In no particular order, the following players pprobably helped themselves with their performances in Saturday's game.
- North Carolina DE Quinton Coples: The top-ranked player in Mobile built on a dominant week of practice with a solid performance in the game. Came off the snap with authority, used his long arms and upper-body strength to consistently knock blockers off balance and showed nice closing speed; also went hard all afternoon and was just as effective stopping the run as rushing the passer. Only knock may have been that Coples was a little over aggressive at times and tended to run himself out of plays on occasion.
- Marshall DE Vinny Curry: After a somewhat inconsistent week of practice, Curry was a pain in the butt for the South offensive line most of the afternoon as he showed an explosive get-off at the snap, kept his pads low and his feet active and was very disruptive when he got leverage and finished the day with a couple of sacks and a couple more hurries, although he still needs to develop some secondary pass-rush moves and appeared to give up on a few plays if he didn‘t get early penetration.
- Arizona WR Juron Criner: Probably lacks the real deep speed NFL teams covet, but ran nice routes, showed the ability to find the soft spots in coverage and used his big body very effectively to screen DBs away from the ball. Did have one pass go through his hands, but snatched everything else coming his way.
- Arkansas WR Joe Adams: Didn’t run the most polished routes, but was incredibly quick and elusive after the catch; indeed, made almost Houdini-like escapes from a couple of would-be tacklers and raced for big gainers.
- Ohio State OT Mike Adams: Got caught reaching too often during the week of practice, but was textbook solid during the game; was very quick setting up, used his length to cut off the edge and was able to re-anchor against cut-back moves.
- Cincinnati RB Isaiah Pead: Created some buzz for himself with a couple of explosive punt returns; also had a couple more dynamic runs as he accelerated through the hole and broke tackles on the way up field; tended to be indecisive, though, when he couldn’t find a seam and also had a couple of minus runs.
- Boise State RB Doug Martin: Only carried the ball four times, but showed good vision, a nice burst, and the power to make yards after contact; got bonus points for a nice KO return and chipped in a nice block downfield to spring Gerell Robinson free for a 41-yard TD.
- Mississippi State RB Vick Ballard: Isn’t going to break many big plays, but consistently showed good patience and vision finding a crease, kept his pads low and square and ran with power.
- Utah State LB Bobby Wagner: Made two athletic plays when the ball was in the air getting off the ground to make a pick and then leaping to deflect a pass in the red zone that had TD written all over it; also showed some toughness inside as he did a nice job shedding blockers, finding the ball and wrapping up runners; in the end led all tacklers with 7 stops including one for loss.
- Vanderbilt CB Casey Hayward: Saturday’s game was not a great show case for the defensive backs few of whom had good days. The one exception was Vandy’s Hayward who was sticky in coverage all afternoon as he did a nice job reading and anticipating routes and consistently broke well on the ball and was rewarded with a pick in the end zone; may have even fooled the referees as he was called for two pass interference penalties, but both looked like just great coverage.
- Michigan DT Mike Martin: Was just a tough guy to block inside as he played low and was always moving and spinning.
- Washington DT Alameda Ta’amu. The jury is still out as to whether this guy can generate a consistent pass rush at the next level, but Saturday he was getting into gaps and powering up field; also showed a nice motor and ran down a couple of plays and made a nice read to blow up a screen pass.
- Illinois G/T Jeff Allen: Late addition to the roster (which partially explains the geographic issue of how Illinois ended up in the south), but opened some eyes once he arrived in Mobile and was very consistent in the game. Played with a solid base, moved his feet and showed a nice ability to change direction and re-anchor.
- Wisconsin OG Kevin Zeitler appeared to struggle at times earlier in the week, but had a solid game as he was very light on his feet, displayed a solid base and was technically sound getting good arm extension as he spent the afternoon mirroring frustrated South DTs at the line of scrimmage.
