by Pigskin Paul Guillemette: So the first groups of players have wrapped up their job interviews in Indy and are headed back home, and/or to their Performance Camps. As often happens I have ended up the first day of on-field with as many questions as I have answers. But here are a few tidbits I wanted to share… Read More »
Combine Blog
by Pigskin Paul Guillemette: We are still at the stage of getting the first groups through their medicals and off-field portions of their schedule in Indy. So here is some idle speculation on what’s whirling around the league at tis time. The biggest takeaway I have from Wednesday’s proceedings is just how long most of the top OL… Read More »
NFL COMBINE PREVIEW
Even though I would be the first to admit that too much emphasis can be placed on what this year’s Draft prospects do later this week at the the NFL Combine in Indy, in their undies, I would also maintain that the info gathered during the process is a very large piece of the jigsaw puzzle that composes… Read More »
MM QB COMBINE STYLE
One of the great things about sports, beyond the realm of gambling, is the myriad of opportunities fans get to second guess decisions that are made from trades to starting line-ups to critical play calling and ad infinitum. So let me join in the chorus of voices making judgements on the wisdom of the recently (albeit tardy) release… Read More »
PIGSKIN PAUL’S TOP 100 PROSPECTS 1.0
Top 100 as of 2/8/2016 1) JOEY BOSA/DE/OHIO STATE 2) LAREMY TUNSIL/OT/OLE MISS 3) JALEN RAMSEY/DB/FLORIDA ST 4) EZEKIEL ELLIOTT/RB/OHIO STATE 5) MYLES JACK/LB/UCLA 6) ROBERT NKEMDICHE/DT/OLE MISS 7) JARED GOFF/QB/CAL 8) LAQUON TREADWELL/WR/OLE MISS 9) DeFOREST BUCKNER/DE/OREGON 10) CARSON WENTZ/QB/N DAKOTA ST 11) A’SHAWN ROBINSON/DT/ALABAMA 12) RONNIE STANLEY/OT/NOTRE DAME 13) PAXTON LYNCH/QB/MEMPHIS 14) VERNON HARGREAVES/CB/FLORIDA 15) JAYLON… Read More »
SENIOR BOWL Gameday thoughts & All-Game Team
Another Senior Bowl is in the record books and it’s now time to pour over 5 days worth of notes and replay the action in my dreams (I hope). After my 500 mile drive from Mobile back to Orlando Sunday I am now ready to present my Game All-Star team. QB DAK PRESCOTT/MISS STATE RB TYLER ERVIN/SAN JOSE… Read More »
SENIOR BOWL ALL-PRACTICE TEAM
Before they put the pads on and play for real it’s time to post my All-Practice Team. THis list is a combination of my own observations and opinions as well as some thoughts of others here in Mobile for the week. QB CARSON WENTZ/N Dakota State RB KENNY DIXON/Louisiana Tech FB DAN VITALE/Northwestern WR STERLING SHEPARD/Oklahoma WR BRAXTON… Read More »
SENIOR BOWL THURSDAY
Today was day three of team practices, and the final ones of the week. I was very surprised to see so few NFL personnel people in the stands this morning at LADD-PEEPLES Stadium. Given that these were full pad practices, I expected that NFL folks would stick around through today. Some teams still had a strong presence while… Read More »
SENIOR BOWL Wednesday
We had an almost normal day of action here in Mobile. I say almost because practices didn’t begin until Noon. The plan to avoid the rain worked out pretty well but the skies never cleared. The high temperature never quite made 50 and 10-15 mph winds blew in from the Northwest. In other words a pretty normal January… Read More »
SENIOR BOWL Tuesday
by GBN Associate Editor Pigskin Paul Guillemette Under the new Senior Bowl setup today was really the first day of events open to the media and the public. Sorry for my late report, but the day began at 8 AM and I just got back to my hotel about 8:45 PM. Not complaining folks, just telling you the… Read More »
pigskin shrine game review
by Pigskin Paul Guillemette That faint echo you hear is the wailing and gnashing of teeth around the NFL in Personnel Departments as they pore over game tape from yesterday’s SHRINE GAME action and realize there is no way to deny the poor quality of QB play Saturday, other than the lone exception of VERNON ADAMS/Oregon. And with… Read More »
SHRINE GAME Gameday
Hopefully you have been following my practice reports all week and have some ideas of what to watch for this afternoon. But at the risk of shooting myself in the foot let me start the gameday coverage with some projections and other last minute observations. The good news for most fans is that I still expect both Head… Read More »
SRHINE GAME Practice Wrap
