Senior Bowl Practice Report: Day 1 North Team Led by Eric Fisher

By Cody Bauer, NFL’s Future

Monday- North Practice Notes (South Team Notes)

QB’s

Not a lot of live throws for the quarterbacks in today’s practice but they had good work with the QB coach from Oakland. They were also able to throw a few to receivers while the DB’s were covering them.

–Ryan Nassib showed good arm strength throughout the day, tight spirals for the most part. He was corrected once by the coach on his weight balance while they were working on play action. Displayed decent foot work on rolling out drills. Did have one ugly miss on an easy out route throw. Overall decent first day.

–Mike Glennon showed his impressive arm strength while working with the coaches, good spirals, ball had some zip. There was one duck thrown by Glennon that wasn’t pretty. For being a tall QB his delivery was still compact, I don’t foresee a problem with it. When working in the minimal live drills he did show that he was hesitant. Got picked off by TJ McDonald on an over throw. He also got coached up on his play action.

-Zac Dysert also showed good arm strength throughout the day. His ball came out nice with a good delivery and nice spiral. In live drills he went to throw a quick out to Wheaton but pump faked and then still threw the ball which was an easy interception by Whre-Wilson. Bad decision on his part to throw it. He later had a nice deep throw to Wheaton who went up and made a great catch. Dysert also had some footwork issues, while rolling out to his left tripped over his own feet and fell down. Didn’t show great anticipation.

RB’s

Not a lot to show off for the running backs to day. Did some drill work early then also got some live work without tackling.

-Jonathan Franklin impressed the most today. Looked good in drills showing quick feet and nice explosion. On one live play had great vision to cut it back on a designed slant run to the left, good quickness to get back around.

-Robbie Rouse looked a little hesitant in the drills. Was corrected to keep his head up and to keep the ball high and tight. Watching him run in some live drill didn’t stick out but I will say it’s tough o find him behind the big o-line.

-Kenjon Barner looked good in drills, very fast feet. Did fumble the ball when it was just o-line vs d-line. Datone Jones came knifing in fast to knock it out of his arm.

TE’s

-Ryan Otten showed some good speed running down the seem

-Nick Kasa was complimented on his blocking by the coaches

Offensive Line/Defensive Line

Good battles today between the offensive line and defensive line. They did some one on one work as well as some live work.

-Most impressive today was Eric Fisher. He was an absolute rock today. He first started by stoning Datone Jones, later he destroyed Michael Buchanan. The next time vs. Datone Jones he initially got rocked back a bit by a strong punch but recovered beautifully to deny him. The next time Fisher battled Buchanan he again easily got the better of him. The coaches then put Okafor on Fisher’s side where Okafor tried a speed rush around the outside but was easily pushed wide of the pocket. Fisher definitely helped himself today, if he continues to have days like this there should be no reason he gets past San Diego at #11.

-Justin Pugh the late addition had a mixed day. Early he was lunging too much and allowing his man to get by. He settled down a bit and had some wins against Buchanan. Buchanan did have a good 2^nd move that allowed him to get by. Pugh did a good job vs. John Simon stoning him twice.

-Kyle Long played both Left Guard and Right Tackle. He had his share of wins but was also beaten a fair share of times. When on the inside he got the better of Brandon Williams, he later played Sylvester Williams tough not allowing much penetration. When out at Tackle Okafor was able to bend the edge with a good shoulder dip and get by him. Another play Okafor showed a great punch to Longs inside shoulder and rocked him back. On another play Buchanan was able to get into Long’s frame and rock him back. When back on the inside going against Sylvester Williams he was able to eliminate Williams after Williams tried to do a spin move and fell down.

– Ricky Wagner also had a mixed day at right tackle. He was battling with Okafor most of the day. Coaches complimented Wagner early for coming out of his stance low and was able to stop Okafor. The next play Okafor was able to get around Wagner with a nice outside speed move.  Wagner then stoned Trevardo Williams and was again complimented by the coaches. Okafor again went against Wagner and tried a speed move but Wagner showed good arm extension to push Okafor wide of the pocket.

-Braxton Cave started the day lunging but eventually got his feet under him and did a decent job. He was able to stuff Sylvester Williams on one play and later had a good battle vs Jordan Hill where Hill eventually got the better of him. Later he went again vs. Sylvester Williams where Williams fired off the ball and abused Cave with a speed move. Cave later went up against Kawaan Short and absolutely destroyed Short by putting him on the ground. The next play Short was able to get by Cave with a speed move.

-Kent St. O-lineman Brian Winters held his own against some of the better competition he faced. He went against Short on three consecutive plays, the first play he put Short on his knees, the next play he put Short on the ground and again the third time he won the battle. He later went against Jordan Hill and battled him tough, Hill showed good effort but was stalled. Winters again later went against Short, on the first play Short destroyed Winters, but then on the second try Winter was able to stone Short. Later on Winters went against Brandon Williams and was able to put him on the ground.

-Illinois offensive lineman Hugh Thornton had a rough day. He was rocked back by Short so badly that Thornton tired sticking his leg out to trip Short. Later Datone Jones lined up on the inside and had a beautiful swim move to get by Thornton. Thornton then got kicked out to right tackle where Okafor abused him with a great dip of his shoulder to run right by him. Eventually Thronton did get the best of Jordan Hill on a play.

-Joe Madsen also had a rough day. First Jordan Hill did a good job of getting under Madsen’s block, later Short gave Madsen all he could handle. Brandon Williams then had a nice spin move to get by Madsen.

-David Quessenberry held his own at practice today. He first denied Brandon Williams, later denied Margus Hunt, and then had a good battle with Datone Jones.

-Aside from the plays mentioned above Brandon Williams was able to penetrate the line and get a nice tackle for loss, and Datone Jones showed good quickness to force a fumble.

-The real winner from the defensive line was Okafor, his speed rush was almost unblockable as he displayed a good shoulder dip.

-All of the d-lineman and o-lineman had their share of wins but it was hard not to notice Eric Fisher and Alex Okafor as the guys who looked the best.

DB’s/WR’s

The wide receivers and defensive backs were playing mostly on the other side of the field but I was able to catch some of the one on one drills where the DB’s were pressing the WR’s.

–Markus Wheaton started the day strong and ended it strong. He showed good pop off the line to avoid being jammed, and looked smooth. I noticed he was rounding off some of his out routes and also missed a block. He did have the great leaping catch in live work.

-Will Davis was too aggressive with his jams, leading to him getting burnt too many times.

–Marquise Goodwin had trouble getting off the jam, but looked very fast in and out of his cuts. He showed good speed on a catch and made CB Jamar Taylor look silly trying to tackle him.

-Jordan Poyer looked good jamming receivers, he had a solid day overall, natural punt catcher.

–Aaron Dobson had some trouble getting off the line of scrimmage in the jam drill, he was too often dancing at the line.

-Chris Harper had a beautiful move to get off jam and toasted Jamar Taylor

–Denard Robinson tried returning punts but didn’t look natural or comfortable. He muffed several punts in the afternoon.

-Jeff Locke had consistent hang time around 4.8 seconds but wasn’t consistent with his kicks. His wind up seemed a little long as well.

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