SHRINE GAME WEEK PRACTICE WRAP

January 16, 2015

Practice week for the SHRINE Game is over and it’s time for a little post-practice, pre-game contemplation. I for one, am grateful for the day off with no driving thru Tampa traffic and over the bridge twice today.

A quick couple of Thursday practice observations and then my All-Practice Squad selections.

It looked like the light went back on for the consensus top prospect in this game, SEAN HICKEY/OL/SYRACUSE. After a lackluster early week effort HICKEY picked up the pace Wednesday & Thursday. Perhaps he was seriously rusty early in the week, having not had the pads on since the end of the Syracuse season back in late November. There was no Bowl or post-season practice sessions for Syracuse after a losing season. Nice to see HCIKEY looking good on Thursday. Of note tho, with many folks talking about his best pro slot possibly being inside at OG, his measured arm length of 32 3/4″ is far from ideal for an OT by NFL standards.

I watched for 4 days and I can honestly say that I did not see any QB down here separate himself from the other guys at the position. Each one had a few moments to stand out, but none clearly grabbed the reigns overall. That does not portend well for scoring in the Saturday game. If it comes down to a field position and kicking game battle the EAST would appear to have a decided advantage with P/SPENCER ROTH #36 and K/MARVIN KLOSS #27 on their roster.

Latecomer TONY WASHINGTON/LB/Oregon looked much more comfortable and fluid in his second practice of the week on Thursday. I don’t expect a lot from him since there is little, to no, blitzing allowed at these venues. Though he practiced with the LB group, I actually expect that they may use him as a down DE on 3rd and long situations. Pass rushing is his number one attribute.

I had a pleasant conversation with DT/DARYL WAUD #99, a Canadian college player in town for the game. He was excited to be playing at this level of competition and just wanted to acquit himself well and compete. I assured him he had done so. WAUD has not been a standout in practice, but as I like to say, he looked like he belonged most of the time. He looks to be a potential standout Rookie if he plays in the CFL next season.

DAMIAN SWANN/CB/GEORGIA, was a player who clearly looked more impressive as the week wore on. He’s not a big CB, ala SEA HAWKS style, but at 6’003 & 180 lbs. he has decent speed and will mix it up with the receivers. He doesn’t look like a guy who wants to give in one inch in coverage. He’s also very experienced having started since his freshman season in the SEC.

Let’s move on to my list of players who looked good this week in practices. The two lists are alphabetical, not by ranking of any nature. I am also including their measurements from the official Monday weigh-in, conducted by National Scouting.

EAST SQUAD
#91 DERRICK LOTT/DT/CHATTANOOGA 6042/299 H/858 A/3348
#14 TERRENCE MAGEE/RB/LSU 5090/220 H/918 A/3000
#3 TRE McBRIDE/WR/WM & MARY 6006/205 H/9000 A/3128
#70 JOHN MILLER/G/LOUISVILLE 6030/315 H/968 A/3300
#17 DAMIAN PARMS/S/FLA ATLANTIC 6011/206 H/1000 A/3248
#47 JAKE RYAN/LB/MICHIGAN 6026/238 H/928 A/3048
#94 ZA’DARIUS SMITH/DE/KENTUCKY 6047/273 H/928 A/3238
#5 DAMIAN SWANN/CB/GEORGIA 6003/180 H/858 A/3028
#88 DARREN WALLER/WR/GA TECH 6065/242 H/928 A/3338
#58 LETERRIUS WALTON/DT/CENTRAL MICHIGAN 6051/321 H/978 A/3228

WEST SQUAD
#28 MALCOLM BROWN/RB/TEXAS 5115/223 H/1000 A/3268
#81 DA’RON BROWN/WR/N. ILLINOIS 6003/199 H/1048 A/3168
#1 SAMMIE CARTER/SS/TCU 5116/216 H/1000 A/3138
#53 KYLE EMANUEL/DE/NORTH DAKOTA ST 6032/250 H/900 A/3058
#69 TAYO FABULUJE/OT/TCU 6066/359 H/968 A/3358
#34 TAIWAN JONES/LB/MICHIGAN STATE 6024/258 H/1000 A/3348
#4 MYCOLE PRUITT/TE/SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 6024/254 H/1000 A/3248
#73 ADAM SHEAD/OT/OKLAHOMA 6037/340 H/1048 A/3348
#2 KASEN WILLIAMS/WR/WASHINGTON 6015/219 H/828 A/3200
#98 XAVIER WILLIAMS/DT/NORTHERN IOWA 6020/325 H/1028 A/3348

Just a quick reminder that in NFL scouting circles the numbers you see above are in inches to the eight inch. So… for XAVIER, he has arms that are 33 4/8″ long; 33 1/2″.

Yet another reminder that the SHRINE GAME will air Saturday at 4PM/ET on NFL Network. I will be tweeting from the game @ twitter/pigskinpaul . Unless network coverage poops out up in the Great White North, COLIN will be watching and writing up a game summary for the gbnreport.com while I drive home from the game to pack for Monday’s journey over to Mobile for the start of our Senior Bowl coverage.