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!
Good stuff, i liked Part 2 better. Mainly because i was looking for that "wow" player or someone i could follow come draft time to see if they live up to your grade of them. Doesn't seem like there is really that kind of player here. What would be your thoughts on Live scouting vs Film Study? now that you have experience in both
ReplyDeleteLive scouting is definitely more challenging, simply because you can't rewind and watch something again. Also, with so many things going on at once at practice, it's hard to see everything you'd like to. There were times where I'd say "oh man, Harris is gonna get a rep in DL/OL 1v1 drills but then one of the WRs I was watching would come to the line for WR/DB 1v1. So I'd have to choose which to watch. But the live experience is still awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe talent here isn't that great, truthfully. The highest any of these guys will probably get drafted is the 3rd, but more likely the 4th-5th. But that doesn't mean none of these guys can play. They all have their flaws, but they can be productive role-players. I didn't really watch the OL guys, but a couple (like Brandon Brooks) are getting some hype from the mainstream analysts.
Look out for DaJohn Harris, Jarius Wright, Duke Ihenacho, Shaun Prater, and Trevin Wade on Draft Day. I think all of those guys will be drafted somwhere between Rounds 3-6. Of that group, I like Wright, Prater, and Wade, and I'm not so high on Harris or Ihenacho (though like I said, I couldn't see Ihenacho's hitting ability at all, so that could change his value a lot). Devon Wylie may not get drafted, but I really like him. Danny Amendola went undrafted, and I think he could be very Amendola-ish. Junior Hemingway will probably go undrafted as well, but I'm not sure there's a role for him in the NFL. Those are my guys to watch for, and who I will be watching for on Draft Day (and in their careers).
What im wondering is if Speed, route running and other things can be viewed on tape. is it worth it to go see someone live when like you said, slow mo, rewind and such make film much easier to analyze.
DeleteI do think it's probably a little bit easier to gauge speed when you're there in person. Also easier to gauge a guy's frame. Better idea of elements (like the gusts of wind that were present at the practice I attended). Definitely value in showing up in person. If there wasn't, scouts wouldn't ever do so.
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