After not having a ton of information to go on for the first day of the 2020 Reeses Senior Bowl, we are a full send for the 2nd day of practices. The Senior Bowl is so important. Deebo Samuel put on a show here last year and stamped himself as a star. I should say you should have seen it. Anyway, the North team took the field today. I don’t want to waste any time because I have a lot of notes to get to. Who stood out for better or worse? Which guys improved their 2020 NFL Draft Stock?
Quarterbacks:
Jalen Hurts didn’t totally throw up on himself which is better than I thought he would do. He made the easy throws. He’s never going to be a franchise quarterback. I don’t think he’s even a backup. Still, he hung in there ok today. Even made a couple a nice throws. So far so good.
Speaking of guys who threw up on themselves. I did not expect Steven Montez to look so terrible. He should have a pretty good arm on him. ON a deep ball, he threw up a total lollypop that was picked off. Then he should have thrown another picked intended for Devin Duvernay. Didn’t even bother to look at the linebacker leaking underneath.
I’m still waiting for Justin Herbert to throw the ball down the field. I’m sure he has but he didn’t in the footage that I saw. Blame ESPNU. To be honest, a ton of guys just took the checkdown. Really didn’t see a ton. The corners were a lot more competitive than the North. I’m still waiting to see a throw that wows me.
Running Backs:
Eno Benjamin looks like a player that can really do damage in the pass game. He caught the ball well from what I saw. He’s got some shiftiness to him.
Wide Receivers:
Van Jefferson is so good getting in and out of breaks. He’s not just a fast guy that runs fast. He really runs good routes. He made a great contested catch. He gets off the line of scrimmage well. The dude just made plays. Nobody has been a better route runner than Jefferson. His suddenness and ability to set corners up is special.
Collin Johnson is so SLOW it’s painful to watch. I’ve already talked about that enough. He also ran the wrong route during team drills. Again, some of that’s on this horrendous coaching staff.
Austin Mack doesn’t look nearly as athletic as KJ Hill. Just lacks explosion and dropped an easy ball.
I still don’t know what to make of Devin Duvernay. I’m intrigued but I don’t know if he’s more than just fast.
Tight Ends:
LSU tight end Steven Sullivan looks like a potential gem. Yes, he was the backup but to Randy Moss’ son. Sullivan looks raw but there are some tools. Plus speed and just looks like a freak. We may have something here. Not starting at LSU is ok for a lot of guys.
Offensive Line:
South Carolina State’s Alex Taylor had great footwork. He looks tall but was a really easy mover and bender. 6-foot-8 monster. Not sure he’s strong enough but moves very well for his size. Will be interesting.
Both LSU guys held up well. Damien Lewis and Lloyd Cushenberry both played well. The Tigers protected Joe Burrow pretty well all year. These two guys are showing up thus far.
I will say the small school guy from St. Johns held his own too. Couldn’t tell he was a D3 guy. Ben Bartch keep an eye on him.
Side Note:
I got to be honest here. The Bengals defensive line coach was pissing me off. They were showing a run block drill and the defensive line coach kept asking the defensive lineman to do pass rushing moves. The offensive lineman were getting pissed. It’s not wonder why the Bengals were so bad. This was tough to evaluate because there was mixed messages coming from the coach.
I’m putting a lot of this on the Bengals. Guys were jumping offsides, constantly getting hit with false starts, bad snap counts, dudes lined up wrong. The whole staff seems like a mess. That’s not on the players. On one play, the offensive coordinator called a wide receiver screen. The offensive line went left and the play went to the right. Couldn’t make it up if I tried. This entire staff sucks.
Defensive Line:
Jabari Zuniga continues to underwhelm. He was the least nasty defensive lineman out there. Just looked lazy and didn’t really get mean ever.
Javon Kinlaw is the star of the show. Kinlaw doesn’t even look like everybody else. He’s the type of guy that just warming up, you know what you’re getting. What can you say? Probably has been the best player at the entire event.
Penn State man got in on the show.
Linebackers:
Terrell Lewis looked good. Came away with a strick sack on Montez.
Cornerbacks:
AJ Green had no issues guarding Collin Johnson. He’s been really good what from I’ve seen. Johnson did beat him once over the top but Green mostly won the battles.
Reggie Robinson did not play the ball well in the air at all. Ugly.
Darnay Holmes was tasked with guarding Van Jefferson. Almost anybody else would have looked worse. He competed.
Safeties:
K’Von Wallace came away with an easy duck interception that was thrown by Montez. Seems very comfortable with the ball in the air. Not like that interception was too difficult but this is a player I liked in college too. He played the ball really well the entire time in the team drill. Wallace was great in one on one drills too.
