I’ve said it before, but let me say it again; You will remember the name LeSean McCoy.
The Harrisburg, PA native was electric in individual drills, as well as team drills. He showed that he has very soft hands and very good vision when running between the tackles, especially for a rookie.
On several occasions McCoy would start heading inside, and just that quickly would change direction and bounce to the outside, leaving even the starting defense left doing the Lord’s Prayer.
The kid idolized Barry Sanders growing up, which isn’t surprising because he moves just like him. At one point, he even pulled a signature Barry Sanders move. Making a cut his feet came out from underneath him, but he just put a hand down, gathered his feet, and kept moving.
Another guy looking like he belongs with this team today is Brandon Gibson. He’s a big guy who could make a really good possession receiver in this league. He turned some heads in this morning’s practice with his surprising soft hands and deceptive speed.
Some heads that were turning include the great Ray Didinger and Merril Reese, who were checking him out next to me from the sidelines.
He played in the west coast offense at Washington State, but was forced to switch to the spread during his senior year and played on a poor team (2-10). As Reese commented on Gibson, “He probably was pressing a bit in Mobile (Alabama, site of the Senior Bowl), and it caused a bad week and a bad game, making his stock drop.”
Gibson could be a diamond in the rough of this draft class.
Some other young guys who looked good were Danny Amendola, Eldra Buckley, Kyle Eckel, Cornelius Ingram, and Dimitri Patterson, a rookie free agent.
Patterson, a corner, played very physically with the receivers and was not afraid to bump and shove them a bit. In a one-on-one against Hank Baskett, he would have been called for pass interference, but it was great to see him getting physical with him anyway.
Later on a slant, run and caught by Brandon Gibson, Patterson finished the play by giving him a nice shoulder check and getting Gibson’s jersey a little dirty.