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2025 East-West Shrine Bowl Practice Notes: Day One West Team
2025 East-West Shrine Bowl Practice Notes: Day One West Team
Let’s be real for a second… Trey is competing with Trey in terms of who brings the best NFL Draft content to the table. Enjoy it while you can because it’s only a matter of time before a team is smart to realize the most accurate NFL Drafta analyst on the planet should probably be hired. Because I’m sick in the head, I strive to take our content to another level on a yearly basis. For the first time ever, the site will be covering the entire week of practices for the East-West Shrine Bowl.
This is the first time we’ve covered the practices. They are live on the Lights Out TV App. I would try to direct more people to their app but Shawne Merriman kinda blew me off after he told me to DM him.
It’s okay. Wait until he finds out that with the Vendetta Fantasy Contest Platform, he has the ability to insert a gambling league of fantasy for all of the live sporting events he has on his platform. I imagine once he figures that out, he will take the necessary time out of his day to get back to me.
The East-West game marks the first important event in the pre-draft calendar. If you’re unfamiliar with our NFL Draft content, welcome in. Thanks for stopping by. What you should know is that I don’t pull any punches. Scouting is about eliminating. The FBI doesn’t use the phone book to find serial killers. They have a profile and eliminate suspects based on it. Scouting is the same way. I have no interest in passing out cupcakes. I speak the truth and our success on providing accurate evaluations speaks for itself. If you want to be told lies, go read someone else. Although, I’ll remind you, last year we were the only publication that had Bucky Irving as RB1 while nobody else had him inside the top 5. I also had Jonathon Brooks as a 7th rounder. Trey speaks the truth. If you don’t like the truth, feel free to seek out other inferior information.
Eric Warfield and Mark Clayton were the broadcasting team on the Lights Out TV app. Couldn’t have been less impressed. I have no idea who was in charge of hiring them but they were so monotone. They weren’t even looking at the practice either. Their set up they had their back turned to all of the action. I genuinely don’t think they saw a single thing. Probably the worst-produced NFL Draft event I’ve seen since doing this. Actually, I’d say it was the worst set of broadcasters I’ve ever seen regardless of sport. It’s way too early in the morning to be doing this. They made me want to take a nap. It wasn’t a fact of having bad info (Actually that’s being generous… there was no info. It was all word vomit).
But plenty of “Ah, Uh, Huh; pauses with zero insight on the actual prospects. Just so damn boring and monotone with it being fairly obvious neither went to broadcast school because the production value of what they were doing was piss poor. They also weren’t organized at all. It felt like a random podcast where nothing was on track going off on random side targets. They’re not even trying to talk about the individual players during the drills. It’s random bs that has nothing to do with what’s going on the field. The production value as a whole was awful. I don’t think they knew more than three players on the field without looking at their sheet. The lack of preparedness was obvious.
I’m very glad we got the actual tape copy this year because I kept finding myself zoning out because of it.
Speaking of which…
The reviewing the film posts will come out probably next week or the week after. I’m going to really take my time with it so you the viewer get the best product possible. Think of this post as an eyeball first takeaway post. The film post that comes later will be much more detailed. You miss a lot on the live stream so keep that in mind as we go.
One more thing to note. It sounds like the pads are coming out tomorrow. Today was more of an adjustment day with yesterday being install and walkthrough.
Quarterbacks:
Brady Cook looks like he’s having a hard time bending his knees. Suffered some injuries over the course of his career and it looks to the point where he’s lost some of it. Takes forever to make a decision. No real arm talent. Just not talented. Accuracy not there. Threw one ball that should have been a completion but it was miles behind Texas Tech TE.
Ethan Garbers looked alright. In rhythm and bends ok. Tries to drive the ball off the back foot. I’d take Garbers out of this group, who keep in mind, suffered from horrible coaching this past year at UCLA.
I don’t have anything nice to say on Max Brosmer and am choosing not to say anything at all instead. Also, the expectation here is maybe he’s a preseason body so who cares.
I don’t see Shedeur Sanders on the field. I’m not sure if he’s just there to meet with teams and what not but he was not practicing.
Running Backs:
I really can’t recall a time where we saw the running backs even featured in the live stream. Minus Tahj Brooks who looked awful. Dropping balls, fumbling, not explosive. He has holes open for him and he runs into guys instead. Yucky and no thank you.
Corey Kiner is better. Has that shifty element even if he’s not super fast.
For a big back though, Ja’Quindon Jackson can really make some cuts. Thought he looked good in that area.
Didn’t see Phil Mafah out there either and thank god. He’s a vomit player and want no part of him anyway.
Wide Receivers:
Ricky White looks pretty good just going through cones and changing direction. He’s not a bad mover. Made some plays out there. UNLV guy who never looked out of place. Had some positive notes on him during the year and we already know he can be a factor on special teams.
Pitt guy Konata Mumpfield is passable but it’s a lot of meh. Average movement skills. Converting his catches but it’s about the best compliment I can give. No special here. No explosive movements to him. Couldn’t get away from certain corners. Did make some plays in team setting but it’s more of a case that he’s not good but he’s not sucky either.
