Steve Shoup of fanspeak.com is covering the Senior Bowl in Mobile and will be offering up his take on the event to NFL’s Future as the second half of our coverage. Be sure to check out Fanspeak.com’s Senior Bowl headquarters for all of Steve’s musings of the week.
Here is a look at the South team’s first practice today, including what players helped their stock and who struggled in the early going. The South team is coached by the Detroit Lions staff headed by Coach Jim Schwartz. Players were in helmets and shells so full contract wasn’t allowed.
Quarterbacks:
Landry Jones, Oklahoma:
Jones didn’t help himself earlier in the day at the weigh-in, coming under 6’4″ and not having any outstanding measurable, and then had a poor overall performance in practice. He struggled with his footwork coming from under center and didn’t look too comfortable throwing intermediate or longer routes. He has a nice deep ball, but it was rarely on target. He was much more precise on shorter quick passes, but got uncomfortable quick when his first or second read weren’t there.
E.J. Manuel, FSU:
Manuel had a really strong day overall, he showed good mobility in the pocket to buy time and still deliver a strike on the move. His footwork wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad and allowed him to throw a number of strong accurate throws down the field. A couple times in 7-on-7′s and team drills he made some poor decisions or was inaccurate with his throw, but he had a very good practice overall. He’s still a work in progress, but the potential is very much there for him to have an impact at the next level.
Tyler Wilson, Arkansas:
Wilson probably had the best day of any of the signal callers. He did throw a bad interception late during team drills, but that was really his only blemish of the day. He showed good poise and awareness in the pocket and displayed a strong accurate arm on a number of throws down field. Overall he did a really good job of placing the ball in the strike zone of his receiver and away from defenders. Wilson definitely opened some eyes with this practice and if he keeps it up this week could move up some draft boards. Read the rest of this entry » «Senior Bowl Notebook: Monday South Practice Notes»