Senior Bowl Day One Recap

SRW · Jan 21, 2008

Senior Bowl Practice Recap - Day One

Monday morning began with the individual weigh-ins, followed by afternoon practices for both the North and South teams...

I'll begin with the quarterbacks from the North team, consisting of the University of Michigan's Chad Henne, University of Delaware's Joe Flacco and University of Southern California's John David Booty.

Henne displayed the most accuracy of the group. His strong arm was apparent for passes within 20 yards, but when throwing the deep ball, he looked to finesse the ball too much, which led to putting more touch on the ball than necessary. Henne looked good on some plays, with the defense making him look better for other plays.

Flacco's size and speed was apparent in the first day of practice. Flacco, who stands in at 6-foot-6, was the most inaccurate of the three quarterbacks. For just about every one accurate pass, there would be five that were over thrown. During one of his final repetitions with the defense out there, Flacco fumbled the center exchange three consecutive times.

Booty wasn't as involved as the other two quarterbacks when it came to scrimmaging with the defense. He was in for one series where he was able to drop back and pass the ball. Prior to that, he was in handing the ball off to the running backs. Booty didn't do anything that impressed me today.

The South quarterbacks are made up of University of Tennessee's Erik Ainge, University of Hawaii's Colt Brennan and University of Kentucky's Andre Woodson.

Overall, Ainge looked solid with his foot work in both the five- and seven-step drops as well as the rollout drill.

Brennan was the quarterback who struggled the most during the first days of practice. He had issues with his five- and seven-step drops, mostly on the seven-step. At one point the coach made him do it eight times before moving over to one of the other quarterbacks.

Andre Woodson struggled in only one area on the first day. During the rollout drills, he was asked to do it several times and "glance" instead of focusing too heavily on the fake portion of the rollout.

A few of the running backs that stood out this first day were the University of California-Berkeley's Justin Forsett. Forsett showed good quickness and hands, burning University of Nevada-Las Vegas' Beau Bell two times down the seam, hauling in both passes from Henne and turning them up field for what would have been six. One another occasion, Forsett's shiftiness got the better of University of Iowa's defensive back Charles Godfrey, causing him to crumble to the ground.

Owen Schmitt, who is a running back in a fullback's body, was the other ball carrier that stood out. Listed at 251 pounds, Schmitt showed better than average hands, pulling in several receptions and finishing one off those by trucking a cornerback to the ground on one play. Schmitt also showed that not only could he dish it out, but he can take it, after making a catch in the flat and getting his helmet knocked off by USC linebacker Keith Rivers. He promptly jumped up, took off downfield helmet-less and looking for more contact.
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More from DraftHeadquarters.com:

Day One Practice Analysis

For the first practice of the week, I headed to Ladd-Pebbles Stadium to see the North team. Overall, the defensive lineman impressed me the most. There were a few that really struggled, while there were a couple of receivers that really looked good. Here's a look at which player's stood out the most today:

- Sedrick Ellis DT USC: There's a reason that Ellis is being projected as a lock for the Top 10 of this year's draft. His strength is unbelievable, and to see it in person is really a treat. He literally overpowered his opponent at least two or three times today. I was very impressed with him and expect him to be among the top players taken this year.

- Kentwan Balmer DT North Carolina: Balmer is a player that a lot of people don't know about; however, that should change pretty quickly. Balmer possessed a nice combination of quickness and strength today as he he was another defensive lineman that had a great day. I really like his quick hands and his ability to find the ball.

- Eddie Royal WR Virginia Tech: Royal had a few grabs today that were just sick. On one play he put a double move on the defender and sprinted up to the field to catch the ball in the back of the end zone. In another play he made a circus-like catch over a defender that had slipped to the ground, as got two feet down in bounds. He really opened some eyes today.

- Lavelle Hawkins WR California: Hawkins really displayed his ability to make plays today as he made a few acrobatic catches that most other receivers wouldn't be able to make. He showed good quickness and nice elusiveness in the open field.

- Thomas DeCoud S California: DeCoud quietly had a nice practice. I really like his ability to quickly get in and out of his breaks. He also showed nice hands in some of the individual drills for the defensive backs.

- DeMario Pressley DT NC State: I really like Pressley's quickness. He showed this today when he, on back-to-back plays, gave the lineman a quick juke-move and got into the backfield. He also showed quick hands.

- Gosder Cherilus OT Boston College: Cherilus was a beast today as he, from what I saw, didn't lose a single one-on-one battle with a defensive lineman. He has great size and showed the quickness and athleticism that you look for in a top offensive lineman. He also, at times, lined up at right tackle. I was very impressed with him today.

