Now that I've covered my main Shrine Game targets in Pt. 1, I'll now discuss the guys who I just happened to follow or who caught my eye. These notes will generally be short, but there are a few guys I want to give more detail to.
Keith Tandy (CB, West Virginia) had footing issues all day. Even when the team was running drills at half-speed, he'd slip when trying to make his breaks. I don't know if his cleats are extremely poor or what, but I rarely saw slips from other players. He looked very quick in DB drills, but when team drills came around I felt like he really struggled. The slipping was a continual issue, and his man routinely was open, even if not targeted. The one time he made a great break and play on the ball, he dropped the INT. His ball skills in general looked poor to me. Probably the least impressive player I spent time watching.
The QBs were awful. It was a windy day, but the accuracy on passes was just miserable all day. Tons of checkdowns despite having open receivers downfield, no great arm strength, and at times, hesitancy. I couldn't keep track (nor did I care to) of which QB was throwing when, but none of them looked good from what I saw. The 3 QBs on the West team are Tyler Hansen (Colorado), Chandler Harnish (Northern Illinois), and Dan Persa (Northwestern).
Devon Wylie (WR, Fresno State) was maybe the most impressive player I saw all day. I just couldn't keep my eyes off of him. He displayed incredible quickness and fantastic route-running ability. His cuts were blisteringly sharp and he lost almost no speed when executing them. He is very fast in a straight line as well, so when he gets away from a defender, he's not going to be caught. There was one time where he ran a comeback route, and he literally executed his break, caught the ball, and was already turned upfield before the CB covering him reacted. Despite his continued abuse of DBs, he didn't get a ton of targets for some reason. One issue with him is size: he is small (5-10, 185) and doesn't seem to have great "ups" either. He and Jarius Wright (5-10, 180) are listed as almost identical frames, but I just felt like lack of size was more of an issue with Wylie and less so with Wright. Maybe that is just in my mind though. What I know for sure is that QBs overthrew him a couple of times, but they were throws that I felt like Junior Hemingway (6-1) would've come down with. He displayed great toughness on a slant route where the DB broke immediately on it and popped him good. He hung on, but did go down without much of an issue. Overall, I really liked Wylie. I really think he can be a Danny Amendola kind of WR in the NFL. Amendola was undrafted, and Wylie's stock is in that same area currently, but don't count him out. I think this kid could be a real diamond in the rough.
Trevin Wade (CB, Arizona) was impressive in both DB drills and team drills. Very quick, tracks the ball well, and has good hands. Good size (5-11, 192). Stuck to his man pretty well from what I saw. Made an INT. Like him, but I can't help but see Revis when I see a #24 CB.
Rodney McLeod (CB, Virginia) had an awful vertical leap in DB drills. It was the only thing I saw from him all day.
Steven Johnson (LB, Kansas) struggled mightily in coverage today. Routinely got burned by simple RB pass routes and also TE routes.
Kevin Koger (TE, Michigan) looked very Witten-esque today. Not physically impressive and not exactly speedy, but he finds space and gets open. Used his hands very well (and legally) to get open against a jamming LB on one play.
Marc Tyler (RB, University of Southern California) has bad hands from what I saw.
Lennon Creer (RB, Louisiana Tech) couldn't cleanly accept a handoff and the play had to be re-run.
Tyler Shoemaker (WR, Boise State) has a pretty good frame (6-1, 212), showed good extension and catch radius, and has a nice combination of physicality and elusiveness. Not going to run by anybody in a straight line, but made some nice moves to juke defenders after the catch. Seems to have reliable hands.
Brandon Brooks (OG, Miami-Ohio) completely whiffed on DaJohn Harris, then pancaked him on the next play. Guess I should've watched more of him, because those are two dramatically different results.
Cory Harkey (TE, UCLA) had a false start in team drills.
That's it. Hope you enjoyed reading. I look forward to another day in the future when I am able to attend something like this again. Don't forget to watch the Shrine Game this Saturday at 4 PM on NFL Network!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
East-West Shrine Game Practice Notes Pt. 1
Today I had the wonderful experience of observing a Shrine Game practice, specifically, that of the West Team. If you want to peruse the full roster of the West team (and the East team), click here. Obviously I wasn't able to track every player, and honestly it was hard enough to keep up with the few players I was targeting from the get-go. So sample size is certainly an issue. If I watch a player catch 4 passes all day and he drops one, that's a bad drop percentage. Is that indicative of his hands, or just bad luck? I can't really tell you, simply because my sample size is so limited. If I was at every practice and had film experience with these guys, I could give you a better idea of things like that. But I don't, so you'll just have to take that limitation into consideration when reading these notes.
Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, here's the handful of players I came into practice wanting to focus on:
#82 WR Junior Hemingway, Michigan
#4 WR Jarius Wright, Arkansas
#97 DT DaJohn Harris, University of Southern California
#2 SS Duke Ihenacho, San Jose State University
#28 CB Shaun Prater, Iowa
Junior Hemingway (WR, Michigan) was the guy I was most familiar with, and truthfully, he was the only name I had heard of on the entire West roster before today. I expected him to excel today, but he didn't exactly wow me. Hemingway is very average off of the line in my opinion. The defense ran strictly off-coverage, so I don't know how he is at breaking a jam, but he has very average acceleration. His top-end speed isn't much better. He does, however, have a decent frame (6-1, 222) and he was one of the few WRs who were large enough to catch high throws on the run. From my perspective in the stands, Hemingway looked like arguably the tallest WR of the bunch, which says a lot about the size of the WRs on the West team. Overall, I was not very impressed with Hemingway. I'd project him as strictly a possession guy, but he doesn't have the elite frame that you'd want a possession WR to have. Not too impressed with Hemingway overall.
Jarius Wright (WR, Arkansas) was quite a noticeable contrast from Hemingway. He is significantly smaller (5-10, 180) and dramatically quicker. His acceleration is very good, and he is a natural route runner. He pops off the line quickly and runs with purpose. Even though his top-end speed is noticeably impressive, he generally gets open with technique. His cuts are sudden and precise, and as a result he is able to create space. DBs can be on his hip one second, and then the next they look completely lost and Wright is catching a ball and turning upfield 3 or 4 yards in front of them. My new Twitter idol, @JoshNorris, was apparently on the field and close enough to hear the coaches, and he Tweeted that coaches were praising Wright on his routes every time he took the field. I read this early on in the day and kept a closer eye from that point on, and the praise was absolutely deserved. The more I watched Wright, the more I liked him. His small stature is an issue, for sure. But he is an ideal slot guy who can work underneath with short routes while also having the ability to turn on the burners and get downfield. Good hands too, he caught everything thrown his way all day. Eddie Royal is a natural comparison here. Almost identical size and speed.
DaJohn Harris (DT, University of Southern California) looks the part for sure. His frame (6-4, 310) is similar to Kevin Williams, but his speed is more like that of B.J. Raji. Obviously not a great size/speed combination there, but he flashed at times today. He was generally good in run support, and at times he is able to "make a mess" as I like to call it. He is inconsistent though. On one play, he'll be driving a double team into the backfield and destroying the running lane, and on another play, he'll be getting pancaked by a single man. In desperate need of a coach who can instill consistent use of proper technique. Very strong, but is not able to always take advantage of it. All of that said, there was one play where he absolutely whipped the OG at the line and made quick contact with the QB. So like I said, he shows flashes at times, but then he disappears other times. Unfortunately for him, starting OGs in the NFL won't get whipped like some of these Shrine Game were today. Unless he gets his technique down, he will be a non-factor in the NFL. Closest comparison I can think of is Marcus Spears.
Duke Ihenacho (SS, San Jose State University) is a guy who I didn't watch as much as I would've liked. I watched him for a little bit in DB drills but lost track of him in the team drills. Safety is hard to evaluate already, but in a limited-contact practice, it's even harder. All of the Safeties played CB at times, but like I said I kind of dropped the ball on my evaluation of him in team drills. From what I saw though, he wasn't great in coverage. In the DB drills, he didn't show very good hands but had a great-looking vertical leap. For a guy without great size (6-0, 205), he sure isn't very fast. Wish I could see how he does in run defense, because that's his only real hope in my opinion. No NFL comparison because I just don't know Safeties well enough, but his size and speed combo is similar to guys like Abram Elam and Roman Harper.
Shaun Prater (CB, Iowa) was impressive from what I saw of him. He was a very disciplined cover man who displayed great route-reading ability. There was one play in particular where the WR ran a hook-and-go, and Prater read it perfectly. He didn't jump whatsoever, and he immediately began tracking the ball in the air to attempt an INT. The QB smartly overthrew it in a throw-away fashion, but if he hadn't, Prater would've had a very easy INT. In team drills, he lined up in the slot on one play and executed zone coverage really well. He read the QB's eyes and made a very quick break on the ball for a whap. From what I saw today, he is a smart and instinctive player. He also isn't afraid to get physical, either. His frame (5-10, 185) isn't imposing, but is solid and he uses it well. This is not a great comp but he kind of gives me a Cortland Finnegan vibe. I'm not saying he'll be that good or that much of a jerk, but for some reason Finnegan pops into my mind when trying to think of an NFL comp. Liked what I saw of Prater for sure.
The rest of my observations will be covered in Pt. 2.
Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, here's the handful of players I came into practice wanting to focus on:
#82 WR Junior Hemingway, Michigan
#4 WR Jarius Wright, Arkansas
#97 DT DaJohn Harris, University of Southern California
#2 SS Duke Ihenacho, San Jose State University
#28 CB Shaun Prater, Iowa
Junior Hemingway (WR, Michigan) was the guy I was most familiar with, and truthfully, he was the only name I had heard of on the entire West roster before today. I expected him to excel today, but he didn't exactly wow me. Hemingway is very average off of the line in my opinion. The defense ran strictly off-coverage, so I don't know how he is at breaking a jam, but he has very average acceleration. His top-end speed isn't much better. He does, however, have a decent frame (6-1, 222) and he was one of the few WRs who were large enough to catch high throws on the run. From my perspective in the stands, Hemingway looked like arguably the tallest WR of the bunch, which says a lot about the size of the WRs on the West team. Overall, I was not very impressed with Hemingway. I'd project him as strictly a possession guy, but he doesn't have the elite frame that you'd want a possession WR to have. Not too impressed with Hemingway overall.
Jarius Wright (WR, Arkansas) was quite a noticeable contrast from Hemingway. He is significantly smaller (5-10, 180) and dramatically quicker. His acceleration is very good, and he is a natural route runner. He pops off the line quickly and runs with purpose. Even though his top-end speed is noticeably impressive, he generally gets open with technique. His cuts are sudden and precise, and as a result he is able to create space. DBs can be on his hip one second, and then the next they look completely lost and Wright is catching a ball and turning upfield 3 or 4 yards in front of them. My new Twitter idol, @JoshNorris, was apparently on the field and close enough to hear the coaches, and he Tweeted that coaches were praising Wright on his routes every time he took the field. I read this early on in the day and kept a closer eye from that point on, and the praise was absolutely deserved. The more I watched Wright, the more I liked him. His small stature is an issue, for sure. But he is an ideal slot guy who can work underneath with short routes while also having the ability to turn on the burners and get downfield. Good hands too, he caught everything thrown his way all day. Eddie Royal is a natural comparison here. Almost identical size and speed.
DaJohn Harris (DT, University of Southern California) looks the part for sure. His frame (6-4, 310) is similar to Kevin Williams, but his speed is more like that of B.J. Raji. Obviously not a great size/speed combination there, but he flashed at times today. He was generally good in run support, and at times he is able to "make a mess" as I like to call it. He is inconsistent though. On one play, he'll be driving a double team into the backfield and destroying the running lane, and on another play, he'll be getting pancaked by a single man. In desperate need of a coach who can instill consistent use of proper technique. Very strong, but is not able to always take advantage of it. All of that said, there was one play where he absolutely whipped the OG at the line and made quick contact with the QB. So like I said, he shows flashes at times, but then he disappears other times. Unfortunately for him, starting OGs in the NFL won't get whipped like some of these Shrine Game were today. Unless he gets his technique down, he will be a non-factor in the NFL. Closest comparison I can think of is Marcus Spears.
Duke Ihenacho (SS, San Jose State University) is a guy who I didn't watch as much as I would've liked. I watched him for a little bit in DB drills but lost track of him in the team drills. Safety is hard to evaluate already, but in a limited-contact practice, it's even harder. All of the Safeties played CB at times, but like I said I kind of dropped the ball on my evaluation of him in team drills. From what I saw though, he wasn't great in coverage. In the DB drills, he didn't show very good hands but had a great-looking vertical leap. For a guy without great size (6-0, 205), he sure isn't very fast. Wish I could see how he does in run defense, because that's his only real hope in my opinion. No NFL comparison because I just don't know Safeties well enough, but his size and speed combo is similar to guys like Abram Elam and Roman Harper.
Shaun Prater (CB, Iowa) was impressive from what I saw of him. He was a very disciplined cover man who displayed great route-reading ability. There was one play in particular where the WR ran a hook-and-go, and Prater read it perfectly. He didn't jump whatsoever, and he immediately began tracking the ball in the air to attempt an INT. The QB smartly overthrew it in a throw-away fashion, but if he hadn't, Prater would've had a very easy INT. In team drills, he lined up in the slot on one play and executed zone coverage really well. He read the QB's eyes and made a very quick break on the ball for a whap. From what I saw today, he is a smart and instinctive player. He also isn't afraid to get physical, either. His frame (5-10, 185) isn't imposing, but is solid and he uses it well. This is not a great comp but he kind of gives me a Cortland Finnegan vibe. I'm not saying he'll be that good or that much of a jerk, but for some reason Finnegan pops into my mind when trying to think of an NFL comp. Liked what I saw of Prater for sure.
The rest of my observations will be covered in Pt. 2.
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