day one practice report is here!
2012 Players All Star Classic
Day One Practice Report
North Squad:
QUARTERBACKS
Dominique Davis, 4, East Carolina/Boston College-- Davis checked in this morning at 6027 and 218 lbs showing a good physique and broad shoulders. On the field he had an up and down day. Nice scissor step when dropping back, he has a quick release which helps him get rid of the ball quicker, throwing to the outside most passes are high, has to push the ball on passes over 20 yards, can flick the ball to quickly get rid of it under pressure, coaches on him to 'get faster moving away from the center!',
Alex Tanney, 17, Monmouth (IL)-- had a great day today, measured in at 6027 and 216 lbs, I like the way he turns after a ball fake, very energetic backdrop, quick set up, showed nerves early with passes sailing high on 20+ yarders, like his feet when moving within the pocket, he gets his head around quickly when turning to throw, does a good job stepping into his throws when rolling to his right, good zip on intermediate throws,
Matt Blanchard, 15, Wisconsin-Whitewater-- rough day for Blanchard, must've had 10+ fumbled snaps during the day and it didn't get better after that, I like his cadence, but several passes go in the dirt, he has an awkward dropback, his motion is very deliberate and he's clearly aiming his passes, takes too long to get rid of the football,
RUNNING BACKS
Derrick Coleman, 33, UCLA-- I was excited to see Coleman coming into this week, measured in at 5112 and 234 lbs with good muscle definition, and a strong bubble, he stays low when running and gives defenders little to nothing to tackle, he is an inline back with little wiggle, slow to change direction, fumbled the ball on a big hit,
Lampford Mark, 29, Nevada-- Lampford is upright, I mean Eric Dickerson upright when he runs, too bad he's not explosive and lacks a powerful stride, fumbled a kickoff, shows the ability to pick and slide to find holes, had another fumble in 9-on-7, trips when he's cutting and not sliding to different hole,
Michael Smith, 20, Utah State-- so impressive today starting at the weigh in this morning, measured in at 5081 207 lbs with a chiseled physique, looks like a Greek god, frame is not overly packed though so has natural movement as a runner, explosive first step and burst out of his cuts, very decisive runner who toys with defenders with moves, shimmy, shake n bake, stiff arm, low to the ground bowling ball type of runner with wiggle in tight areas,
WIDE RECEIVERS
Derek Moye, 6, Penn State-- looked skinny at the weigh in but had a good day of practice, measured in at 6044 205 lbs on a lean frame, was able to adjust to poorly thrown passes, catch passes behind him on back hip, started off unecessarily jumping (pet peeve of mine), can sky for high passes, bit of a heavy stepper when changing direction, good burst out of his breaks, burst helps make up for heavy steps/throttling down, good sideline awareness tip toe on the edge, needs to practice with better effort, at times looked like he was just going through the motions, big play when he got physical CB Antwuan Reed (Pittsburgh), basically pushed Reed back on jam at line of scrimmage, Reed fell down on his butt, Moye scorched down the field for easy catch,
Phillip Payne, 12, UNLV-- good body control, spin catches on passes behind him, low passes not a problem to gather in, a smooth athlete who can stride effortlessly, will snag passes out of the air, got 2 feet down on sideline drills,
Derek Carrier, 83, Beloit College-- up and down performance here, started out jumping unecessarily for catches into his chest, dropped some low passes and didn't adjust to ball, deeper routes he can find the ball in the air and go get it,
Michael Willie, 1, Arizona State-- very intriguing prospect here, will regularly look in passes, makes crisp breaks but oversells the fake, so much so the WR coach yelled at him about not tipping the route, nice catch early where he caught the ball 1-handed behind him as he spun around and continued upfield, showed good concentration on a pass/route that didn't even involve him, Willie was standing in line doing special teams drills, when pass came in for WR behind him...the pass was deflected off the WRs hands and headed towards Willie...he turned quickly and caught the pass like he'd been expecting it the whole time...great hand/eye coordination, runs out of control on comeback route once again overselling the fake, seemed to take to coaching as later in practice his routes weren't as hectic, was able to easily sluff off CB Troy Woolfolk (Michigan) and get open, catches balls in traffic, had some trouble with slipping because of his earlier hectic route running,
Marcus Rivers, 88, Buffalo-- can catch high passes, adjust to ball in flight with closing burst, naturally snags ball out of the air, does take a while to throttle down when he changes direction or comes back to the football, a bad ball receiver who goes after the ball no matter where it's placed, good sideline awareness, knows how to use his frame to box out defenders,