- Jamar Adams S Michigan: Adams struggled at times in coverage today, which really worries me, but he did have a couple of plays where he literally would have been on the "jacked up" highlight reel. On one play, West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt caught the ball out of the backfield, turned up and field, and Adams was there to deliver the blow. Adams hit him so hard that Schmitt's helmet went flying off in the other direction. Adams' big hits today made up for his struggles in coverage.

- Adarius Bowman WR Oklahoma State: I was really unimpressed by Bowman today. He clearly showed his athleticism, which was nice, but he dropped at least three very catchable balls. This did not bode well for him and he had better step it up the rest of the week.

- Charles Godfrey CB Iowa, Terrence Wheatley CB Colorado: Both of these guys had a bit of a tough day. They both seemed to struggle a bit in coverage and each of them dropped a few passes in the individual drills. They both showed flashes at times, but overall they didn't have that great of a day.

- Drew Radovich OG USC: Radovich did not have a good day today as he really struggled in the one-on-one drills against the defensive lineman. He had a lot of trouble with Kentwan Balmer and DeMario Pressley. It'll be interesting to see how he does the rest of the week.

Results from the Senior Bowl Weigh-In:
KEY: First number represents feet, second number represents inches, third number represents 8th of an inch.

Example: 6-2-3 would be 6-2 and 3/8ths of an inch

All names are listed alphabetically.

South Team:

Erik Ainge, QB, Tennessee, 6-5-4,

Donnie Avery, WR, Houston: 5-11-0, 186 lbs

Heath Benedict, OL, Newberry: 6-4-6, 321 lbs

Cole Bennett, TE, Auburn: 6-4-1, 246 lbs

Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii: 6-2-2, 185 lbs

Durant Brooks, P, Georgia Tech: 6-0-0, 205 lbs

Titus Brown, DE, Mississippi State: 6-2-5, 239 lbs

Red Bryant, DT, Texas A&M: 6-4-6, 326 lbs

Andre Caldwell, WR, Florida: 6-0-4, 207 lbs

Simeon Castille, CB, Alabama: 5-11-6, 190 lbs

Tashard Choice, RB, Georgia Tech: 5-10-5, 210 lbs

Brad Cottam, TE, Tennessee: 6-7-5, 271 lbs

Oniel Cousins, OT, UTEP: 6-4-1, 301 lbs

Brandon Coutu, K, Georgia: 5-11-2, 187 lbs

Quintin Demps, S, UTEP: 5-11-6, 203 lbs

Early Doucet, WR, LSU: 5-11-7, 211 lbs

Harry Douglas, WR, Louisville: 5-11-1, 170 lbs

Robert Felton, OG, Arkansas: 6-3-7, 313 lbs

Andre Fluellen, DT, Florida State: 6-1-7, 285 lbs

Matt Forte, RB, Tulane: 6-1-1, 221 lbs

Wallace Gilberry, DE, Alabama: 6-2-4, 263 lbs

Tavares Gooden, LB, Miami (FL): 6-1-1, 233 lbs

Marcus Griffin, S, Texas: 5-10-1, 198 lbs

DJ Hall, WR, Alabama: 6-2-2, 190 lbs

Marcus Harrison, DT, Arkansas: 6-2-6, 310 lbs

Jacob Hester, RB, LSU: 5-10-5, 230 lbs

Ali Highsmith, LB, LSU: 5-11-5, 229 lbs

Peyton Hillis, FB, Arkansas: 6-0-7, 240 lbs

Chevis Jackson, CB, LSU: 5-11-4, 188 lbs

Steve Justice, C, Wake Forest: 6-3-2, 289 lbs

Kendall Langford, DE, Hampton: 6-5-3, 275 lbs

Patrick Lee, CB, Auburn: 5-11-7, 294 lbs

Kory Lichtensteiger, C, Bowling Green: 6-2-3, 296 lbs

Rafael Little, RB, Kentucky: 5-8-7, 194 lbs

Mike McGlynn, OT, Pittsburgh: 6-4-3, 309 lbs

Leodis McKelvin, CB, Troy: 5-10-5, 190 lbs

Ben Moffitt, LB, South Florida: 5-1-0, 231 lbs

Dre Moore, DT, Maryland: 6-1-0, 231 lbs

Barry Richardson, OT, Clemson: 6-6-3, 331 lbs

Darrell Robertson, DE, Georgia Tech: 6-3-7, 247 lbs

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, CB, Tennessee State: 6-1-3, 183 lbs

