Senior Bowl Day 2 Recap

Published Jan 30, 2025, 1:28 AM

On this episode of Move the Sticks, Daniel Jeremiah and Rhett Lewis recap Day 2 of Reese’s Senior Bowl practice, highlighting standout performances and breaking down which players built off a strong Day 1 and who continued to separate themselves.

Move the Sticks is a part of the NFL Podcasts Network.

And now move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks. What's up, everybody. Welcome to Move the Sticks, DJ and Rhet with you from Mobile, Alabama and from coming from the couch from my hotel room couch.

Yes, we did at one point a couple of years ago, trying to fit the entire Move the Sticks crew on the back seat of a Corolla and try to give you our takeaways from the practice day.

And this is a little bit more comfortable. I don't know if we.

Call it luxurious, but I think it's gonna it's gonna lend you some some good nuggets and some of these players today.

I'm definitely gonna be safer Nobil God bless him. Was not the best driver, that's for sure.

I'm glad that's not part of his new job description.

Happy for Nabili's doing great. By the way, for those that are asking, I want to start off, we're going to handle some business here at the very top here because it's time for Hot or Not brought to you by Wsabi Hot Cloud Storage, and we're going to start with the national team what we saw in the morning from them, and I'm going to give you give you the floor here, what's stood out to you?

Okay, yeah, we'll go and I think, you know, one of the things that we were looking to see from day one into day two was build. Right, who's going to build on a solid day one? Who's going to continue to separate elevate their game. I thought Jeffrey bossa linebacker from Oregon, was one of those guys we don't I feel like we don't get an opportunity to talk too much, as you kind of told me about the linebackers and the running backs. When you're not taking guys to the ground, it's hard to really kind of give the full spectrum of your skill set. But I thought bassa showcase some physicality. We saw the leadership out there, not only play to play in the huddle, you know, communicating the play call, but then at the end he was the one breaking it down like that is an alpha dog leader, green dot player, second level quarterback, your defense. I'm fired up for him.

Yeah. I love the way he broke it down at the end of practice. And it wasn't like he was trying to grab the spotlight or something inauthentic. It was it was real and he's already established himself as a leader on an All Star setting is not easy to do. I will go to the rep of the day in my opinion, Mike Green matching up with Connor Lee, Josh Connelly from Oregon and in Organs Josh Conley Man. The only thing is like, gosh, can you really think? And can you bend? And Mike Green. I love the fact that not only did he bowled him and just kind of threw him on the ground. It was a great rep. I love the explanation of the rep. When we talked to him after practice even more. He's like, look, he tried to jump me. He tried to jump set me, and then Lily kind of presented himself and so everybody thinks that I'm the speed guy and they're going to try and jump on maybe you know, be physical with man. He put it into that pretty quick.

Yeah he did.

And we got a chance to talk to him after practice and it was kind of fun to listen to his you know a little bit about his journey, a little bit about his mindset. He's got a great personality. I feel like, a great head on his shoulders, some awareness of kind of where he's been and what he can still do as he tries to make impressions on NFL evaluators. I enjoy the kind of the back and forth between he and Donovan Azerraku, you know, who were going back and forth this season buying for the FBS sack lead, which ultimately went to Mike Green at Marshall, but Ezerraku won the Hendrix Award as the top the end he was sixteen and a half sacks to Green seventeen. It's been a only competition there and that's kind of been a theme that we've we've kind of heard throughout and then you know, as we kind of look at some of the other guys throughout the day, Darius Alexander was another one of those defensive linemen that that really you know, I kind of thought we'd see him flash day one. I thought he really kind of picked it up here into day two. And that's what you know, the practice week is about, is that evolution and that progression.

Once you get some of that, you know, like what.

Am I doing on this play and on this rep out of the way, then you can let that natural talent and athleticism take over.

For those who don't know Darius Alexander from Toledo was six three and a half six oh three fives a little over six three and a half three hundred and four pounds with thirty four inch arms, and he looks the part. And not only can he win, you know, early with some of his quickness and athleticism, but show some polish here with some of the counter moves that he'd put on display. So those are a couple of those defense in wineman. I would add Josiah Stewart had a better day today from Michigan. Was able to corner and get the edge a little bit, did a nice job on the offensive side of the ball. We flip over to those offensive linemen. I mean, Gray's Abel's been the best offensive lineman the entire game, and I don't know that it's been particularly close.

Well, I think he's also taken the most reps of anybody, whether that's one on one or team drills or both, maybe of any position group. It just felt like he was always up there almost every other rep, whether it was center, guard, tackle, we were calling gray's Abel's name. It sure does feel like he might find a home at center at the next level. He looked really natural there.

DJ I was talking to a general manager in between practices and I brought up his name and I was like, look, it's impressive. He can play all these spots. But I put him at center and just leave him there and let it go, and I just got a smile. So I think that that was probably a shared opinion there. But the Zabel out of North Kota State has been awesome and it's been fun to watch him compete at all these different spots. Anthony Belton, I think we might have mentioned him yesterday from NC State. There's been a lot of these guys. Even Caleb Rodgers from Texas Tech had some good reps. It's been a solid group.