- Tennessee DE Malik Jackson: Another late game addition who really took advantage of the opportunity; Jackson showed a quick first step, an effective punch and a nice swim move. That fact that he could both bull-rush as well as force his away around people had opposing OTs really off-balance and unsure of what was coming.<>
- <>Alabama TE Brad Smelley: Doesn’t impress physically and isn’t a dominating drive blocker, but was effective all afternoon sealing defenders off from the ball. Played hard to the whistle. Also made a nice catch of an under thrown ball.
Honorable mentions: Florida State OT Zebrie Sanders also had a pretty good game; he really fired out drive blocking and was reasonably smooth moving around the pocket, but was a little choppy setting up and didn’t always absorb initial contact all that well and struggled at times to re-anchor… There was a lot to like about
Baylor C/G Philip Blake all week and in the game showed some quick feet and gets off the snap with authority, but needs to sustain blocks a little longer. Meanwhile,
Alabama C William Vlachos is anything but pretty, but plays with a very solid base and will battle…
Penn State OG Johnnie Troutman showed some nice athleticism when asked to pull and delivered a couple of solid pops in space, but was a little overaggressive at times and bounced off blocks…
California OT Mitchell Schwartz didn’t look to be all that athletic, but was a technically sound wide-body who generally did a nice job keeping the South DEs off his QB, although he did let a couple of defenders get into his pads and knock him off balance …
FBs Brady Ewing of Wisconsin and UMass’ Emil Igwenagu did what FBs are supposed to do: block with authority and catch the ball when it comes there way…
Florida State OLB Nigel Bradham who showed plenty of lateral range and closing speed in space and did a nice job using his arms to shed blockers, but wasn’t quite as physical at the point of attack as NFL teams would probably like.
Texas OLB Keenan Robinson was also effective getting off blocks and showed good speed tracking the ball…
Clemson DT Brandon Thompson was very active and disruptive as he showed good quickness for a 300-pounder.
Maybe shoudda stood in bed! It was a tough day all around for the CBs in this year’s Senior Bowl, but the guy who got picked on the most was
Donnie Fletcher of Boston College, who gave up a number of completions as he conceded way too much cushion and then was slow to react when the ball was in the air; to boot, Fletcher was victimized twice when he whiffed on Joe Adams after the catch…
Texas MLB Emanual Acho struggled to find the ball and had a tendency to run around, or even retreat from blockers… North OTs
Keleche Osemele of Iowa State and
Washington’s Senio Kelemete both looked like fish out of water trying to handle the South’s quick edge rushers as neither showed much in the way of agility, balance or the ability to change direction and re-anchor…
Cs Mike Brewster of Ohio State and Georgia’s Ben Jones both struggled to hold the point of attack as they tended to get stood up at first contact and lose any momentum or leverage, although Brewster did a better job sliding around the pocket helping out on double teams. Meanwhile,
LSU OG Will Blackwell moved well enough when asked to pull, but wasn’t able to deliver much of a pop at the point of attack.
Troy G/T James Brown also struggled to keep opposing DTs off his pads and was knocked off balance too often. Same story for
UAB OT Matt McCants, who actually got pretty good arm extension and did a decent job cutting off the edge, but looks to be a little top heavy and was knocked off balance by aggressive bull-rushers and didn’t re-anchor or change direction all that well…
Ohio State WR DeVier Posey had one very nice reception off a crossing pattern, but outright dropped a sure TD at the goal line and gave up on another route in the end zone that resulted in a pick…
Penn State DE Jack Crawford is a try-hard guy who covered a lot of ground when unblocked, still hasn’t gotten off a block. Same story for
Boise State DE Billy Winn who appeared to be overmatched during the game as he was pretty much al week at practice.
