NFL Draft Countdown Senior Bowl '08 - 1/21/08 South Practice Report

January 21, 2008 Senior Bowl - Monday South Practice
Colin Lindsay Great Blue North Draft Report

   The South team held its first practice before a relatively big crowd in Fairhope. However, because the practice was not in full pads it was hard to get a read on many of the players. It also didn’t help that the schedule practice included a lot of stretching and individual positions drills which may have been a solid coaching approach, but meant that for long stretches not much was really happening. It also didn’t help that practice was held in cool and windy conditions that may have affected the passing and kicking to some extent.

   When the players did get down to some serious business, it appeared that the South defense was ahead of the offense. Certainly none of the three South QBs - Colt Brennan of Hawaii, Kentucky’s Andre’ Woodson and Erik Ainge of Tennessee - had afternoons that that they will necessarily want on their pro job applications. Brennan did really gun the ball at times and showed nice touch on the very short stuff, but he really had to wind and step into medium and deep passes. He was also really leaning into many of his throws such that the release point appeared to be very low. As a result, many of Brennan’s throws were wild high or wide. On the other hand, Kentucky’s Woodson looked more like a prototype pocket passer with a high release point and an easy motion. Like Brennan, though, Woodson wasn’t all that accurate, although he was 5-for-5 passing in a seven on seven drill. We didn’t get quite as good a read on Ainge, who worked in a couple of drills with other units while Brennan and Woodson were working pure passing drills; however, the former Vols’ star, a late replacement for Louisville QB Brian Brohm, wasn’t that accurate either when he did get to throw the ball.

   It probably didn’t help the QBs grade that the South receivers, for the most part, didn’t do a particularly good job getting open and struggled to catch the ball at times. The major exception was Florida WR Andre Caldwell, who was one of the top players on the field. Caldwell made some excellent moves to get open - in particular he left Alabama CB Simeon Castille, who otherwise had a pretty solid session, in his wake on a stop-and-go route - caught everything that came his way, and just looked like he wanted the ball out there. At the same time, massive Tennessee TE Brad Cottam also made a couple of tough catches in the seam in 7-on-7 drills. Cottam, who goes almost 6-8 and is over 270 pounds looks more like an offensive lineman, used his size to screen off defenders, showed decent mobility and good concentration hauling in the ball.

   On the other hand, Louisville WR Harry Douglas really looked out of sorts. Douglas was very slow coming out of his breaks and had the ball bounce off his hands too many times, while Texas WR Limas Sweed looked a half step slow. Speedy Donnie Avery of Houston also didn’t catch the ball all that well, but did show plenty of quickness into and out of breaks. Rangy Alabama WR D.J. Hall, a long-strider without much bulk, struggled to beat press coverage, but did make one nice catch in traffic over the middle in a 11-on-11 drill.

   While the South receivers need to pick up the pace, the defensive secondary came to play this afternoon. Indeed, the most impressive player on the field today may have been little known Tennessee State DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The 6-1, 180-pound Rodgers-Cromartie isn’t necessarily the most physical DB, but he is a long strider with fluid hips who can really turn and run and change direction. Rodgers-Cromartie made the defensive play of the day when he cut off a route, stepped in front of a receiver and picked off the intended pass. Interestingly, while nominally a CB, Rodgers-Cromartie, was lining up at FS for the South squad today. Troy CB Leodis McKelvin, another emerging player, also showed quick feet and good flexibility moving in both directions; McKelvin was particularly comfortable when back-peddling. Meanwhile, the Tide‘s Castille and LSU CB Chevis Jackson, neither of whom is real big or fast, battled all afternoon and showed good quickness and instincts; both broke well on the ball and had a couple of pass breakups. Same for Auburn CB Patrick Lee who was physical and quick. On the other hand safeties Marcus Griffin of Texas and D.J. Wolfe of Oklahoma looked a little stiff at times.

   This and that… Sans pads there wasn’t any real tackling but the ‘hit’ of the day nonetheless came courtesy of Georgia Tech LB Phillip Wheeler who lowered a shoulder into and deposited Kentucky RB Rafael Little on his posterior. ‘Non-hit’ of the day belonged to an otherwise unidentified South defensive linemen who grabbed at Tulane RB Matt Forte and came away with a handful of shorts that ended up around Forte’s knees. What is the old saying: no harm no foul! For the record, Forte, known as a tough 220-pounder, was surprisingly quick, as was Georgia Tech RB Tashard Choice, although again there wasn’t any tackling. Before practice began one of the 49ers’ coaches was schooling Kentucky QB Andre’ Woodson, who took just about every snap at UK out of a shotgun, in the finer points of the footwork involved in dropping back into the pocket.. In the past, the North and South flipped the morning and afternoon practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. This year, though, the North will go in the morning both days, while the South will practice in the afternoons. Not sure if it is part of the plan, but there are always more people attending the South practices and it should be easier for those folks to get to the afternoon workouts.

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