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Senior bowl day 2 practice, Solder and Brown

Tractor

Tractor

Club Member
Just finished watching the senior bowl practice. For a long time, I thought the north team was just Jake Locker.

Solder was playing both right and left tackle. I thought he fared really well in the 1 on 1 battles. Stood people up. He may have held on a spin move or two, but I thought he played well. Some of those O-line guys got blown up, not him.
When they were running actual plays, he did a great job in pass protection. Always stopped his guy or took him out of the play. On running plays, he got to the second level ok. They ran a screen to his side once, and he didn't really do anything. Just sort of ran around. All in all pretty good.

Jalil Brown was doing some 1 on 1 drills and Mike Mayok gave him kudos for staying patient with the backpedal and jumping a 3 step drop route. He seemed to do ok in press coverage too, although he never really jammed anybody, he was in their pocket and didn't give the QB much to throw to.
They had him running gunner for punt teams as well as blocking. Couldn't really tell how he did. In the scrimmage, I was watching Solder more, but I did see him get beat on a sideline route when the WR came back to help his QB. The QB had the ball for a long time, and the announcers said Jalil was covering well for most of the play.
He also got some kudos from the guys at the end of the practice for having a good day. Talked about how he was the better college player than Jimmy Smith, even though Smith has better measurables and is a higher projected pick (5th best senior CB).

Jimmy Smith didn't play. Is he hurt?
 
From the ESPN Pac 12 blog, Solder mentioned:

It appears that California defensive end Cameron Jordan is on his way to the first round of the NFL draft.

Jordan was one of the stars of the first day of Senior Bowl practices, earning "top performer" honors from ESPN.com's Steve Muench, who wrote:
No one was able to move Jordan today. Even Nate Solder, who dominated everyone, had a tough time with Jordan in run periods. Jordan did an excellent job of staying low coming out of his stance and jacked up Solder, effectively taking away his power base and gaining control in the battle. We wouldn't say he has violent hands, but he has a strong upper body and gets good hand placement so he can control guys. That's what you look for in a five-technique guy. He slid in to play DT, where he looked a little quicker, and he is certainly big and strong enough to play that position at the next level. We'd like to see him battle some of the top offensive linemen some more this week, but he's off to a strong start and is the top five-technique guy here and probably the best one in this class.
​
 
BuffNut99 said:
From the ESPN Pac 12 blog, Solder mentioned:

It appears that California defensive end Cameron Jordan is on his way to the first round of the NFL draft.

Jordan was one of the stars of the first day of Senior Bowl practices, earning "top performer" honors from ESPN.com's Steve Muench, who wrote:
No one was able to move Jordan today. Even Nate Solder, who dominated everyone, had a tough time with Jordan in run periods. Jordan did an excellent job of staying low coming out of his stance and jacked up Solder, effectively taking away his power base and gaining control in the battle. We wouldn't say he has violent hands, but he has a strong upper body and gets good hand placement so he can control guys. That's what you look for in a five-technique guy. He slid in to play DT, where he looked a little quicker, and he is certainly big and strong enough to play that position at the next level. We'd like to see him battle some of the top offensive linemen some more this week, but he's off to a strong start and is the top five-technique guy here and probably the best one in this class.
​
Click to expand...

Solder doesn't seem too good against Cal guys.
 
I've never really thought Solder was that great at run blocking. Maybe it was because we never ran, but even when we did, it was away from him. I'm hoping he gets picked up by a passing team (Cincy, Ariz) early. That way he'll earn a lot of money and showcase his skills well. I really think he fits into more what New England does, but don't want to see him fall that far.
 
Tractor said:
Just finished watching the senior bowl practice. For a long time, I thought the north team was just Jake Locker.

Solder was playing both right and left tackle. I thought he fared really well in the 1 on 1 battles. Stood people up. He may have held on a spin move or two, but I thought he played well. Some of those O-line guys got blown up, not him.
When they were running actual plays, he did a great job in pass protection. Always stopped his guy or took him out of the play. On running plays, he got to the second level ok. They ran a screen to his side once, and he didn't really do anything. Just sort of ran around. All in all pretty good.

Jalil Brown was doing some 1 on 1 drills and Mike Mayok gave him kudos for staying patient with the backpedal and jumping a 3 step drop route. He seemed to do ok in press coverage too, although he never really jammed anybody, he was in their pocket and didn't give the QB much to throw to.
They had him running gunner for punt teams as well as blocking. Couldn't really tell how he did. In the scrimmage, I was watching Solder more, but I did see him get beat on a sideline route when the WR came back to help his QB. The QB had the ball for a long time, and the announcers said Jalil was covering well for most of the play.
He also got some kudos from the guys at the end of the practice for having a good day. Talked about how he was the better college player than Jimmy Smith, even though Smith has better measurables and is a higher projected pick (5th best senior CB).