Need to see more of: While UNC’s Coples lived up to the hype during the Senior Bowl game,
Courtney Upshaw of Alabama and South Carolina’s Melvin Ingram, the South team’s other star DEs weren’t as disruptive on game day. Upshaw did have a sack, but it was more of the 'excuse me' type as he ran into the QB while being forced well wide of the pocket. Upshaw did flash some speed in space, but tended to pop up off the snap to find the ball before taking off; he also appeared to be a little out of control at times and overran a couple of plays. Meanwhile, Ingram showed some nice spin moves and good lateral range, but was never really able to beat his blocker cleanly; also like Upshaw he also appeared a tad hesitant at times coming off the snap. At the same time,
Virginia DE Cam Johnson showed a quick first step off the snap, but lacked the upper body strength to maintain leverage... Interesting day for
OT Cordy Glenn of Georgia, another potential first rounder this coming April, who didn’t really flash during the game, but did k a pretty good case that he can play OT at the next level; Glenn was a technically solid, wide-body guy who got good arm extension working at LT, but looked off balance and reaching at times; Glenn also played some OG where he did some mauling inside, but wasn’t as effective pulling as he didn’t really explode into blocks on the move... Oklahoma
CB Jamell Fletcher forced a fumble and picked off a duck, but otherwise was very loose in coverage. It also wasn’t a very good day for North Alabama
CB Janoris Jenkins of North Alabama, who made a couple of aggressive tackles in run support, but was out-muscled in the corner of the end zone for a TD and, as he had been during the week, was beaten badly when he bit on a couple of pump-and-gos. In fact, as noted, it was a tough day all around for the corners in Mobile on Saturday, however, it should be noted that defenses were limited to using Cover 1 and 3 schemes, while press coverage, which most of these guys excel at, was against the rules… At the same time,
South Carolina FS Antonio Allen showed good range and aggressiveness in run support - he tied with
New Mexico State’s Wagner with a game-high 7 tackles - but took a couple of bad angles on crossing routes and appeared to actually play a little too fast at times and wasn’t always under control when he arrived at the ball…
Texas A&M WR Jeff Fuller, who was probably the runaway winner of this year’s ‘most enigmatic player’ at the Senior Bowl, appeared to be open all day and showed great hands snatching a couple of darts, but then lost concentration and outright dropped what would have been a big gainer down the sideline… North
Carolina OLB Zach Brown was pretty much as advertised on Saturday showing plenty of speed and range in space as he pretty much stayed with a couple of wideouts in coverage and broke up a screen with a nice read and great close. At the same time, though, Brown was seldom around the ball between the tackles, overran a tackle in the open field and gave up a big pass play to a FB when he failed to find the ball in the air... While speedsters
Joe Adams and Isaiah Pead made big plays with their speed and acceleration,
Florida RB/WR Chris Rainey, a true world-class sprinter, didn't appear to play all that fast and probably didn't help his case at receiver when he short-armed one throw in his direction.
Mediocre was the word heard most often when describing this year’s Senior Bowl QBs at practice last week and mediocre probably also best describes their game-day performance.
Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden appeared to be sharp early on as he completed 5 of his first 7 passes on his first two drives, but the second ended when he was picked off after getting hit in the back while releasing the ball. Weeden didn’t play again for over three quarters and his only other pass - a real wounded duck - was also intercepted. In particular, Weeden looked very confident, appeared to read the field well and had a smooth compact delivery, but maybe had a tendency to guide passes to his receivers rather than really zipping the ball. Meanwhile,
Arizona’s Nick Foles put up impressive numbers as he completed 11 of 15 passes. In fact, Foles threw the ball very well when h had a clean pocket and room to step, but his accuracy dropped off when there was a hint of pressure.
Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins and Ryan Lindley of San Diego also got some zip on their passes, but weren’t always that confident where they were going. For his part,
Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson was very effective both running and passing when he got to the edge, but struggled trying to throw out of the pocket, while as usual
Boise State’s Kellen Moore got rid of the ball quickly and was very accurate when he had time to wind up, but didn’t have a chance when forced to throw under pressure.
