2019 Senior Bowl Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of the 2019 Senior Bowl has been just completed with both team finished with their practices. Who stood out? Who had a rough go of things? Keep in mind that this is only day one of practices so there’s still several chances for prospects to shine. I attended the weigh ins and both team practices.

Links

Jon Ledyard of The Draft Network has his thoughts on Day 1 North Practice

Joe Marino of The Draft Network has some insights on the Day 1 South Practice

Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting has opinions on the North side practice

Mr. Galko shares words on the South practice

Chase Goodbread and Lance Zierlien rave about Montez Sweat and other folks

Longtime NFL Network and draft guru Mike Mayock scouts the Senior Bowl as the Raiders GM

Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy had his opening press conference here

You can find the weigh in results: http://www.optimumscouting.com/news/2019-senior-bowl-weigh-in-results

From the Twitterverse

Here's a rep from Oregon EDGE Jalen Jelks. He's very good.

My Thoughts

North Team

• The Raiders coaching staff ran a very intense practice and they used every last possible minute of their time. They even went hurry up for the last 10 minutes or so.
• Ohio State receiver Terry McLaurin was THAT DUDE aka WR1 for the North team. He won multiple reps, showing elite route running ability and awesome catches.
• On the flip side, Louisville receiver Jaylen Smith had an atrocious day. He has near 0 separation ability and no explosion in his get off. Every rep, he had the defender right on him.
• The QB is who everyone thought they were, which is to say, very inconsistent. Of the bunch, Missouri’s Drew Lock looked the best.
• Every year, there’s a QB who doesn’t belong, that QB this year is Penn State’s Trace McSorely. He looks out of place like a high school kid. He showed virtually no velocity on his throws and defenders frequently caught up to his deep passes. His short game is very good though. The weigh in did him no favors, either.
• Duke QB Daniel Jones had an up and down day. He has the arm strength to make all the throws but 0 touch. The quick passes eluded him.
• NC State QB Ryan Finley is what he is at this point, a career backup with very little arm strength.
• The safety group was beat a handful of times throughout but they recovered nicely once beaten so there’s that, particularly Michigan State’s Khari Willis, who had a forced fumble on a rep.
• Texas CB Kris Boyd came in with a lot of hype but he failed to deliver, getting beat often. He can play press corner but off, whoo boy. Had scouts in the stands questioning his character after a particularly hard tackle that resulted in the receiver doing a flip and not landing it.
• Washburn (Division 2) CB Corey Ballentine had a nice day in coverage, showing that he can stick with the receiver stride for stride in multiple reps.
• UC Davis WR Keelan Doss showed today that he belongs at this level.
• UMASS receiver Andy Isabella lived up to the hype and then some. He’s only 5’8 186 but Good Lord, the guy can play. He can challenge Hunter Renfrow to a route running contest and I wouldn’t know who would win.

South

• Clemson WR Hunter Renfrow is the perfect slot receiver at the next level. He’s a dominant route runner. Caught everything too.
• West Virginia QB Will Grier was inconsistent today. He doesn’t have the strongest arm and it shows.
• Buffalo QB Tyree Jackson is going to get overdrafted by several rounds due to his physical measurements. He was off all day on anything short.
• I noticed that the tight ends looked antsy to get going, caught them false starting twice.
• Buffalo receiver Anthony Johnson had a good day.
• West Virginia receiver Gary Jennings looked shredded during the weigh in. He caught everything and is a natural pass catcher.
• Miami S Jaquan Johnson is a physical presence. He was all over the place and showed good coverage ability.
• Miss State OL Elgton Jenkins had a great day. He won multiple reps in one on ones and had a massive pancake on a defender during team drills.
• An OL who didn’t have a good day was Alabama State’s Tytus Howard, he was repeatedly whipped by the defensive line, particularly Montez Sweat and Carl Granderson. Howard false started several times trying to anticipate the assignment.
• Oklahoma OL Dru Samia was the man throughout the practices. He rarely lost a rep.
• Miss State EDGE Montez Sweat was dominant. He has a case for being the best prospect in Mobile.
• Wyoming EDGE Carl Granderson had a great day. He showed a ton in one on ones and team drills. There was a rep where he burst up the field but chased down the runner after the ball was at least 20 yards down field.
• La Tech EDGE Jaylon Ferguson had a nice rep in the team portion.
• South Carolina WR Deebo Samuel was a monster. He’s good.
• Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham looked good despite my initial misgivings. He’s shown plenty of progress in the pocket and in his dropbacks.