Jimmy Smith didn't play. Is he hurt?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the report!
 
Huge kudos for Solder from Todd McShay:

Scouts Inc.
MOBILE, Ala. -- One of the best aspects of the Senior Bowl is it helps separate the elite players from the good players. While some elite seniors (such as Nebraska's Prince Amukamara and Iowa's Adrian Clayborn) opted not to play and the underclassmen (including roughly 15 with first-round potential) are not here, there still are close to a dozen players here who have a chance to be selected in the first round.
Each year, there are players who separate themselves from the pack. They enter the week among the handful of players with first-round grades, but they quickly emerge as the elite class. In recent years, it's been OL Mike Iupati in 2010; DT B.J. Raji, TE Brandon Pettigrew, LB Brian Cushing and LB Clay Matthews in 2009; DT Sedrick Ellis in 2008; and LB Patrick Willis in 2007.
While there have been just two practices this year, Texas A&M OLB Von Miller and Colorado OT Nate Solder are well on their way to joining that list. Their timing couldn't have been better. This setting affords NFL personnel departments and coaches a one of a kind chance to evaluate players. They get to watch players battle other elite players. Maybe once or twice do they get to see these kinds of individual matchups on film, but here it's every rep and in drills they want to see. If they want to see whether an offensive lineman can get set against a speed rusher and then shuffle his feet laterally to contend against a double move, they line it up. Maybe a cornerback from a small school looks like he has the fluid hips and transition speed to turn and run vertically on tape, but now they get to evaluate him up close against a a receiver who runs a legitimate 4.4-second 40-yard dash and has a quick double move.
But there's more than just what happens on the field. Once the stadium lights are off, the interview process is on. Each team has its own process, and some include questionnaires or psychological tests. Scouts keep evaluating players, but for many NFL coaches (who for the past several months have been immersed in their respective teams' seasons), this is the first time they get to spend any quality time with these players. Ultimately, it's all about answering questions. Is the player coachable? What's his background? Is this the type of player we want in our locker room? Is he a team player or a me player? These are questions coaches and scouts are trying to answer beginning now, continuing on through the combine and in individual workouts leading up to the draft.
From what we see on the field and what we're hearing about their interviews off it, Miller and Solder are standing out the most this week.
Miller has been spending most of his time at linebacker; at 6-foot-3, 237 pounds, that is where he'll need to play in the NFL. He was allowed to leave the LBs and join the D-linemen for one-on-one pass rush drills Tuesday, and it was impressive. He was unstoppable against players who are expected to go in the first two days of the draft. On the first play, he did an outside-in double move to beat Mississippi State's Derek Sherrod, and it wasn't even close. The move was so quick and so natural, Sherrod had no chance. The next play, Miller did a quick stutter fake inside, and then showed great torso flexibility by dipping his shoulder and following with a rip move that allowed him to tightly bend the edge and get to the QB (or in this case, a bag that was representing the QB). There were no wasted steps with him as a pass-rusher.
To see it in person in a one-on-one situation against a quality offensive tackle helps drive home everything you've seen on film. Another thing that stands out is just how athletic he is. When you think of a defensive end moving to outside linebacker, you think it will be a challenge athletically. But it does not appear to be so for Miller. It reminds me of Matthews -- and even Cushing to a lesser degree -- in how smooth the transition was for them. Both had experience playing hybrid DE/OLB roles at USC, but when they got to the Senior Bowl, they really showed they could do it all as traditional 4-3 outside linebackers as well. Also like Matthews and Cushing, Miller is proving he's receptive to coaching, specifically on improving his technique in drops and overall awareness in zone coverage. It's very clear Miller has the athleticism, speed and raw, natural football instincts to not only become adequate in coverage, but to make it a strength of his game, which already includes man-to-man coverage ability.
He's looking like a perfect fit for a strongside linebacker in a 4-3 scheme, but from talking to teams here that run a 3-4, don't count him out just yet as an outside linebacker in that alignment.
On the other side of the ball, Solder continues to be dominant. The thing that's impressed me is how stong he's been at the point of attack and finishing. We knew about his size and natural feet, and he's been all those things, but he's been nasty this week and it's been good to see. There are no cheap shots, but a couple of times when he could have finished a play a little easier, he just finished the guy. He buried Purdue's Ryan Kerrigan (who has a first-round grade) on Monday, and he went on the second level to pancake Boston College LB Mark Herzlich on one play and Ohio State's Ross Homan on another.
His play here is starting to match the size and athleticism we've seen on film, and that hasn't always been the case. For months, we've been talking about an offensive tackle class that has a lot of good players but no one who stood out. Solder is starting to show he's the most complete lineman.
Now, we know we're just midway through the week, but if Miller and Solder continue to perform both on and off the field in the last few days the way they have the first few here in Mobile, they'll join an elite fraternity of players, including Cushing, Matthews and Raji, who played their way to the top of the class.
Click to expand...
 
