It’s report card time! Yes, this early in the NFL season. This is a look at what All-Star Game participants made NFL 53-man rosters. No, I am not going to list them all individually, but rather give you totals, game by game. So first, let me explain the process and criteria. The numbers you will see below are… Read More »
Some folks, certainly not yours truly, question the significance of the annual All-Star Games played by the top senior prospects every January. There have been what seems like a hoard of new, wanna-be Star games in recent years. More power to them all, but for the present and immediate future, the Big 3 are still the East/West Shrine… Read More »
There are almost always two sides to every story. After giving you a couple of articles detailing some Star-Game winners, I felt obliged to make note of some guys who just did not measure up to the competition around them, both in St. Pete and Mobile. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be on Training Camp rosters next… Read More »
More often than not the Defenses dominate actual game action at this Star Game. That is due in great part to the predominance of fly-around, athletic defensive players at the event. In many instances, for example, the overall DL group may be slightly undersized by NFL standards but is very athletic and quick. Most of all, it is… Read More »
The Shrine got underway on Monday the 14th, with two afternoon practices. The morning was dedicated to National Scouting’s player weigh-in, which is a deep dark covert operation here in St. Pete, so Monday afternoon was filled with two consecutive practices at The Trop. By the end of the day, our fears were pretty much confirmed that only… Read More »
It’s Christmas in January for Pigskin Paul, with the annual All-Star football Games about to get underway. By this time next Monday, I should be entombed in The Trop in St. Pete, for the first practices of the 2019 Shrine Game. My count says this is the 10th year that this game has been in Florida. The first… Read More »
If you cherish the NFL Draft process like we do here at the GBN Report then you never tire of hearing more about the January College All-Star venues. Now that I have wrapped up all 32 team Draft Reviews, and prior to the bulk of the League teams opening their Training Camps around the 25th of July, I… Read More »
The All-Star Draft prospect exhibition season is over. Final scores in these games are almost meaningless. Who was there and how did they perform is the meat and potatoes that we look at. So here are some post-game thoughts. Please keep in mind that rosters at these games can be very fluid as injuries occur. So some of… Read More »
I wanted to wait until I got back to my home in Florida to select my final Game All-Star team, so that I could watch the game tape at least once. Working in a radio broadcast booth does not always allow for specific player watching since the broadcast follows the ball primarily. I would also note that many… Read More »
The following players were those that I thought performed best overall during the 3 days of practice this year. If I failed to mention someone who performed well but escaped my attention I truly wish to apologize. QB BAKER MAYFIELD #6 RB RASHAAD PENNY #20 WR TRE’QUAN SMITH #4 WR D.J. CHARK #7 WR CEDRICK WILSON #11 TE… Read More »
Funny how time just slips away. I first heard those words in a country song when I was very young. They mean more to me today and especially during Senior Bowl week. Here we are about to begin Thursday practices, which are the last before the game on Saturday. North Practice Our last chance to see all the… Read More »
Not sure if I should really call this Day 1 or just check-in time. Although there was a pre-dinner Press Conference with a few introductory comments by Director Phil Savage. Phil explained that despite the plethora of “drop-outs” from the original acceptances list it was really not more than in many recent years. Bowl injuries that still require… Read More »
As always there seems to be a performance dichotomy between practice and game-day performances below is my All-Star team based on actual in-game performance. Please also remember that some practice warriors never go to perform in the actual game because of injuries or other circumstances. QB NIC SHIMONEK #16 TEXAS TECH RB PHILLIP LINDSAY #23 COLORADO WR JEF… Read More »
No surprise that in a 14-10 which included a defensive TD, the offensive lines didn’t necessarily cover themselves in glory. And that was pretty much in this year’s East-West Shrine game. Indeed, it was hard to see of the tackles in this game getting much more than late-round consideration. In fact, the best looking OT in St. Petersburg… Read More »
Below is my All-Practice team for this year’s Shrine Game. These are the 22 (actually 25) players who stood out to me at their positions for the week’s work in practices. I did not consider the Special Teamers since we actually see them do so little during practice time. I got extra input and help this morning from… Read More »
Another wonderful Florida Winter day with morning practice temps of about 55-60. But not such a great day for the East OL unit, or their coaches. I never even saw KYLE BOSCH on the field this morning. And by the end of practice both JAMAR McGLOSTER/Syracuse and CORY HELMS/South Carolina had left for medical attention. The McGloster injury… Read More »
Like any other sporting event that spans a full week of activities not everything that is observed and/or experienced fits into neat little categories like All-Practice teams. So I’d like to share with you some opinions and observations that came out of the weeklong extravaganza in Mobile. 1) The effort by PHIL SAVAGE, his staff and the army… Read More »
It somehow seems appropriate to name a final All-Star team for the nation’s elite All-Star Game. Not only was the game decided by 1-point, on a failed 2-point conversion play, but the South won despite losing the turnover battle 5-1. Teams are not supposed to win games where they post a turnover margin of -4. So the vast… Read More »
Time to wrap up the week with my picks for the week’s All-Practice Team. With over 110 players here any endeavor of this type is a bit hit-or-miss. I plead guilty to not being able to watch all of those guys in detail, so to a great degree this team represents what I saw and I certainly could… Read More »
I am sad to say it but today was the last day of real practices and our last contact with the players until after the game. I am feeling melancholy already that my best two weeks of the year are almost over. The NORTH took the field first this afternoon, on a more typical Mobile weather day in… Read More »
Once again not too shabby on the weather front considering it’s January in Mobile. Cloudy and mild, with more wind than Tuesday. But the rain held out for both team practices. My Draftnik companions wanted to talk QB among other topics. So we tried to reach a consensus on the QB rank and failed miserably. So let me… Read More »
The week is off to a roaring start with multiple events to cover including the annual Weigh-in as conducted by National Scouting. As usual Director Phil Savage gave the NFL and Media folks a rundown on why certain players were not in Mobile for the week. Players who declined invites to the Senior Bowl. JONATHAN ALLEN/DL/ALABAMA TACO CHARLTON/DE/MICHIGAN… Read More »
Its an off-day for the East-West Shrine squads so let me take this opportunity to post my Shrine All-Practice Team for the week. Offense QB ALEK TORGERSEN/PENN 6’2/215 #15 RB JOE WILLIAMS/UTAH 5/11/202 #28 RB De’VEON SMITH/MICHIGAN 5’11/224 #2 WR AUSTIN CARR/NORTHWESTERN 6’0/201 #80 WR DEANGELO YANCEY/PURDUE 6’1/220 #88 TE ERIC SAUBERT/DRAKE 6’5/247 #85 T SAM TEVI/UTAH 6’5/312… Read More »
Today was the peak practice day of the week. Thursday will begin the wind down as the teams get prepared to play a game on Saturday with game planning and walk-throughs. Spirited play and hard hitting contact highlighted both practices Wednesday. But first let me mention the most shocking thing about this week in my world. For the… Read More »
For some reason, and unlike next week’s Senior Bowl, Monday’s weigh-in session at the East-West Shrine game currently underway in St. Petersburg is not open to the media. Of course, the numbers always eventually leak out – here courtesy of the Sporting News is this year’s data – but there really doesn’t seem to be any reason for… Read More »
