John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
South practice displayed a lot of positional drills as well as some good live work. Jamie Collins LB from Southern Missouri and Ryan Swope WR from Texas A&M both pulled out with injuries.
QB’s
-Landry Jones didn’t impress much today. He was high early and often on a lot of his passes. He looked late on a lot of his passes and didn’t anticipate well. Some of these issues could be from not having a rapport with his receivers.
-EJ Manuel displayed good arm strength but he didn’t look smooth dropping back from center. Manuel didn’t do much to stick out today, he did have one nice pass on an out route to Hamilton but he dropped it. That was during the live work.
-Tyler Wilson was high to start the day and stumbled on an occasion dropping back from center during live work. He displayed good arm strength throughout the day. His best play is when he scrambled to his left and was able to hit Mychal Rivera the TE from Tennessee.
Safety Drills
-In some safety tackling drills Baccari Rambo from Georgia showed good pop
-JJ Wilcox, safety from Georgian Southern ducked his head; he was corrected by coaches and later fixed it. In the live work he had a nice hit on Stepfan Taylor. He did some nice things out there today.
TE’s
-Mychal Rivera from Tennessee got complimented by the coaches for making a nice catch off his frame and later made a nice grab during the live work
-Vance McDonald form Rice ran a smooth in route and made a catch in front of Bacarri Rambo.
D-line Drills
-John Jenkins looks smooth. Doesn’t move like a 350+lb man.
-Lavar Edwards and Ezekiel Ansah both also looked smooth in drills, Ansah doesn’t seem to be moving very fast but keeps his movements under control.
-Cory Grissom looked slow and uncoordinated during drills.
-Everett Dawkins looked out of control during the drills, he was going hard but just too wild with movements.
WR/CB
-Marc Anthony from Cal had a nice pass breakup on a slant route. Later in the live work Anthony had another nice pass break up on a ball thrown by Landry Jones. Later Jones threw another ball later over toward Anthony who was able to break on it and get a pass deflection that was intercepted by Vince Williams LB from Florida St. Marc Anthony later stumbled out of his backpedal and allowed a reception in front of him to Cobi Hamilton
– Robert Alford CB from Southeastern Louisiana had a nice pass break up on an out route. He showed all day that he can compete with the bigger school guys. He is undersized but shows nice hip flexibility.
– Shawn Williams, Safety from Georgia, also showed a good break on the ball by being able to step in front of the receiver on an in route.
– Sanders Commings, CB from Georgia had good press coverage early in practice. Later Commings was toasted on a deep route by Terrance Williams.
– Quinton Patton continued to look good today. He showed good speed and was able to run by B.W. Webb, he gave a sneaky push off at the end and was able to haul in a long pass. Later during the live work he ran a nice route, shielded the defender off with his body and then exploded up field, he looked very fast. Questions about his ability to separate at the next level may be being answered this week.
-Leon McFadden had good press coverage on Hamilton early; he made quite a few plays on balls. McFadden has helped himself with his play so far.
RB’s/LB’s blocking/covering drills
-Zavier Gooden from Missouri absolutely rocked Stepfan Taylor in pass protection (this drill wasn’t setup to do the RB any favors)
-Sean Porter then destroyed Mike Gillislee in pass protection (this drill wasn’t setup to do the RB any favors)
– Stepfan Taylor looked really good running routes; there wasn’t a LB that could cover him. In the live game work Taylor looked fast, displayed good cutting ability. He took one run to the house without being touched.
Andre Ellington RB from Clemson showed really good speed, he wasn’t hesitant and ran hard.
Tommy Bohanon- Showed absolutely not cutting ability, there is a reason he is a FB.
O-line vs. D-line
-In some double team drills Lane Johnson pancaked Lavar Edwards from LSU. Later in one on ones Johnson was lined up at left tackle he stoned Edwards in back to back plays. Then while at right tackle he denied Malliciah Goodman from Clemson twice, the second time putting him on the ground. To end the one on ones Johnson completely shut down Edwards. During live work Johnson showed good feet to get downfield and make a nice block. Johnson had a good showing.
– During double team work John Jenkins from Georgia showed good hand usage and tenacity to work through it. Jenkins was a force all
Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE
day. Jenkins lined up over Guard Garrett Gilkey from Chadron St. and walked him right back on the first play. The next play Gilkey did a good job of initially stopping him but Jenkins was able to work a counter and get by him. Jenkins then lined up over Dalton Freeman, Center from Clemson and blew by him, on the second play Freeman was able to get the better of him. Jordan Mills offensive tackle from LT tried to block Jenkins next was but was beaten badly on a nice inside move and was forced to hold him. Later Jenkins was able to get under Mills and walk him back.
-Oday Aboushi from Virginia had a decent day. He started off by stoning Malliciah Goodman twice. He later faced Cornellius Washington of Georgia and Washington got by him with a nice inside move. The next play saw him line up against Edwards and Aboushi denied him. Next Ezekiel Ansah from BYU tried to beat Aboushi and was successful with a nice spin move to the inside but then tried a bull rush that Aboushi absorbed and had a good base/re-anchor to stop him.
-Larry Warford was an absolute rock in the one on ones. He stoned Cory Grissom from South Florida twice early, then denied Everett Dawkins from FSU’s power rush and spin move. Dawkins tried again to get by Warford but Warford was able to stuff him twice. Warford was awesome today.
-Brian Schwenke, center from Cal had a really good day. He first went against Grissom and was able to stop him twice, the second time putting him on the ground. Schwenke during the live work did a nice job of coming over to help his guard and put the guy in the ground. Schwenke also denied Josh Boyd twice on back to back plays. He later had good battles with Montari Hughes.
-Montori Hughes DT from Tennessee-Martin had a real strong day. You never would have guessed he was just in a walking boot a few days ago. He looked fast in his drills and showed good explosion in the one on ones. He first walked back Freeman to the QB then on the next play flew by him with a nice speed move. Hughes then had a good battle with Xavier Nixon OT from Florida but was able to get by him with a nice counter move. He later popped up too high off the snap but showed good power still by pushing the center back.
-Xavier Nixon had some good battles today stopping Edwards on a few occasions and also stopped Washington on another play.
– The rush of the day came from Washington who absolutely flew by Jordan Mills. It happened in the blink of an eye that got him and the coaches fired up.
-Edwards, Dawkins, and Goodman were quiet during the one on ones. Grissom was on the ground too much. Ansah flashed a few times but was held in check for the most part.
Winners from the day are Lane Johnson, Larry Warford, Brian Schwenke, Quinton Patton, Montori Hughes, and John Jenkins.
My plan is to watch more of the quarterbacks, wide receivers, and cornerbacks later this week. Good battles going on in the trenches.
