Colorado State center Weston Richburg impressed onlookers at Tuesday’s North Team practice (Photo: magicvalley.com)
DraftBrowns.com Staff Writer: Justin Higdon
When I escaped the Game of Thrones-esque, Chicagoland winter for Mobile this week, I’d hoped for warm temperatures, and while it was in the 50s today, steady winds made things chilly. It was still a fairly comfortable day for my fellow Northerners and me, but the conditions made things interesting for practices today. Here’s a quick look at how the North team faired on Day Two of Senior Bowl week.
After taking the late shift on Day One, the North team was first on the field Tuesday morning. It was immediately evident that the three quarterbacks, despite all of their flaws, had sufficient arm strength to cut through the stiff breeze. After neglecting the North’s passers and receivers in favor of the lines on Monday, I devoted most of morning to the pitch and catch game. One player who stood out during the course of drills was Northwestern jack-of-all-trades Kain Colter. The former Wildcat quarterback is listed as a receiver here this week, and aside from lacking ideal speed, he looked comfortable in his new(ish) role. Colter worked his way open consistently. At one point he put a wicked move on Nebraska corner Stanley Jean-Baptiste to get open for a grab, and later he shook Marqueston Huff so badly that the poor Wyoming defensive back was left desperately clutching at jersey. Colter had made an outstanding, one-handed catch down the right sideline earlier, and also did well to find the soft spots in coverage. Aside from one bobble – which he still gathered in as he went to the ground – Colter caught the ball cleanly. If he runs a halfway decent 40 time, he’s a draftable player, and in a deep and talented receiver class, I absolutely mean that as a compliment. He seems like the type of player who would do whatever he’s asked to do in order to contribute.
On Monday, one of the names generating buzz was Robert Herron, the diminutive wide receiver from Wyoming. I was excited to get a look at him today, as my previous exposure had been limited. Of course, once I finally decided to focus on him, he promptly produced three drops. But things got better from there, as Herron continually gave defensive backs fits with his route-running, and atoned for his previous miscues. One of my trusted colleagues even called Herron “uncoverable.” He definitely has peoples’ attention so far this week.
Oregon’s Josh Huff is another receiver who caught my eye today. Though he struggled on a couple of occasions to get off the line of scrimmage, the former running back made a number of nice catches on the day, and almost came down with an incredible one handed grab on a deep pass from Tajh Boyd. Huff is also among the best blocking receivers in attendance, demonstrating strength, leverage and tenacity in locking up defenders. Look up fundamentally sound in this year’s version of the football scouting dictionary, and you’re likely to find a picture of Huff.
Speaking of fundamentally sound players, West Virginia running back Charles Sims continues to do everything well, if not spectacularly. Sims was the best of the North backs in pass protection drills, and showed patience, decisiveness and burst on his carries. It’s usually difficult to gauge running back performances in these types of practices, but that’s not the case with Sims. What he’s shown here is what he’s shown on tape, and he’s probably the second best senior running back in the class. Behind DraftBrowns favorite Carols Hyde, that is.
Sims is no surprise, and Wisconsin’s James White probably shouldn’t be. But the Badger has shared time with Montee Ball and Melvin Gordon during his college days, and has never been properly appreciated. White is a sturdy 5’9” and 206 pounds, and he has an explosive first step – the best of any running back here. He was even fun to watch in pass blocking drills, where he held his own (aside from one ugly rep) against his former teammate, linebacker Chris Borland.
It was hard not to notice the compliments on my twitter timeline for Toledo running back David Fluellen. It was also hard for me to agree. Now, I’ve only got two eyes, but when I’ve seen Fluellen run, he’s often been dancing behind the line of scrimmage and failing to generate any sort of forward momentum. It’s not always his fault that there is nowhere to run, but he’ll still try to find a crease. Where Sims will grind ahead when bottled up, Fluellen will dance, and often that results in losing even more ground. Perhaps the young man is trying to do too much this week. After all, he posted impressive numbers during his last two college seasons. But in an overflowing running back class, I’m just not sure he’s worth a draft pick.
I barely spent any time on the North’s linemen, but Colorado State center Weston Richburg was impossible to ignore. He displayed strength, hustle and a nasty disposition in team drills, and was stout in one-on-ones. Richburg stood in strong against Monday’s star, Aaron Donald, and he held his own against highly-touted Minnesota defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman. Hageman was left to repeatedly take his frustrations out on overmatched Miami guard Brandon Linder, who is in the “One of These Things Just Doesn’t Belong Here” category this week.
Finally, while I wasn’t particularly high on any of the North’s quarterbacks, I made a point to spend some time observing them. I was especially interested in seeing how the windy conditions would impact their performances. As I noted above, arm strength wasn’t an issue for any of the three. They started the day throwing into the wind, and were all able to fire the ball right through it. However, when facing the other direction (wind at their backs) all three noticeable struggled with accuracy. Now you could say, “Well, no kidding, dumbass. This is nothing new.” And you’d be right. But two of them really struggled today. Stephen Morris was the worst, missing throws by as many as five to ten yards. That’s yards, as in three feet each. Kickers who make desperation heaves after botched field goal snaps come closer than Morris did on several occasions. There are rumblings that receivers are so frustrated by Morris that they are jockeying for position in line so that they don’t have to catch passes from him. I’m being serious.
Boyd wasn’t quite as bad. Most of his misses were overthrows where the ball sailed. In fact, his worst moment of the practice had nothing to do with his accuracy. No, Boyd’s “derp” of he day came when he stared down the running back on a pass into the flat. This was his check down option, and Boyd never even bothered to look down the field for a second on the play.
Thanks to Morris and Boyd, Logan Thomas actually looked competent on Tuesday. We’ve already established that he looks like the ideal NFL passer, but he’s never been able to put all of his physical tools together. Today Thomas was the best of a bad lot, but he zipped in several strong intermediate passes and had good spin on the ball. Prior to coming down here, I’d heard that Thomas won’t make it out of the top 60 picks of the draft, and now I am selfishly hoping that he finishes the week strong and convinces a team to go all in and draft him in the first round. Thomas should interview well. He’s smart, he’s big, he’s strong. Stranger things have happened in the first round (like Brandon Bleeping Weeden), and hey, E.J. Manuel’s Senior Bowl helped propel him into Round One. So please, let this happen. It will make my draft day that much more enjoyable. Amen.
