Good to have the opinion of a professional scout on the prospects there (follow him on twitter, usually a good read https://twitter.com/#!/RUSSLANDE): DE Matt Conrath was worst DL on 1st day of practice at East West. Played high, was stiff & mechanical & lacked explosiveness as pass rusher. DE K. Wilber (Wake Forest) had the best day of any DL at East West practice. Showed variety of pass rush moves & AA to beat OT consistently. WR K. Hardy (Citadel) looked out of place athletically on 1st day of practice at East West. Lacks speed, quickness & struggled catching ball WR BJ Cunningham (Mich St) struggled during 1st of practice at East West Game. Was slow in routes, lacked burst out of cuts & dropped balls. WR Devon Wylie (Fresno St) had a good 1st of practice at East West Game. Showed surprising quicks, ran VG routes & excellent hands. WR AJ Jenkins (Illinois) had a good 1st day of practice at East West Shrine game. Showed VG quicks & agility to run sharp routes & VG hands. CB Josh Norman (Coastal Carolina) had a VG qst day of practice at East West Shrine game. Good athletisim, technique, strength & VG competes. OG Brandon Brooks (Miami-OH) was best player 1st day of practice at East West Shrine Game - Excellent strength, VG punch & good athleticism. More to come later... OG Rishaw Johnson showed elite athleticism in morning practice. VG quicks & speed pulling & trapping, but must finish block more consistently. OT J. Adams (Columbia) struggled at East West Practice today. He lacked quicks to handle speed rush & was driven back on bull rush. DE Akiem Hicks (Regina) has strong morning practice at East West today. He was dominant rushing passer in 1 on 1 & strong at POA in 9 on 7. WR AJ Jenkins (Illinois) had another strong day of practice showing quickness, burst, sharp routes and caught the ball very well. Based on what AJ Jenkins has shown thru 2 practices at East West, he looks like an ideal slot receiver in the NFL. WR BJ Cunningham (Mich. St) had a VG day today after a bad one yesterday. He ran much better routes, showed better quicks & VG hands. QB J. Brantley (FLA) had a solid day of practice at East West Shrine this morning. He showed good arm strength & accuracy throwing ball. CB E. Davis (E. Carolina) really struggled today at East West. He lacks closing quicks, bit on double moves twice & lacks catch-up speed. PS Mesaurables here -> http://www.russlande.com/all-star-games/
Interesting stuff. Thanks for the info. It seems as though Brooks could be a late round steal. It will be fun to see he plays for the rest of the week.
I will be following Wilber (6'3" & 250lbs so OLB size) and Brooks (6'5" & 340lbs) more closely now. The East-West shrine is always interesting for late rd players. Sucks that Cunningham didn't show much... he also has SMALL hands for a guy his size... we'll see if he rebounds. PS Read a twit from another scout saying CB Norman put himself in the 3/4 rd after what he showed... long athletic CBs are hard to find I guess.
Disappointing Cunningham has started slow, but let's see how he does in the game. Didn't realize his hands were so small, I'm 5'10" and I have bigger hands. Cunningham is a the leading receiver in MSU history and shows up on gameday and makes play, so take everything with a grain of salt. Looking forward to watching a few players...Brandon Lindsey, Robert Blanton, AJ Jenkins & Tauren Poole. George Bryan needs to be watched closely, he's a great blocking TE that the Jets may show interest.
Agreed... if you produce on the field who cares about measurables. Still, 8 an 1/4 is really tiny for a guy who's 6'1". Why is Bryan on the West team? Did they move North Carolina over-night without telling me ?
Walterfootball also has notes on the Shrine Game. East: http://walterfootball.com/eastwest2012practice1.php West: http://walterfootball.com/eastwest2012practice2.php
Cunningham's draft stock will drop, teams place too much emphasis on measurables. All I know, Cunningham is a playmaker and was arguably the Big 10's best receiver.
2 things from the West Notes: 1. Matt Reynolds will probably move inside? 2. My boy Tank Carder had a great first day of practice. I WANT THIS GUY!! He could be Scott's replacement.
Turned in a VG 2nd practice... I think with his hands measurables he'll be available in rd 4... maybe even rd 5 depending on how he works out. I've seen 2 MS games and he looked extremly solid in both.
I have had Cunningham as a round 5 lock with the chance of being a late 4th rounder if everything goes right and I would still place him there. Doesn't have the gauging numbers come these combine workouts and what not but he brings it come Sunday(Or Saturday in college) with his intangible plays. He doesn't excel anywhere greatly but is solid in every aspect. Perfect No.3 in the NFL.
Interested on both accounts. Reynolds' negatives are lessened if he's playing guard. Also, agreed on Tank Carder, getting one of these guys who aren't necessarily built like traditional 34 ILBs and bulking them up has worked well before. I had no idea Sean Lee would be as good in that defense as he's been, and it's really opened a door of my mind. Guys like Carder are really nice mid round options to get value. Brandon Hardin is a guy to keep an eye on, great athlete in a big body, could be a very, very cheap replacement for Eric Smith as a 3rd safety/special teamer.
Looking at walterfootball's day 2 analysis it gives some info on some teams and who they talked to. The Jets were seen talking to California University of Pennsylvania guard Rishaw Johnson and Columbia offensive tackle Jeff Adams. I know they are late round prospects, who I know little about, but at least they are looking to improve the OL
Ed Orgeron was really high on Jackson when he was the Ole Miss' HC, he was very athletic for his size out of high school. He had a pretty traumatizing experience as a child, which I would have never known if I hadn't read Meat Market. They didn't spare the deets either...
More good work from Carder in Day 2 TCU linebacker Tank Carder played well and did a quality job of staying with backs out of the backfield. It was impressive to see Carder closely cover quick, smaller running back Bobby Rainey from Western Kentucky. Later on in the nine-on-nine run scrimmage, Carder blasted a fullback in the backfield to blow up a run. Carder also flowed down the line to make a good stop of Tyler about three yards downfield. Carder had a few mistakes in practice, but overall, he looked improved. http://walterfootball.com/eastwest2012practice4.php
Seems like OLB Kyle Wilber from Wake Forest is tearing it up... anyone watched WF's games this year? He is #97... Jets stopped by to talk with Rishaw Johnson, OG, kicked off from Mississippi & Jeff Reed, OT, Columbia.
"I think this year the player that's really standing out above all else is B.J. Cunningham, the wide receiver from Michigan State," ESPN draft guru Todd McShay said Tuesday. "He's shown that he can separate from any of the defensive backs here one-on-one, very good understanding of reading defenses and how to find soft spots in zones, and he's strong catching the football, doing a good job in traffic and then getting up the field. "He really is standing out. There are some other good receivers here, like Junior Hemingway from Michigan and Jarius Wright from Arkansas, but to me, B.J. Cunningham is in a class of his own and could be really solidifying a spot in that third-round range."
