Senior Bowl Practice Report

In the final practice before the majority of scouts leave town for the week, I was able to focus on the trenches for the South team Wednesday afternoon. Like the North team earlier in the day, it was the last opportunity for players to make an on-field impression in front of many of the scouts.

OFFENSIVE LINE

The South offensive line is an interesting collection of talent. Like the North, one blocker established himself as the group's most consistent pass blocker. The South offensive line, however, has greater individual talent than the North, particularly on the interior. Many of the prospects may be playing out of position.

One of the players I was most excited to see line up was Central Michigan's Joe Staley. Despite dramatically stepping up his level of competition, Staley has held up well this week, especially in pass protection. Staley has good quickness out of his stance and keeps his feet moving. His balance and overall athleticism keep him in front of defenders. While he uses his hands well, Staley will have to continue to get stronger to reach his potential, but he solidified his position this week among the draft's better left tackle prospects.

Arkansas' Tony Ugoh has performed well in run blocking drills, but is still a work in progress as a pass blocker. Ugoh's initial kick step isn't always deep enough, allowing defenders a quick advantage. Ugoh's use of his arms is also too inconsistent. When he gets a good initial hand punch on the defender, he can often control. At other times, he shoots his hands too high, slips off and loses balance trying to recover. Ugoh has talent, but struggled a bit with speed rushers capable of slapping away his initial punch.

I was particularly impressed with the interior play of two linemen. Tennessee's Arron Sears and Auburn's Ben Grubbs consistently stood out not only in drills, but also in scrimmages.

Sears plays with impressive overall power as both a run and pass blocker. Opponents struggled to maintain their position against him in run blocking, with Sears routinely pushing them off the line. In pass blocking, Sears' upper body strength and physical hand play often stymied defensive tackles to the point of frustration.

Grubbs enjoyed similar success. In fact, he may have been the most consistent interior pass blocker in drills Wednesday. Scouts nearby were pointing out his consistency when he surprisingly was beaten off the snap by Mississippi State's Antonio Johnson for an easy pressure. I (as well as the silenced scouts) was especially curious to see how he'd respond the play after. True to form, Grubbs stoned Johnson on the next snap, absorbing the big defensive tackle's initial rush, latching onto the interior of his pads and ultimately knocking him to the ground.

After former USC Trojan Ryan Kalil was reportedly the talk of the offensive line at Monday's practice, I focused a fair amount of attention on him Tuesday. I wasn't surprised to note his success at getting to the second level or his lateral quickness in pass blocking. What did surprise me was Kalil's overall strength at the point of attack. He wasn't as dominant as some had characterized, but was impressive. However, Kalil seemed to take a step back Wednesday. While he was still among the best offensive linemen and clearly is the best center here, Kalil gave up more pressures Wednesday than the previous day (and Monday too, presumably).

Texas' Justin Blalock split time at guard and tackle Wednesday, and looked most impressive while at guard. Blalock struggled a bit with speed rushers, but has good strength at the point of attack and consistently won battles when he was able to latch onto his opponent. The perception among scouts I spoke to is that he could be a good pro tackle, but an even better guard.

Tim Duckworth (Auburn), Dustin Fry (Clemson) and Mansfield Wrotto (Georgia Tech) struggled a bit Wednesday. Duckworth struggled with technique and was beaten fairly regularly. Fry played with surprising strength at the point of attack, but gave up interior pressures to Johnson and a rejuvenated Tank Tyler. Wrotto is a project, but he flashes the athleticism and has the size that will likely make him the highest drafted of this trio.

DEFENSIVE LINE

With the South offensive line impressing more than expected, it stands to reason that the defensive line has been a bit of a disappointment. While the collective group has seemingly underachieved, there have been flashes of steady play -- sometimes from surprising sources.

Entering the week I expected Tyler (N.C. State) to emerge as the South's top defensive lineman. It hasn't happened. Tyler was arguably the biggest disappointment of the day Tuesday, showing little in terms of quickness, lateral agility, pass rush or even strength at the point of attack. He was considerably better Wednesday, surprising interior offensive linemen with his improved play, but his lack of day to day inconsistency is a red flag.

Mississippi State's Johnson has been the South's most consistently impressive defensive tackle. He has shown good initial burst off the snap and was able to give some of the South's top interior linemen their toughest draws of the day.

The hopes were high for Miami's Kareem Brown, considering his size and the program's history of producing high quality defensive linemen. Unfortunately, he has struggled to make plays during the scrimmages as a run stuffer, and his pass rush both in drills and the scrimmages has been non-existent.

