East-West Shrine all-star game review

February 3, 2023

What’s the old saying: defense wins  post-season all-star games! That was certainly the case in Thursday’s East-West Shrine game in Las Vegas which turned into a defensive slugfest won 12-3 by the West team on the strength of four FGs by Michigan PK Jake Moody, including a couple from over 50 yards. And while one never wants to read a whole lot into what happens during all-star game practices it certainly was a disappointing evening for the QBs at the Shrine game. Indeed, as a group, the 6 QBs in Vegas combined to complete just 24 of 56 passes – for the mathematically challenged that’s 43% – for a measly 212 yards, no TDs and three picks.

Those numbers were particularly disappointing for Dorian Thompson-Robinson of UCLA and Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, the Shrine’s two best known QBs who were thought to be lurking just outside the the top tier of passers for the 2023 draft and were no doubt looking to use the game to boost their draft stock. However, the Bruins’ Thompson-Robinson was just 7 of 17 passing, while Purdue’s O’Connell was 6 of 16. O’Connell did show some nice touch when he was able to step into his throws, but couldn’t get much juice on his passes when he couldn’t set his feet or had to throw off-angle. Thompson-Robinson, on the other hand, appeared to have significantly more arm strength, but lacked real precision even when he did complete passes which just weren’t on the numbers very often. At the same time, none of the other QBs in Vegas this week got enough snaps in the actual game to make much of any judgment, although Illinois’ Tommy DeVito did at least look reasonably decisive in the snaps he did get.

And certainly, the QBs didn’t get much help from their receivers on Thursday. On the one hand, there were a few too many outright drops; more to the point, though, there were a number of contested balls that one would have liked to see the receiver come down with, but time after time they didn’t. That included a couple of chances by AT Perry of Wake Forest, one of the highest rated players in Vegas, and the top-rated receiver in the game with Zay Flowers of Boston College sitting out, in which he had his hands on the ball but couldn’t come down with the catch. In the end, Perry who has hopes of being selected on this spring’s second day, came up empty on the stat sheets after coming into the game having caught a passin 34 straight games. To be fair, though, just about all the receivers could have just as well stayed in bed; the one guy, though who maybe will have pro scouts going back to the tape was Michael Jefferson of Louisiana, a rangy (6-4) long strider who had a couple of solid 16-yard receptions after coming into the game unheralded.

If there was a bright note for the offenses in the Shrine Bowl it was the running game as several RBs had pretty good nights including X Valladay of Arizona State, Jordan Mims of Tulsa and Tavion Thomas of Utah who looked all the part of a runaway freight train on an explosive 29-yard run in which he showed some impressive wiggle for a 247-pounder. For their parts, Valladay and Mims both showed some nice vision and cut-back ability as well as a burst when they did get a seam, while Mims also contributed a couple of solid receptions.

However, as noted above, the evening largely belonged to the defenses starting with the two defensive lines which pretty much overwhelmed their counterparts on the Olines. In fact, on first we thought the best player on the field in Vegas was Eastern Michigan DE Jose Ramirez, who was in on at least a couple of sacks and had several other pressures as he was in the backfield pretty much all evening. Ramirez, who had 12 sacks this fall for EMU, had a decent burst off the snap, enough dip to turn the corner as well as polished counter move; and while he could do a better job holding the point of attack, he did show plenty of lateral quickness and range defending the run.

At the same time, BJ Thompson of FCS Stephen F Austin also was in on a couple of sacks, although his game didn’t appear to be as refined as Rmairez’. Thompson, who had a strong week of practice in Vegas has nice length and is a long strider who gets off the snap very quickly and uses his arms effectively to turn the corner. However, he also appeared to be primarily a pure speed rusher without much in the way of sophisticated pass rush rush movers; he also appeared to be out of control at times and wasn’t very strong defending the run. Meanwhile, another Louisiana player who may have scouts going back to the tape was unheralded Ragin’ Cajun DE Andre Jones who also spent a ton of time in the offensive backfield. In fact, just about every DE in Vegas made at least a couple of plays including Habakkuk Baldonado of Pitt and Louisville’s Yasir Abdullah, who also stood out on special teams. Same for FCS star Caleb Murphy of Ferris State who led the entire country with 25 sacks last fall and didn’t look out of place playing against big-time opposition. Meanwhile, its harder for interior defensive linemen to stand out in an all-star game setting but couple of guys who also could get extra looks from NFL were DTs Ikenna Enechukwu of Rice and Brodric Martin of FCS Western Kentucky.

Its also really hard for back 7 defenders to stand out at all-star games but several LBs did impress including Jeremy Banks of Tennessee, NC State’s Drake Thomas, Mo Diabate of Utah and Ben VanSumeren of Michigan each of whom impressed with their speed and range. At the same time, Florida safety Trey Dean was deservedly named defensive player of the game after making a couple of TFL while chipping in a pick. However, the best DB on the field, though, was likely Nic Jones of Ball State, another relatively unheralded prospect who had 3 pass braekups by our count as well as an interception of his own.