Thursday was the final day of real practices, and was spent mostly on Special Teams work. Both practice sessions looked like ghost towns compared to earlier in the week. NFL Personnel people pretty much all left town Wednesday night or Thursday morning. NO doubt most are headed home to see their families before jumping back into things next… Read More »
SHRINE WEEK Wednesday Report
Wednesday is always the highlight day of Shrine Week. The players have had three days to meet with their coaches and absorb football information. Hopefully they have assimilated that information and can execute on the grass based upon it. So today is the day that the coaches ramp up the intensity and pace of practice. And of course… Read More »
Shrine Game Tuesday
It was a crisp and windy morning in St. Pete Tuesday with temps in the low 40’s as the East practice began. Being almost on the bay meant the wind was coming in crisply across the cold Winter water of Tampa Bay. I ran into PACKERS GM TED THOMPSON entering the field area. When I asked him how… Read More »
Shrine Game Monday
SHRINE WEEK has begun, with perhaps the best overall quality rosters in over a decade. Being a former teacher one of my first tasks at each practice is to take roster attendance. Everyone present and accounted for at the East practice session. However, one big absence later on at the West practice. Perhaps the No. 1 Draft prospect… Read More »
SHRINE WEEK PREVIEW
This weekend former college football players (that’s official now for seniors) will be arriving in Tampa, St. Pete and a few other West Central Florida airports to begin taking part in the Shrine Game week activities. The first practices will be Monday afternoon, after a closed weigh-in session (archaic) in the morning. The week will be filled with… Read More »
WHO CAUGHT MY EYE Bowl Games II
Rolling thru my Bowl Game tapes and the final Bowl Games I have a dozen player thumbnails and other than a few of them, many of these guys may have not been on your radar yet. THat is what I am here to do. Bringing guys to your attention that aren’t on everybody’s lists is my duty in… Read More »
Who Caught My Eye Bowl Edition
ANDREW ADAMS/S/UCONN 6’0/198 #22 The best all-around defender on the UCONN roster proved his worth again in their Bowl loss as he more than held up his end of the defensive effort. I saw him miss badly on one open field tackle in the 2nd half, but that might be considered nit-picking for a guy who was credited… Read More »
Thinking Out Loud
I spent most of my Sunday watching Week 17 of NFL action, the final regular season games. I did not watch every game of course so I will be careful not to comment on game action from those I did not actually see. But here are my thoughts based on what flashed, or crawled across my TV screen,… Read More »
Bowl Watch
TAXSLAYER BOWL; Noon ET; ESPN PENN STATE (7-5) vs GEORGIA (9-3) Hate to break it to the folks in Memphis, in a sport notorious for ‘mythical’ things no one is going to slay anyone’s taxes. Take it to the bank if you’ve got anything left to take to the bank. Fortunately, we’ll get some real football as Georgia… Read More »
Bowl Watch
FIESTA BOWL; 1 PM ET; ESPN OHIO STATE (11-1) vs. NOTRE DAME (10-2) These two teams were in serious consideration for a Final Four spot until they both lost their final games to Michigan State and Stanford respectively. The Championship Play-Off committee may have gotten lucky that they both fell. The next luckiest entity is the Fiesta Bowl… Read More »
December 30 Bowls
BIRMINGHAM BOWL, NOON ET; ESPN AUBURN (6-6) vs. MEMPHIS (9-3) At first blush this might look like a serious mismatch given the records of both teams. But the reality of an SEC schedule vs. an AAC one cannot be ignored. It also cannot help Memphis that HC JUSTIN FUENTE is already on the job at VA TECH. DARRELL… Read More »
Bowling Time
RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL; BAYLOR (9-3) vs. NORTH CAROLINA (11-2); 5:30 PM ET; ESPN Both of these teams had Final Four aspirations in November but BAYLOR lost its top 2 QBs and UNC had to face Clemson in the ACC Championship Game. But this still looks like a very attractive match-up to watch which probably deserves to be played… Read More »
Bowl Games post Christmas
WE are now getting down to the nitty gritty of the Bowl Season with an escalation in quality of the teams involved. By next week we will be watching the Final Four games, but for now how about some info on the Big Six Saturday contests for the day after Christmas. ST PETERSBURG BOWL: UCONN (6-6) v MARSHALL… Read More »