Perhaps the most intriguing defensive lineman for the South has been Oklahoma State's Ryan McBean. McBean, who played defensive tackle for Oklahoma State but measured in at 6-feet-5, 277 pounds, has good burst off the snap and uses his hands well to break free from blockers. He lacks strength at the point of attack, however, and may be without a position. The 49ers' staff tried him all along the line Wednesday, as McBean took snaps at defensive tackle as well as right and left defensive end.

Among the defensive ends, I was surprisingly most consistently impressed by Florida's Ray McDonald. I had expected the pass rush capabilities of Georgia's Quentin Moses and Tim Crowder to present a huge challenge for the South's offensive tackles, and while their speed has been a problem, neither has been able to consistently battle through the strong hands and lateral quickness posed by the tackles to consistently gain pressure.

McDonald, on the other hand, has shown much better burst off the snap than anticipated, and the 6-3, 282-pounder has held his ground well at the point of attack. McDonald was consistently able to get an initial advantage off the snap due to his explosiveness, and blew up more than one sweep and screen pass due to his ability to get an outside rush so quickly. McDonald's short-area quickness is all the more surprising because he seems to lack any kind of straight-line speed. McDonald lumbers about the field and is hampered even more with unsightly knee and elbow braces.

LSU's Chase Pittman has also shown a surprising burst off the snap, gaining an initial advantage against offensive tackles. Once with this advantage, however, Pittman hasn't shown the leg drive or use of hands to make plays behind the line of scrimmage. Pittman also rarely changes his tactic, electing to speed rush to the outside most of the time, leaving gaping holes for the draw or screen by rushing so far upfield. The strategy is an odd one considering Pittman's 6-5, 272-pound frame and reputation as a better run defender than pass rusher.

OTHERS

LSU's Dwayne Bowe has consistently proven to be the cream of the class among the wide receivers in Mobile. Showing better overall quickness than you'd expect for a receiver who measured in at 6-2 and 222 pounds, Bowe has been able to generate separation from even the quickest cornerbacks all week. While he dropped a few passes this week, his hands have been as reliable as any other receiver in Mobile, and his strength and size have made him a go-to option for quarterbacks near the goal-line. He is clearly the best receiver here and, in my opinion, is the top senior wideout in the draft. After this week of practice, I even view him as a better prospect than some of the more hyped underclassmen at the position.

Clemson's Chansi Stuckey arguably had the catch of the day when he reached long with his right hand to tip a deep pass back to himself for a dazzling touchdown. Unfortunately, Stuckey dropped an easy 10-yard reception the next time he was targeted.

The other candidate for catch of the day came from Oregon State tight end Joe Newton. Running a combination route, Newton was a bit late in turning his head, which was compounded by the fact that Florida quarterback Chris Leak was a bit early in his releasing the pass. The pass was perfect, however, hitting Newton in his left hand just as he turned his head. Newton, whose soft hands have impressed scouts all week, one-handed the ball, drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd.

After a rough day Tuesday, the South receivers generally did a better job holding onto the ball Wednesday -- minus a few exceptions. Georgia tight end Martrez Milner had improved his stock the first two days of practice with better hands than he had shown throughout much of his senior season. However, the dropsies made another appearance for Milner on Wednesday, as several passes intended for the athletic tight end hit his pads and bounced to the turf.

While Auburn's Kenny Irons will ultimately be one of the first running backs selected and quite possibly the first senior at the position, he dropped several passes Wednesday. Some were simple swing passes out of the backfield, others were longer passes over his head along the sideline. At least two that he did catch were bobbled and almost surely would have been dropped had the receptions been contested.

Lorenzo Booker, whose acceleration and lateral agility could make him a better third-down, big-play threat at the NFL level than he ever was as a feature back at Florida State, also struggled with more drops after disappointing scouts with some unsightly ones Tuesday. Booker's drops have typically appeared to be due to a lack of concentration (trying to make a move before pass is secured), but he has also shown a troubling tendency to drop balls when he feels a big hit coming.

I mentioned the surprising lack of power behind the kickoffs of Mason Crosby of the North practice earlier this week. While the South Team elected to use the JUGGS machine for their kickoffs throughout the week of practice, Arizona's Nick Folk has shown a very strong leg in field-goal attempts. Attempting 25-35-yard field goals, Folk's kicks were not only splitting the uprights, but clearing them with ease.

Like many of the NFL scouts, I am leaving Mobile on Thursday morning. But I will be presenting a final Senior Bowl review following Saturday's game.

Rob Rang is a Senior Analyst for NFLDraftScout.com, distributed by The Sports Xchange.