Injury update. A foot injury has knocked USC WR Michael Pittman Jr. out of action for Saturday's game, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. According to multiple scouts, Pittman performed well enough in practice to help his draft value. Although his speed remains a concern, his route running was described as smooth by an AFC scout and he excelled in making contested catches. ... Saint John's OL Ben Bartch tweaked his knee and limped off the field in Thursday's practice, but was walking without favor afterward and said he'll be OK to play Saturday. ... Clemson OL John Simpson twisted an ankle and might be out for Saturday's game, but as of Thursday, no determination had been made.

Quotable. "I'm working with (quarterback coach) Jordan Palmer out in Dana Point, Calif., and he's supposedly, quote-unquote, the quarterback whisperer. Hopefully he can whisper some things into my ear to get my (footwork) right." -- Colorado QB Steven Montez
 

jsmith6919

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Hope to draft a guy with questionable knees?

Sounds like our dumbass alley.
As much as I love his talent I have to agree with DFDC here. We've been burned too many times taking the question mark guy as a steal if it works out
 

Cowboysrock55

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I like Hamilton he is big and actually produced some sacks his last year in college. Late developer but I like the potential.

6 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss for a 6'3" 327 pound guy is pretty good.
 
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Cowboysrock55

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As much as I love his talent I have to agree with DFDC here. We've been burned too many times taking the question mark guy as a steal if it works out
A little overreaction to a little knee tendonitis? I mean these guys pull out of the Senior Bowl for the most minor things.
 

jsmith6919

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A little overreaction to a little knee tendonitis? I mean these guys pull out of the Senior Bowl for the most minor things.
I get that, just saying we have been burned enough by Dr Jerry proclaiming all is well I'd want to take a guarded approach
 

Cowboysrock55

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I get that, just saying we have been burned enough by Dr Jerry proclaiming all is well I'd want to take a guarded approach
I mean if the guy had a blown knee I'd get it. This isn't even a real knee injury.
 

jsmith6919

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I mean if the guy had a blown knee I'd get it. This isn't even a real knee injury.
You're probably right, I'm just hoping we get full medical clearance on his knee before the draft in the off-chance he does fall to us
 

boozeman

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Just tuned into the game.

Michigan DE Josh Uche was rushing Herbert but I guess he thought it was a practice because he two handed touched him instead of hitting him and he took over for 20 yards. :lol
 

boozeman

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Florida's Lamical Perine with some nice runs on the opening TD drive.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Not too long ago, people told us not to "overreact" to LVE's neck issues.
So every player who has ever been injured at all you think should be written off? Jesus your draft board is going to consist of like 5 dudes.
 

Cowboysrock55

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So I'm not a big Hurts guy but if he falls far enough I wonder if he could be a Hill type QB who backs up and has some special packages for his athletic ability.
 

bbgun

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So every player who has ever been injured at all you think should be written off? Jesus your draft board is going to consist of like 5 dudes.
Written off? No, but you shouldn't be so cavalier about pre-existing issues. It's bitten us more than once.
 
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