No surprise here, but we did focus a lot on Florida OG O’Cyrus Torrence during the actual Senior Bowl game as he was one of just two players in this year’s Senior Bowl who were generally considered to be potential first round picks. (For the record, the other was Army DE Andre Carter and we’ll have more on him in a follow-up article on the defensive line later today.) And for the record, Torrence was solid enough on Saturday. In fact, he was really good in pass protection where he showed good balance and body control, used his hands and length well and kept his feet alive; what also stood out with Torrence was his ability to slide off one block and engage another player. At the same time, though, we didn’t really see the pop in the run game we were expecting to see. Torrence did get a hat on someone on just about every run but didn’t really drive anyone off the line of scrimmage. He also had a couple of plays on which he was a little late off the snap and didn’t really recover; he also got blown up on one play when he went to pop Cincinnati LB Ivan Pace, but instead became the popee as he was rather unceremoniously dumped into the path of the RB.
In actuality, we felt that the best offensive lineman in the Senior Bowl game was Cody Mauch of North Dakota State. In fact, a pretty good case could be made that Mauch was THE best player in the Senior Bowl game. He certainly was the most versatile as Mauch played snaps at OG, C and RT and didn’t look out of place at any of the three as he was light feet with textbook arm usage and hand placement, as well as plenty of strength and power. Indeed, on most plays the guy he was blocking was no closer to the ball when the whistle went than he was at the snap. What was also impressive about Mauch was that on the 2-3 plays on which his man did appear to slip away that he had the quickness to recover and retake the edge. And just for good measure he also showed the ability to come off his original block and get in another lick or two farther upfield.
In fact, it was a pretty good day all-around for the interior offensive linemen in Mobile on Saturday. TCU’s steve avila, for example, was particularly impressive as was John Michael Smitz of Minnesota. Chattanooga OG McClendon Curtis was also something of a revelation. Remember he’s from the same school that produced surprise first round Cole Strange last year. Curtis did give up a pressure when he kicked outside and played a few snaps at RT, but looked very comfortable going against SEC type guys when he was inside as he showed good balance, solid technique and footwork as well as nice quickness off the snap. Same story, although to a slightly lesser degree for Old Dominion C Nick Saldiveri, who also held up nicely against some quality opponents. Michigan C Olu Oluwatimi also looked very quick and proficient when playing his natural position but did whiff on a couple of blocks when moving in space while taking some snaps at OG.
At the same time, though, it was a bit more of a struggle at times for some of the OTs. Indeed, the best tackle on the day, and it wasn’t all that close was NDSU’s Mauch (see above). Blake Freeland of BYU, for example, certainly looked the part and was very effective when he was able to get his arms extended as he was able to keep his moving and stay square to the pocket. However, when rushers got into his pads he just didn’t have the bulk or strength to re-anchor and he ended up too often being walked right back into the QB or losing his man entirely. It was also kind of the same story for the likes of Matt Bergeron of Syracuse, North Carolina’s Asim Richards and Darnell Wright of Tennessee who got most of the snaps at the tackle positions. They were able to handle the bull rushes okay, but struggled to cut off the edge against quick outside rushes.
Also please note that several other top-rated OL who were in Mobile this week and we were hoping to see play in the game did not play for one reason or other including OT Dawand Jones of Ohio State who was injured, along with fellow OTs Jaelyn Duncan of Maryland and Ryan Hayes of Michigan as well as Notre Dame C Jarrett Patterson.