Julian Talley, 82, UMASS-- can snag the ball out of the air, did let a couple of passes hit his body, good core strength, runs a nice comeback route, good acceleration and body control, quick cuts, tried too many times to 1-hand catch, led to drops, burst out of breaks, cannot beat press coverage, taken out of play by physical CBs, showed great over the shoulder ball tracking ability on 40+ yd TD catch, caught it over shoulder at the pylon,
South Squad:
QUARTERBACKS
Aaron Corp, 7, Richmond, USC-- I wanted to like him more today, but didn't live up to my expectations, raw product with natural talent and athleticism right there, can move around well in the pocket just a beat late with his throws, very tight mechanics, short/quick throwing motion, but needs better anticipation, only reads one side of the field, missed WR Toney Clemons wide open on '9' route down left sidelines because he was only reading to his right, high/low then runs, his three step drop is a problem, stays a little flat footed, however on five or seven step drops he's lighter on his feet and moves better and steps into his throws better, was able to side arm passes when throwing lanes were plugged,
Nathan ****, 14, Central Arkansas/Arkansas-- nice dropback, balance, sees the field well, little accuracy when he drives the football, passes behind receiver when he puts extra effort into throw, likes to check down too much needs to show willingness to challenge defensive edges, does a good job throwing to the middle of field when LBs back is to him and seam WR is open, does not throw to the edge with confidence or accuracy,
Jordan Jefferson, 9, LSU-- good day of practice, surprised me with accuracy on short, intermediate, and deep passes, good bucket throws down the field on time and in the right spot/correct shoulder, very athletic, throws well on the run when going to his right, good velocity and zip on underneath throws, was late on flag routes but seemed comfortable on '9' routes, comebacks, and slants, out passes are high over 15 yards, threw a pick when batted pass by LB Danny Trevathan (Kentucky) tipped pass in air at line of scrimmage,
RUNNING BACKS
Joseph Baynard, 12, UTEP-- not many notes on Baynard today, caught a few passes out of the backfield,
Brandon Bolden, 25, Ole Miss-- hard charging RB with good stutter step, doesn't lose much speed when stutter/juke move is dropped, was winning early in RBs v LBs pass protection drills, gets behind his pads and delivers a punch to blitzer,
Daryl Richardson, 27, Abilene Christian-- fast back, Bernard Scott's brother, good burst, very aggressive runner, good feet when changing direction, decent hands as a receiver out of the backfield, decent in pass protection drills, did a good job of redirecting his rusher around the QB,
Adrian Moore, 28, Arkansas Pine-Bluff-- good acceleration, fast to the edge, likes to bounce outside too often, a change of direction back, a slashing running style, bounces doesn't cut, did get run over in RBs v LBs drills, needs to have better base when pass protecting,
WIDE RECEIVERS
Rashaad Carter, 81, Tusculum-- great 'Z-out' move to fool CB Jeremy Lane (Northwestern St.) was wide open for TD grab, sold
outside/inside/outside move, strong hands,
Brandon Bostick, 10, Newberry-- plucks catches out of the air, gathers low catches with two hands underneath, nice 'thwip' sound when he catches the ball, double edged sword--catches contested passes but can't get separation so most of his catches will be with DB draped all over him,
Darius Reynolds, 87, Iowa State-- snares passes out of the air, best WR on this team today, does a good job of looking in passes, will secure passes before he turns up field, goes high or low for passes willing to sacrifice his body to make the catch, can adjust to deep passes,
Wes Kemp, 88, Missouri-- Kemp looked good at the weigh in, measured in at 6031 230 lbs, had good mass but needs better definition, scar on his right triceps muscle I'm sure he gets a lot of questions about, big frame, boxes out, strong hands, lets passes get into his body too often, would like to see better concentration and more plucking out of the air,
Toney Clemons, 80, Colorado-- great day for Clemons and had it not been for Reynolds blowing it up he would have had the best day of any WR on the field today, has a good shoulder shake move to get open and create just a little separation, savvy route runner who knows how to set up defenders, he was getting open regularly and catching naturally with arms extended, can sky for catches or get low catches, finds soft spots in the zone, can beat press coverage because of strength/tenacity,
Terrance Wilkerson, 18, SMU-- impressive day, fearless over the middle even though he's not the biggest guy out there, knows how to square his shoulders and come back to the football, good burst after the catch, good ball tracking ability on deep passes,
