2019 Senior Bowl Day 3 Recap

Day Three of the Senior Bowl practices aka “getaway day” for everyone not named the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers was held under beautiful sunny skies on Thursday. I was there for all of the North practice and a majority of the South practice before heading home for the weekend. My apologies for having this article out so late.

Links

The good folks at NFL dot com has Day 3 standouts

Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting has Day 3 notes for the North

Mr. Galko also has notes for Day 3 for the South

The Draft Network legends have the details for North Day 3

TDN also has coverage of South Day 3 as well

From the Twitterverse

It was the Deebo Show all week, here’s just an example of how his week has been

OT Oli Udoh had a pretty decent week

I think we’ll get used to seeing this from Hunter Renfrow in a New England Patriots uniform

Texas A&M C Erik McCoy beating a fusky 1 on 1.

One of the few times the Ducks very own Jalen Jelks lost a rep

Kinda spoiler alert for my next post but it’s too good not to share

Say hello to Penny Hart’s week. Emblematic of his dominance in Mobile.

Oregon EDGE Jalen Jelks with a sack. (More on this later from my POV in the stands)

USC OT Chuma Edoga

Chuma Edoga vs Jelks. Winner: Edoga

My Thoughts

North

• The first thing I noticed during warm-ups aka special teams time is that #DraftTwitter favorite Andy Isabella is a body catcher even in return drills. He’s just not a natural at it. It took him awhile to ID the ball location as well.
• The first “team” activity was walkthrough pace late game clock management. NC State QB Ryan Finley was slow processing through reads even at this slow pace. Duke QB Daniel Jones fared somewhat better. Buffalo QB Tyree Jackson didn’t help himself with his elongated release.
• The second drill I took in was the QB quick pass (less than 8 yard outs going both ways) and footwork drills (a bag was placed between the QB’s legs.) In the quick pass, Daniel Jones and Trace McSorely had very little velocity on their passes plus some wobbly throws. Jones and McSorely fared no better in the footwork drill. TM again had no velocity and his short base was a detriment. Finley thought too much about his footwork and aimed his throws as a result. Missouri QB Drew Lock had a better go of it, his ball has a distinct audible pop compared to the other QBs. Jones’ footwork was poor, which was a result of having a too wide of a base.
• In the offense vs. air segment, Andy Isabella and Penny Hart showed off their quickness off the line. It’s just different with these two. Louisville WR Jaylen Smith is a sloppy route runner even against air. I noticed that McSorely can’t even process the quick slant read in this situation. He’s legitimately undraftable.
• In the RB / TE vs. LB / DB 1 on 1 drill, the defense ruled the segment. TCU LB Ben Banogu had two wins against Washington TE Drew Sample and BC TE Tommy Sweeney. Sample had a particularly rough time, suffering three losses, two of which came on leverage situations where the defender got into his body.
• In the WR vs DB 1 on 1 drills, it was the GA State WR Penny Hart and Ohio State WR Terry McLaurin show with a cameo by UMASS WR Andy Isabella. McLaurin just destroyed Texas CB Kris Boyd multiple times. It wasn’t all bad for the defensive backs however as USC CB Iman Marshall had a solid day in coverage, getting a pick in the process on an unstoppable Hart on a rep (poor throw near the sideline). Hart got Marshall back with a sick slant move for a TD though (attention NFL DCs, you may want to press Hart at the line, otherwise he’s blowing by the DB).
• The OL largely dominated the 1 on 1 vs the DL. Big winners: BC OL Chris Lindstrom, Kansas State OT Dalton Risner, Wisconsin OL Beau Benzschawel, Washington OT Kaleb McGary. NC State OL Garrett Bradbury and Charlotte OL Nate Davis. Lots of pancakes involved. I think IHOP would get jealous watching the tape.
• The final segment of practice was the team drill. The defensive line recovered some dignity after taking a massive loss in 1 on 1. Oregon EDGE Jalen Jelks had a good finish with two good reps, finishing a “sack” as seen in the tweet above and showing good backside pursuit on another. Texas DL Charles Omenihu finished with a speed rush beating a tackle off the edge. BC EDGE Zach Allen had a nice couple of reps as well. I noticed TCU EDGE LJ Collier with a nice penetration to force a checkdown pass.

South

• Outside of Deebo, the South offensive skill players were relatively quiet. Utah State TE Dax Raymond showed up. WVU WR Gary Jennings was great as usual. ODU WR Travis Fulgham made a couple of plays as well. Buffalo WR Anthony Johnson had a ridiculous one handed catch.
• The OL vs DL 1 on 1 portion was more balanced and competitive than the North was. It was back and forth for the most part. The OL wins one and the DL bounces right back. Texas A&M Kingsley Keke had another great day overall. He won five reps by my count. Alabama OL Ross Piersbacher won most of his reps.
• Buffalo QB Tyree Jackson has a tendency to launch every ball like it’s a fastball. Footwork is bad as well. On top of that, he doesn’t have the best pocket awareness.
• WVU QB Will Grier and Washington State QB Gardner Minshew cannot throw anything resembling a fade or sideline related pass with any velocity at all. Their passes just hang in the air forever.
• Grier tries to compensate for his lack of arm strength and height by arcing his passes high, which is a huge red flag because most of those get picked off.
• Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham was the best QB on the roster. He’s shown a lot of growth in terms of pocket awareness, he climbs the pocket a lot better than I expected.
• ODU EDGE Oshane Ximines had some good reps, forcing the issue with two speed rushes that forced bad throws.
• Kentucky CB Lonnie Johnson, Jr had a huge day. He had good coverage all over the field. Had a monster play where he nearly ended Hunter Renfrow’s career on a tunnel screen and nearly made the pick on the same rep.
• The Miami defensive backs had an OK day but not great. Both Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine got beat deep once.
• Texas A&M DT Daylon Mack practiced without a jersey for most of practice (due to a spirited rep in 1 on 1), which was a sight to behold.