Day Two practice notes here:
2012 Senior Bowl Day Two North
Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State-- continued to float passes to middle of the field, did a better job of making bucket throws to receivers down the sidelines, not deep throws but 15-20 yards he was getting them up and over to WRs in stride, had good zip on short throws and quick outs to near side including one to Marvin McNutt that beat the press coverage, it seems like his arm gets tired quick, after making a couple of good short passes his third pass (similar route) floated, several of Moore's passes come in with the nose of the football angled up which creates a more difficult catch for the WR, finished practice by throwing more passes in the dirt,
Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin-- Wilson started out rough today, he floated a pass early that got picked off and it seemed to take him out of his game, after that he held onto the ball too long and seemed hesitant to fire it downfield, it was the complete opposite from yesterday when he was very aggressive throwing into coverage, when Wilson did let it go he checked down to RBs or TEs underneath, after the halfway point he started to warm up and looked more like the QB on Monday, he had trouble getting a handle on the snap today and bobbled the football many times, it's also worth noting that Wilson regularly only reads one side of the field from top to bottom (hi read first, then checkdown),
Kirk Cousins, QB, Michigan State-- Cousins had a down day, he was giving us his best Kyle Orton impersonation (aka Captain Checkdown) for most of practice and no that's not a compliment, he was late getting the football out of his hands several times, this led to incompletions or completions where his WRs got killed/hit by the coverage, I like the way he strides into his throws but he has a hitch in his throwing motion when he throws downfield which causes accuracy problems, Cousins did show his athleticism during scrimmage where he tucked the ball and quickly ran down the sideline, like Wilson he also had trouble handling the snap today,
Boom Herron, RB, Ohio State-- making no plays of note today,
Doug Martin, RB, Boise State-- very balanced in pass pro, does a good job setting his feet and firing into the blitzer, this will help him get on the field for three downs, still looked explosive in drills, runs with balance and vision,
Isaiah Pead, RB, Cincinnati-- not many notes on Pead today, decent in pass pro drills, puts effort into his blocks but not devastating and has little punch, as a runner got pulled down by his collar on inside run,
Chris Polk, RB, Washington-- poor performance in backs on backers, the LB v RB drill to test pass protection, must improve this if he wants to be more than a two-down runner at the next level,
Gerell Robinson, WR, Arizona State-- another strong performance for Robinson here, he's such a great athlete and knows how to disguise his routes, fooled George Iloka (Boise St) on an out route where he easily made his break and got open, once again looked smooth getting up the field in a hurry, effortless runner with deceptive speed, made one of the highlight catches of the day where he slid to catch a low Kirk Cousins pass near the sideline, he ended up gathering in the ball basically sitting the sliding on his ###, great concentration to adjust to that ball and make a play on it, making the most of his opportunity in Mobile,
Brian Quick, WR, Appalachian State-- gonna start calling this guy 'Auto Body', every catch is a body catch, he made one (ONE) catch cleanly with his hands today and he looked uncomfortable doing it, doesn't know how to use his sizeable frame to shield defenders away from the ball, will not square shoulders to the line of scrimmage, poor sideline awareness and did not drag foot on catch near sidelines,
Devier Posey, WR, Ohio State-- Posey is a frustrating player to watch, he'll make a great downfield catch then drop two easy passes underneath, he showed good ball tracking ability on a deep pass early in practice against one-on-one coverage, it came in over his shoulder and he was able to track it easily in the air, on underneath routes he has to throttle down too much for my liking, this makes him a heavy stepper and gives away the fact that he's going to break on the ball, one comeback route had him double catching the ball that he should have caught easily,
Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa-- one of my favorite players in Mobile, knows how to use frame to shield defenders away from the ball, strong, physical, difficult to jam off the line of scrimmage, not a quick twitch guy but uses his hands well to fight off defenders, he'll climb the ladder to go get high passes and does not hear footsteps when running routes over the middle, can make difficult catch in stride, made nice spinning catch where pass was behind him--turned and kept running upfield, does a good job of coming back to the football and after the catch immediately tucks the ball safely away, McNutt fought for a deep pass today but ended up not coming up with the ball,
Marvin Jones, WR, California-- Jones has good sideline awareness and regularly gets two feet down when running sideline routes, tucks the ball away after the catch, strong hands,
