Practices Start Today For 2011 Senior Bowl

The Senior Bowl practices started this afternoon in Mobile, Alabama. The linebackers went one-on-one with the running backs and tight ends, while the defensive backs went one-on-one with the wide receivers.

Boise State wide receiver, Titus Young showed off his speed and had observers mentioning DeSean Jackson.  He’s not as fast as Jackson but does have tremendous speed.  He doesn’t get to full speed as quickly as Jackson but opens up his stride when he gets downfield.

The youngster does a nice job of adjusting to the deep ball. He’s very quick-footed and able to cut on a dime.

The defensive backs didn’t get their hands on many balls, but the drills should get better as the week goes on.

There was one cornerback who stood out today and his name is Rashard Carmichael of Virginia Tech.  He was getting his hands on the passes while showing off his quickness.

The quarterbacks and wide receivers were having trouble getting their timing.

The defensive line talent is supposed to be strong on the rosters of this year’s teams, so you can expect the coaches and scouts to be all over the place at these workouts.

This will be a huge week for Washington quarterback Jake Locker, who was considered a Top 10 pick last year, but his stock has fallen since then.  His completion rate was below 60% , which sends up an alarm to most of the scouts.  He’s a great athlete but he has problems throwing the football out of the pocket. Locker must prove to coaches and scouts that he can do the job from the pocket.

Locker had some nice throws today, once he got his arm loose, but he also threw an interception and quite a few incompletions.  He’s got all the arm strength a quarterback would need but his accuracy was inconsistent.

The top rated quarterback on Mike Mayock’s board is Blaine Gabbert of Missouri a junior who is coming out early.  He’s not at the Senior Bowl but the fact that he’s Mayock’s top rated quarterback says something about this year’s quarterback crop.

One of the quarterback that is generating quite a bit of interest is Colin Kaepernick of Nevada, who has a great combination size, speed and arm strength.  He can make all the throws with an awkward motion.  The success of athletic quarterbacks like Tim Tebow and Michael Vick.

On one play Kaeernick took off and showed off his sub-4.5 speed, then on the next play he threw a dart to a wide receiver on a deep in route.  At some point it might be a good idea to have athletic quarterbacks in back Michael Vick.  That way you can run the same offense if Vick were to get injured.

The North squad has three offensive tackles that are potentially first round draft picks.  Those threee offensive tackles are Nate Solder of Colorado, Anthony Castanzo of Boston College, and Gabe Carimi of Wisconsin. The Eagles aren’t expecting to draft an offensive tackle in the first round but you can never get enough offensive lineman.

Solder stood out as a pass blocker.  He did beat once by Ryan Kerrigan of Purdue, who gave him an outside fake and came back inside.  Solder is 6’7″ height and utilizes his arm length and has quick feet for a guy his size.

Carimi did a nice job in the one-on-one pass drills.  He took his guy inside and buried him and on a couple of other plays he took the pass rusher inside with no problem.  He will have a challenge in bending his 6’7″ frame.

Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton looked very good at today’s workout.  He threw the ball accurately and his arm strength is no problem at all.

Here are the rosters for the North team.  Here is the roster of the South team.

Here are Mike Mayock’s Top 5 Players At Each Position

Quarterback:

*1. Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
2. Jake Locker, Washington
*3. Cam Newton, Auburn
*4. Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
T-5. Andy Dalton, TCU
T-5. Ricky Stanzi, Iowa
T-5. Colin Kaepernick, Nevada
T-5. Pat Devlin, Delaware

Running back:

*1. Mark Ingram, Alabama
2. Daniel Thomas, Kansas State
*3. Mikel LeShoure, Illinois
*4. Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech
*T-5. Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State
T-5. Kendall Hunter, Oklahoma State

Wide receiver:

*1. A.J. Green, Georgia
*2. Julio Jones, Alabama
*3. Jonathan Baldwin, Pittsburgh
4. Titus Young, Boise State
T-5. Jerrel Jernigan, Troy
T-5. Greg Little, North Carolina
*T-5. Randall Cobb, Kentucky

Tight end:

*1. Kyle Rudolph, Notre Dame
2. Lance Kendricks, Wisconsin
3. Luke Stocker, Tennessee
4. D.J. Williams, Arkansas
5. Charles Clay, Tulsa

Guard/center:

1. Mike Pouncey, Florida
2. Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State
3. Danny Watkins, Baylor
4. John Moffitt, Wisconsin
T-5. Rodney Hudson, Florida State
T-5. William Rackley, Lehigh

Tackle:

1. Nate Solder, Colorado
2. Anthony Castanzo, Boston College
3. Tyron Smith, Southern California
4. Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin
T-5. Ben Ijalana, Villanova
T-5. Derek Sherrod, Mississippi State

Defensive end:

*1. Da’Quan Bowers, Clemson
2. Adrian Clayborn, Iowa
3. Aldon Smith, Missouri
*4. J.J. Watt, Wisconsin
*5. Robert Quinn, North Carolina

Defensive tackle:

*1. Nick Fairley, Auburn
*2. Marcell Dareus, Alabama
*3. Corey Liuget, Illinois
*4. Jurrell Casey, Southern California
5. Stephen Paea, Oregon State

Linebacker:

1. Von Miller, Texas A&M
*2. Akeem Ayers, UCLA
*3. Justin Houston, Georgia
4. Bruce Carter, North Carolina
*5. Martez Wilson, Illinois

Cornerback:

*1. Patrick Peterson, LSU
2. Prince Amukamara, Nebraska
*3. Brandon Harris, Miami (Fla.)
*4. Aaron Williams, Texas

Safety:

*1. Rahim Moore, UCLA
2. Ahmad Black, Florida
3. Deunta Williams, North Carolina