The second day of the 2017 Reese’s Senior Bowl practices wrapped up with just one more session to go before the game on Saturday. Prior to practice today guard Forrest Lamp was unable to go today because of a high ankle sprain. It’s a shame to hear after he had a bit of a rough day in his first go around at practice. Lamp remains a 3rd round kind of prospect in my eyes. Otherwise, day 2 of the practices is usually a good indication of who can respond when the pressure is on. How does each player progress as the week goes on? Take a look at who caught my attention for better or worse for the South team.
For a closer look at the first day of practices click here!
Quarterbacks:
As a whole, this quarterback group is significantly better than the North team. After struggling with some of the playcalling yesterday, Tiffin’s Antonio Pipkin looked much more confident in his abilities. Pipkin’s a shade under 6’1″ but looks incredibly mobile and throws a pretty ball.
Antonio Pipkin to Evan Engram https://t.co/Xzel1hoKNU
— Trey Daubert (@treydaubert) January 25, 2017
Josh Dobbs again had an up and down day to me. There are times where he throws a heck of a ball but there are too many bone headed mistakes mixed in. His footwork dropping into 5 step reads was also inferior to the other two guys. Davis Webb of Cal continued to impress as he stands head and shoulders above the rest. Despite the fact that he has never taken a snap under center, Webb’s mechanics and footwork is something to marvel at. Scouts continue to rave about his work ethic and leadership which only speaks volumes to why I’m so high on him.
Running Backs:
The south team running backs haven’t impressed me much so far. All 3 of them really struggle in pass protection which makes sense considering they are all undersized players. After doing a bit of digging Donnel Pumphrey was taken off of my board based on workload. The San Diego product had over 1,000 carries during his college career. There are only so many hits a back can take during his time in the league and it doesn’t help that he is also the lightest player at the Senior Bowl at 169 pounds. I did like Matt Dayes explosiveness as there’s a chance he could be a nice third-down receiving back.
Wide Receivers:
The drop fest continued into today which isn’t a good sign, to say the least. I really liked Josh Reynolds coming into the process but failed to make the easy catch at times. The guy that stood out to me today was LSU’s Travin Dural. In college, Dural was plagued by horrible quarterback play so it was nice to see him play well today. LSU has brought some good talent to the NFL in recent years in the form of Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry but Dural is a different kind of animal. He is more of a possession type of guy using strength to get open rather than speed. The best route runner was UNC’s Ryan Switzer but he might end up being a return man only. One guy, I’m hoping that will step up tomorrow is Artavis Scott of Clemson who hasn’t been able to create much separation thus far.
Tight Ends:
O.J. Howard had another good day but we talked about him enough. How about Ole Miss tight end Evan Engram wow. I think he distanced himself from the other smaller receiving tight ends. Teams everywhere are looking for that Jordan Reed and Engram looks like he has the best chance of recreating that. I think teams should be careful how high they draft this guy but Engram looks like a safe bet to be a productive pro, creating nightmares in the passing game. The video of him can be seen above with Antonio Pipkin throwing him a strike.
Offensive Line:
Coming into day 2 I was hoping that someone would step up in a big way. I thought Justin Senior and Ethan Pocic had really nice days. Senior as mentioned before is probably a right tackle only but held up extremely well in pass protection again. Pocic, on the other hand, is at a real disadvantage in these drills being a tall center 6’6″. Nevertheless, he did not get pushed around and was able to participate at guard as well. Zone-running teams will love this guy. Danny Isidora out of Miami was another guy I thought had some potential but failed to deliver. Isidora really struggles with his center of gravity and often times loses his footwork. Not a good sign. Overall this continues to prove that this draft will not produce many productive offensive linemen.
Defensive Line:
Alabama’s Dalvin Tomlinson was the best interior defensive lineman that I saw. Every rep he continued to push the pocket and seems to be very underrated at the moment simply because of how many collegiate teammates that will get selected before him. Daeshon Hall was a player I mentioned a lot yesterday but seems to not have the buzz around him that Jordan Willis has. I thought Willis was very underwhelming which begs the question of whether his sack production was inflated because he played in the pass happy Big 12 conference. Also, I thought Carlos Watkins from Clemson had another good day as well while Eddie Vanderdoes continued to confuse me as he is often times out of control and all over the places lacking technique.
Linebackers:
Ryan Anderson had a great showing today. He isn’t going to flash with superior athleticism but he will beat you with power. He reminded me of Courtney Upshaw coming out. You know with Anderson he is going to set the edge and stop the run.
Ryan Anderson bull rush https://t.co/AVQDPAMVnt
— Trey Daubert (@treydaubert) January 25, 2017
The other guy who stood out today was Alex Anzalone from Florida. The only question mark with this guy is injury concerns but he flew around the ball in the team drills. Florida always seems to produce talented defenders and Anzalone could be the next.
Defensive Backs:
LSU’s Tre White continues to stand out above the rest. You know what you’re getting with these standout SEC corners year after year. Prototypical size and length who isn’t afraid to get physical and press. White may be inching his way towards a top 10 selection.
Tre White breaks up the pass https://t.co/XIhyJBq1ck
— Trey Daubert (@treydaubert) January 25, 2017
Corn Elder and Marquez White had some really great moments but were very grabby as the refs threw some flags their way. Damontae Kazee also built upon his momentum. For an undersized corner, this guy fights every step and did a great job in press coverage after he never had to do it in college. Perfect slot corner to me.