T.J. Graham, WR, N.C. State-- did a good job of grabbing the ball out of the air in front of him, was used on end around play to utilize his open field moves and speed, smaller guy but does a good job beating press at the line of scrimmage, uses his hands well to get by CB and fight him off to get separation in routes, needs to do a better job disguising routes,
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Day Two South
Ryan Lindley, QB, San Diego State-- a favorite college QB of mine but he's not having a good showing here in Mobile, threw passes low on his rollouts either to the right or the left, he drops back poorly and slowly often looking out of balance when he goes back, several of his passes were behind his intended targets, Lindley is often late with his reads/throws, he got a few of his WRs lit up today by getting them the ball late, that allowed the DB/S to crash on the play and get in a hit,
Nick Foles, QB, Arizona-- Foles was hot and cold today, overall he throws with good zip but often his placement is off, he drops back with balance and holds the ball high and tight, he looked good on rollout passes even though he's not the most athletic QB here, I do not like his pump fake at all, he oversells it and over-exaggerates his motion, this leads to accuracy problems as he comes back to throw, it's a wild motion that looks like he's trying to self adjust his back, would rather see him do a simple ball fake without the extreme body movement, his pump fake reminds me of the movie 'Tommy Boy' where Chris Farley gets out of his car to swat at the imaginary bees,
Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma State-- Weeden is the best QB here, I like his scissor step as he drops back, and his intent as he drives forward through his throws, Weeden is a gunslinger, he's not afraid to throw into coverage and if he makes a mistake (e.g. INT) he's not afraid to go back and try the tight throw again, on his deep passes he has a good deep arc that allows WRs to run underneath, he throws well rolling out to the right and has the ability to duck under/away from pressure, when rolling to the left his accuracy suffers but he shows adequate zip,
Chris Rainey, RB, Florida-- Rainey is fast, super fast, however I think he needs to be listed as a WR instead of a RB, he's not built like a NFL caliber runner, he works great as a WR because of his downfield explosion, he can get on top of the defense in a hurry, I like his ability to run routes and track passes downfield, he does a good job of looking passes in, he can catch passes over the shoulder outside and deep, had a nice twist catch where ball was behind him- he caught it and continued upfield,
Terrance Ganaway, RB, Baylor-- Ganaway's hands are inconsistent and it's frustrating to watch, he should be a more consistent receiver working from that Baylor offense but will let the ball get to his body too often, I like how swift he is as a runner and doesn't seem like a lumbering back who weighs 240 pounds,
Vick Ballard, RB, Mississippi State-- I like the way Ballard bounces when he runs, his feet are lively and it helps him change direction easily, his hands are inconsistent and he seemed distracted as a receiver, worried about run after the catch too much instead of securing the football, he's a smooth runner and has good burst, he even did a Marshall Faulk 'matador' move where he was running at full speed- saw an incoming defender then stopped on a dime to let the defender miss him- he then continued to motor up the field without losing much speed,
Lennon Creer, RB, Louisiana Tech-- saw Creer last week at the Shrine Game and not much has changed in his game for this week, straight line guy with little wiggle, north/south very intent and determined,
Joe Adams, WR, Arkansas-- I was extremely impressed by Adams today, he's very explosive in and out of his breaks, difficult to jam at the line of scrimmage because of quickness, knows how to use his hands to fight off defenders and create separation, he has a great closing burst on the ball when it's in the air, great 'my ball' mentality, good ball tracking ability on downfield passes, has the body control to twist his body and secure the catch,
Juron Criner, WR, Arizona-- very impressive day from Criner, like his cuts on the comeback route, sets up the route well and doesn't tip off what the route is to his defender, had a fantastic 1-handed catch today on a comeback route that was behind him, shows the ability to go after passes, caught a low pass near the sideline where he sacrificed his body,
Patrick Edwards, WR, Houston-- caught some comeback passes, squares body to line of scrimmage giving his QB the biggest target possible, he does have to gather himself when making a cut and loses speed and quickness out of the break,
Jeff Fuller, WR, Texas A&M-- I like Fuller but was disappointed by him today, had a good over the shoulder catch early in practice showing good ball tracking ability, he's a bigger receiver who is slow off the line of scrimmage and fails to beat the jam, he does have strong hands and it's tough for defenders to swipe the ball away from him, will make the contested catch but it's a double edged sword-more of his catches are contested because he lacks consistent separation skills,
Dwight Jones, WR, North Carolina-- I like the way Jones runs the comeback route, he knows how to use his frame to shield defenders away from the football, will turn upfield quickly after the catch,
Marquis Maze, WR, Alabama-- like his skill after the catch, very agile, can set his foot and explode to change direction,