Sam Brown is fast but good god his change of direction is awful. His knee bend getting from point A to point B is gross. Makes sense why he was so inconsistent at Miami and failed to convert certain plays he should have. Has zero feel. He makes three moves of nonsense that turns into nothing. If he has free access, he can win with speed but he’s not beating anyone capable. He also let number 50 steal a pick from him because he couldn’t finish a catch. Dude is brutal, goofy, and not good.
Jacolby George didn’t create a ton of separation but he can catch contested stuff. Showed off some nice hands. He’s way better than Sam Brown. He actually accomplishes things.
LaJohntay Wester has some wiggle to him. Definitely shifting and can win to get open. Slot guy.
Traeshon Holden won his fair share of reps. Turned it on later in the year for Oregon. Would have been more productive without studs in front of him. Thought he faired well.
Juice Wells just not it. Can catch but there’s zero twitch. DBs stay on leverage with him. Never makes an easy wow play. Hands aren’t a problem but he’s not good either.
Tight End:
Caden Prieskorn looks like the best athlete in the tight end group. Held up as a blocker too. Great catch radius and not a clunky mover.
Luke Lachey looks slow footed. Can’t wait to see how he runs because his engine looks slow to start. Dude churns his feet blocking the bag though. Can tell he gets into it. Has power in the lower half. Actually looked good in team setting though. Can make catches down the field in traffic. Looked much better actually playing football rather than moving in space. Actually playing football, he looked like an Iowa tight end. He probably won’t run fast though. He actually looked better than I thought he would.
Carter Runyon the Towson guy is just kinda there. I can’t imagine anyone cared what he did out there other than his parents. Maybe we’ll see more in the coming days but first impression was meh.
Jalin Conyers bad drop in 7 on 7. Doesn’t look like a real tight end either. On the smaller side but not moving in a wow type of way.
Offensive Line:
The Rutgers guy Hollin Pierce is absolutely enormous. Talked about him during the year. If he’s even somewhat athletic, I don’t know how he fails. No idea how you get around this guy. Totally beat up BYU making it look easy in his first one on one. Next rep against Boise State won most of it. Got the BYU again on the following rep.
He looks a bit top heavy and that might be his kryptonite but there’s something here.
Purdue anchors well. Dude holding his ground. He could have slept walk to beating the Indiana guy. Really solid showing. Boston College got him on one rep but otherwise won.
Nice showing by NC State’s Tim McKay too. Nice balance. Good base. Strong finishing defenders putting them to the ground. Every guy that goes against him they lose their footing. Didn’t matter who it was against. Held his own against everybody.
Nash Jones is bad. Dude can’t even get his hands on people without them blowing by.
Nice showing by Cincinnati’s John Williams. Held his own out there. Looks tall and hung in there with proper hand fighting. Looked like the less imposing version of the Rutgers guy.
Defensive Line:
Indiana couldn’t get anything going. No power no pass rush arsenal. Purdue kept beating him up. He literally get get one inch of movement. It’s hard to watch. This dude CJ West is a waste of time. He’s a zero. Beat Luke Newman with power. Otherwise lost every other time. Probably speaks more to Newman considering that. Guy is on the ground ever other rep. Lay off the drugs if you think he’s a stud NFL player.
This D line group wasn’t getting anything going. Maryland guys are at least trying. Churning their feet with motors. Just not super talented. Jordan Phillips is definitely better than Tommy Akingbesote. Way better. Both might be something but too soon to say.
SMU guy has absolutely nothing to him. Just not good at all. Couldn’t find a single rep that he even won.
Boston College guy isn’t special either. Trying to with his his hands but doesn’t have it. Cam Horsley might have a motor but he also doesn’t look good so there’s that. Now the edge guy from Boston College… he’s legit.
BYU lost every rep I saw. Couldn’t beat Rutgers. Couldn’t beat Cincinnati. Cincinnati buried him on the second rep of it. Was hoping for more out of Tyler Batty. Never made a play that impressed me.
Boise State not good balance. Even reps Ahmed Hassanein stayed on his field he’s stumbling. When he keeps his feet he can kinda make some things happen. Can’t stress the balance part enough. Otherwise looked fine and had some moments but he’s not NFL good in those short areas.
Linebackers:
Chandler Martin came up with a pick after snatching Sam Brown’s soul.
Bam Martin-Scott made a nice play defending the run in team drills. Shot the gap well and attacked downhill stopping Kiner. Tahj Brooks looked bad the whole day but he locked him up one on one in a pass route too.
Cornerbacks:
Cal corner pressed the hell out of Ricky White. Not being weak is part of the battle. Maybe a little overly handsy but given it’s the first day, good to see him battle. Also, apparently there are two Cal DBs (Nohl Williams & Jordan Clark). I haven’t figured out who is who yet. I’ll do so once I dig into the film. Hard to keep track on the live stream and the piss poor broadcasting wasn’t helping matters.
UNC guy Alijah Huzzie made a really nice PBU towards the end of the day.
Safeties:
Shamari Simmons is who I have my eyes on. Just didn’t see a ton on him during the stream. Will report back when I have more.
Shilo Sanders was there and practicing unlike his brother. Again, I didn’t see enough to comment so we’ll wait on that too.
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Trey Daubert
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