North Team 

 

By: Ed Hunt

 

Since Day Two was indoors and closed off to credentialed media, we will only have a Day One and Three Practice Reports.  This practice was in pads.

 

Quarterbacks:

Drew Lock was running as the first-team quarterback.  He was throwing with much better ball placement which has been a problem for him in the past.  He also showed some decent accuracy.  Lock, of course, looked good throwing the ball downfield which has been a strength for him.  Drew Lock also looked fluid in the screen drill.  There was a time when he missed badly on a pass.  He needs to clean that up.

 

Ryan Finley looks really comfortable out there.  He had good ball placement and he had good zip on his passes.  He also completed a nice deep ball on the day.  He also showed that he could throw on the run.  I like how calm he is when facing pressure. 

 

Daniel Jones isn’t hurting himself out there.  He showed Thursday that he can deliver the ball downfield.  He doesn’t have elite arm strength, but he does have the arm strength to get the job done.  I do want to see better pocket awareness from him though.

 

Trace McSorley was throwing a wobbly ball.  He is definitely the weakest of the North quarterbacks.  I saw him miss badly on a pass.

 

Running Backs: 

Dexter Williams was my big winner of the day.  He really looks explosive on his runs.  He looked good in the scrimmage drills even though there is no tackling.  He did have a bad drop out of the backfield, but had a great day otherwise.

 

Karan Higdon showed good vision on the run.  He does lack the size he needs and it showed up in this practice.

 

Wide Receivers:

Andy Isabella showed good speed/quickness on Thursday as well.  He also has good hands in traffic.  I liked that he was catching punts well in the punt return drills.  I did see him drop one though.

 

Terry McLaurin looked good coming in and out of his breaks.  I like his route running.  He also showed some competitive fire.  What I like is that he was the guy catching passes in the scrimmage drills.  He had a sliding catch in the team session.  He is definitely a Senior Bowl riser.

 

Alex Wesley looks like a decent route runner.  He showed this week that he can hang with the power five conference guys.  He does need to be a bit quicker in and out of his breaks.

 

Penny Hart had two nice catches today.  One in the end zone.  He is another one to look out for in the slot.

 

Tight Ends:

Drew Sample showed some competency in the passing game.  I think he has potential in the passing game.  He showed good hands today.  A couple of good catches.

 

Donald Parham from Stetson had a decent catch in a scrimmage drill.

 

Tommy Sweeney showed some awareness to get open and make the catch against a zone defense.

 

Offensive Line:

Dalton Risner really has some nasty to his game.  He got into a fight with Zach Allen which shows his intensity.  I do want to see him sustain his blocks longer.  He could’ve done better in some blocking drills as well.

 

Nate Davis from UNC Charlotte looked good in a hand fighting drill.

 

Kaleb McGary won a compliment from a coach in a blocking drill.  It was hard to tell what they were asking him to do on that drill.  I did see him blocking effortlessly and moving laterally well.

 

Max Scharping looked good in a pass-blocking drill.

 

Defensive Ends:

Zach Allen got into a fight with Dalton Risner.

 

Defensive Tackles:

Khalen Saunders looked good in the one on one’s.  He has a quick first step.

 

Renell Wren also looked good in the one on one’s.

 

LJ Collier got pushed off the line.

 

Anthony Nelson got overpowered.

 

Linebackers:

Drue Tranquill showed good coverage skills in his coverage on TE Tommy Sweeney.  He also looked good in a run stopping drill.

 

Dre Greenlaw from Arkansas looked good getting off blocks.

 

Cameron Smith needs to throw the hips when trying to get off blocks.

 

Te’Von Coney looked good in a run stopping drill.

 

Sutton Smith looked good getting off blocks.

 

Cornerbacks:

Corey Ballentine from Washburn showed that he can be good in coverage.  He stayed in phase on his man.  I do want to see him be more physical at the line of scrimmage.  He showed up in the team session. 

 

Jordan Brown from South Dakota State showed good ball skills.

 

Safeties:

Darnell Savage from Maryland looked good in coverage.

 

Khari Willis from Michigan State had a nice pass breakup.

 

Will Harris had nice coverage in the team session. 

 

Specialists:

Mitch Wishnowsky from Utah was booming some punts in the special teams’ drill. He did have one bad punt, but he didn’t totally shank it.