Wow, this entire paragraph is great to read:

... On the other side of the ball, Solder continues to be dominant. The thing that's impressed me is how strong he's been at the point of attack and finishing. We knew about his size and natural feet, and he's been all those things, but he's been nasty this week and it's been good to see. ...
 
Tractor. You watched the Senior Bowl practice?

Its time for me to turn in my "Football Fan" certificate.
 
DBT said:
Tractor. You watched the Senior Bowl practice?

Its time for me to turn in my "Football Fan" certificate.
Click to expand...

Haha, no I just happened to see it coming up. Don't worry, I don't give two craps about the "south" team practice
 
Tractor said:
Just finished watching the senior bowl practice. For a long time, I thought the north team was just Jake Locker.

Solder was playing both right and left tackle. I thought he fared really well in the 1 on 1 battles. Stood people up. He may have held on a spin move or two, but I thought he played well. Some of those O-line guys got blown up, not him.
When they were running actual plays, he did a great job in pass protection. Always stopped his guy or took him out of the play. On running plays, he got to the second level ok. They ran a screen to his side once, and he didn't really do anything. Just sort of ran around. All in all pretty good.

Jalil Brown was doing some 1 on 1 drills and Mike Mayok gave him kudos for staying patient with the backpedal and jumping a 3 step drop route. He seemed to do ok in press coverage too, although he never really jammed anybody, he was in their pocket and didn't give the QB much to throw to.
They had him running gunner for punt teams as well as blocking. Couldn't really tell how he did. In the scrimmage, I was watching Solder more, but I did see him get beat on a sideline route when the WR came back to help his QB. The QB had the ball for a long time, and the announcers said Jalil was covering well for most of the play.
He also got some kudos from the guys at the end of the practice for having a good day. Talked about how he was the better college player than Jimmy Smith, even though Smith has better measurables and is a higher projected pick (5th best senior CB).

Jimmy Smith didn't play. Is he hurt?
Click to expand...

Are you there in person?
 
I've been watching the practices and Mayock has been very impressed with and talking up both Solder and Brown. At one point Mayock was talking about what tractor had posted in the first post about how patient Jalil is and how he comes out of his breaks and said that you can tell that he was very well coached. He was also talking about Brown being a great matchup against the WR's and it was refreshing to watch. Both players are making a statement and my ears were dancing everytime they talked about Solder from Colorado and Brown from Colorado. It was great to hear Colorado being talked up like that. Just think if J. Smith was there!!!
 
So let me get this straight. We have the best tackle in the country and two of the better corners and we still are completely awful. I guess I should be happy that at least Colorado is finally getting some exposure in the draft again, and it's not because we have the best kicker in the country.
 
bdaed186.png

:thumbsup:
 
wsp4820 said:
Todd McShay is a doooshenozzle.
Click to expand...

true. however, i talked with jimmy one night about a month ago outside nitro (yea yea) and he said he was going to destroy the combine and that no one was going to have his size and speed combo. i'm really pulling for the guy.
 
Don Banks in his mock

(Solder at 12 to the Vikings)

It's rare that we don't have a couple offensive tackles who are graded as top 10 talents, but the draft just isn't deep there this year. Solder is thought to be the best of the bunch -- at least early on -- and the Vikings could use some youth as a couch against another subpar year from veteran Bryant McKinnie. Solder is a huge 6-8, 314-pound prospect who has had a very strong week at the Senior Bowl.

(Smith at 32 to Pittsburgh)

The Steelers have gotten away with less than top-notch corners for a while now, and Smith has ideal size and strong coverage skills. He can more than hold his own against tall, physical receivers, and his head-to-head matchup with Georgia's A.J. Green was one of the highlights of his senior season.
 
I'm glad to see some Buffs getting consideration for high draft picks. It's been a while since we've had top notch NFL talent. We have what...??? 2 NFL starters worth a dam.... and one's a kicker (Gurode and Crosby). That's embarrassing
 
sliderNcider said:
I'm glad to see some Buffs getting consideration for high draft picks. It's been a while since we've had top notch NFL talent. We have what...??? 2 NFL starters worth a dam.... and one's a kicker (Gurode and Crosby). That's embarrassing
Click to expand...

Graham, although he's definitely on the backside of his career.
 
Ok 3. That's still really bad for a BCS team and one top 25 in all-time wins. Hopefully that starts to change after this year
 
sliderNcider said:
Ok 3. That's still really bad for a BCS team and one top 25 in all-time wins. Hopefully that starts to change after this year
Click to expand...

Bannan, Brayton, Polumbus

Dizon was hurt. Is Wheatley still around?

EDIT: That still isn't good tho
 
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