Garrison Sanborn, LS, Florida State: 5-11-7, 239 lbs

Limas Sweed, WR, Texas: 6-4-0, 212 lbs

Jacob Tamme, TE, Kentucky: 6-3-6, 234 lbs

Jeremy Thompson, DE, Wake Forest: 6-4-3, 264 lbs

Cody Wallace, C, Texas A&M: 6-4-1, 290 lbs

Philip Wheeler, LB, Georgia Tech: 6-2-0, 245 lbs

Chris Williams, OT, Vanderbilt: 6-6-1, 320 lbs

DJ Wolfe, S, Oklahoma: 5-10-6, 200 lbs

Andre Woodson, QB, Kentucky: 6-4-2, 234 lbs

Wesley Woodyard, LB, Kentucky: 6-0-5, 219 lbs

North Team:

Jamar Adams, S, Michigan: 6-2-2, 209 lbs

Xavier Adibi, LB, Virginia Tech: 6-1-5, 220 lbs

Cliff Avril, DE, Purdue: 6-3-0. 252 lbs

Sam Baker, OT, USC: 6-4-4, 308 lbs

Kentwan Balmer, DT, North Carolina: 6-4-4, 308 lbs

Kirk Barton, OT, USC: 6-4-3, 308 lbs

Beau Bell, LB, UNLV: 6-1-5, 243 lbs

John David Booty, QB, USC: 6-2-3, 213 lbs

Adarius Bowman, WR, Oklahoma State: 6-2-7, 220 lbs

Dorien Bryant, WR, Purdue: 5-9-5, 169 lbs

Tim Bugg, LS, Indiana: 6-0-0, 255 lbs

Gosder Cherilus, OT, Boston College: 6-6-5, 315 lbs

Dan Connor, LB, Penn State: 6-2-5, 233 lbs

Shawn Crable, LB, Michigan: 6-5-1, 241 lbs

Bruce Davis, DE, UCLA: 6-2-5, 241 lbs

Fred Davis, TE, USC: 6-2-5, 250 lbs

Kellen Davis, TE, Michigan State: 6-6-2, 259 lbs

Thomas DeCoud, S, California: 6-1-4, 196 lbs

Jordan Dizon, LB, Colorado: 5-11-7, 228 lbs

Mike Dragosavich, P, North Dakota State: 6-5-2, 207 lbs

Chris Ellis, DE, Virginia Tech: 6-4-2, 260 lbs

Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC: 6-0-7, 308 lbs

Joe Flacco, QB, Delaware: 6-6-2, 232 lbs

Justin Forsett, RB, California: 5-7-6, 190 lbs

Charles Godfrey, CB, Iowa: 5-11-6, 207 lbs

Lavelle Hawkins, WR, California: 5-11-1, 187 lbs

Chad Henne, QB, Michigan: 6-2-7, 228 lbs

Lawrence Jackson, DE, USC: 6-4-3, 261 lbs

Chris Johnson, RB, East Carolina: 5-10-4, 195 lbs

Jason Jones, DE, Eastern Michigan: 6-5-1, 272 lbs

Trevor Laws, DT, Notre Dame: 6-0-7, 297 lbs

Jordy Nelson, WR, Kansas State: 6-2-5, 215 lbs

Carl Nicks, OT, Nebraska: 6-4-7, 343 lbs

Mike Pollak, C, Arizona State: 6-3-3, 299 lbs

Tracy Porter, CB, Indiana: 5-10-5, 184 lbs

DeMario Pressley, DT, NC State: 6-3-2, 300 lbs

Drew Radovich, OG, USC: 6-4-3, 302 lbs

Chad Rinehart, OT, Northern Iowa: 6-5-2-, 317 lbs

Keith Rivers, LB, USC: 6-1-7, 236 lbs

Eddie Royal, WR, Virginia Tech: 5-9-5, 182 lbs

Martin Rucker, TE, Missouri: 6-4-6, 248 lbs

Dantrell Savage, RB, Oklahoma State: 5-8-2, 187 lbs

Owen Schmitt, FB, West Virginia: 6-1-6, 247 lbs

Roy Scheuning, OG, Oregon State: 6-3-5, 308 lbs

Alexis Serna, K, Oregon State: 5-6-4, 168 lbs

Marcus Smith, WR, New Mexico: 6-0-7, 214 lbs

John Sullivan, C, Notre Dame: 6-3-3, 294 lbs

Terrell Thomas, CB, USC: 6-0-3, 197 lbs

DeJuan Tribble, CB, Boston College: 5-8-4, 190 lbs

Chauncey Washington, RB, USC: 5-11-4, 215 lbs

Terrence Wheatley, CB, Colorado: 5-9-3, 187 lbs

Tom Zbikowski, S, Notre Dame: 5-11-1, 209 lbs

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DallasArmor09 · Jan 21, 2008

Watched most of the first day. Except when they broke into the coverage to have an press conference of Dungy returning, which i found very dumb. Anyway the first day was very fun and alot of talent across the board. Tuesday they will be in full pads and i can't wait to see the Oline and Dline battling it out!!

SRW · Jan 21, 2008

First post updated with more info from Day One.

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