Yeah, Ozzie Trapilo two at a couple of nice reps. Again.

You know, at his height at over six foot seven, right, that's one of those guys like you know, you want to see him sink a little bit too, as you were talking about with Connerley, but he did a little bit of a better job on that today and that was that was good to watch. He looked natural over there at the left tackle spot too, and he played right tackle at BC for the most part, so it was kind of good to see, you know, him on both sides. You know, I think you kind of come back to the tight ends, you know, and Elijah Royo did nothing to really dissuade us from thinking he is one of the best in show in this entire group, in this entire draft class. It was great to see him among that that growth.

Thought.

Terrence Ferguson stepped up today, had one of the big reps of the day.

In think was that the.

Compete period where he had that physical catch. Yeah. Yeah, So they.

Did a nice job. But I'll throw another tight end there too that I haven't had a chance to study yet. I'm looking forward to to digging into him before we get to the game. As Gavin Bartholow me from pitt he flashed a little bit and he's six to four and changed two hundred and forty one pounds, not real long, but I thought he did a nice job today. So the tight end group overall very impressive. Like what I've seen there. We go to some of these other positions, the corner position RTT. You look at some guys that have stood out. I think Quincy Riley stacked a couple of good days together. Thomas from Florida State as Aria. I get that right as Zurier Azaria Gosh, dang it, Saturday, I'm gonna be there. He just continues to uh to play well. He gets matched up a couple of times with tes from from Oregon who can fly, and he's tiny. Me that's gonna be a tough cover for a big corner. But I thought he looked fine.

Yeah, I would say the same. Darien Porter. You know, he kind of saw his length a little bit with Iowa State. Want to see him continue to try to elevate. Justin Barron showed up a bunch and we kind of saw him go from dB to linebacker. You know, we were talking about those linebackers. He was another one of those guys that flashed today. Jalen Smith, the corner from USC you know, talking to Dan and Land, their defensive coordinator, he was telling me that, you know, Jalen Smith was out during springball for them, and so they kind of used it as a value add because they got to see where their biggest need was this year because.

They felt like he could play everywhere corner.

Nickel safety found out the biggest need is at corner through spring put him there in the fall, and that was kind of like a set it and forget it. He is an edgy type of player at corner too.

He's flying around. The GPS numbers have been great for him this week as well. Any other players from the national side you want to jump into here, you.

Know, we'll get to it.

But I think Oliwa Femi Oladejo continues to stack. You know, a guy that's still kind of young in his edge rusher career piece. He's been an off the ball linebacker for much of his career. Moved down to the edge rusher spot at UCLA to allow Carson Schwashner to come on and get repsit at linebacker, which he did very well too. So that was fun to see. And I think Femi's only going to kind of elevate as he continues to refine that skill set.

He is a fun one to keep an eye on for sure.

All Right.

That was this week's Hot or Not segment, brought to you by was Sabi Hot Cloud Storage store more and do more with your data. Try them for free at wassabi dot com. We are going to take a quick break. We will be right back and we'll get over the other side. The afternoon practice the American team. Our thoughts right after this. All right, right, let's let's start first of all quarterbacks on the American side. We didn't, I guess we should. By the way, recap on the quarterback side, the National side, best and best in show just so far. I don't know that there's anyone that just jumped out. I would probably lean towards Shuck, but you know, I think Dylan Gabriel has been close. They're just totally different style quarterbacks.

Sure, and Chuck gave us kind of the wow moment of the day, and it was on a kind of a broken play that didn't even really count. Right, He gets a kind of an errand snap and he sticks his big old nine and three fourths inch hand out to the right, snags it with one hand, and then.

Flips it like live.

It was like it was the most natural thing he's done been doing in his whole life, and then throws it out. I think it just, you know, again kind of you talk about his size and his frame, and I think we'll continue to see that emerged there. But I would have with you that Chuck, you know, using this week, might have a chance to really elevate himself kind of throughout the entire quarterback landscape in.

This four degrees. I don't know if IVE ever heard a quarterback who has four degrees.

Well, you played for three years at Oregon, three years at Texas Tech, and finish out a year majoring in football at Louisville.

You go to feel pretty good about.

It, no question. All right, let's get to the other side here, the American team. We can start right there at the quarterback position. Kind of a no frills day from Jackson Dart. I thought there was some issues just trying to get snaps for all these quarterbacks, which threw off some of the rhythm. But he was fine. I don't think anything stood out one way or the other. Milroe had an interception on one that was I thought the result of a fumbled exchange and just late getting the top of his drop a couple extra hitches. Kaiser, the linebacker from Notre Dame, ends up picking them off.

Yeah, and you know that was a on the flip side.

That's a plus play for Kaiser, right, you know, he gets some ball production there and he was all over the place. We'll get to him in a moment, but I would agree with you. Milroe, though, did kind of bounce back he had a long completion to Jack Besh and you know, while it wasn't the most perfect throw, I think as a quarterback you're also understanding who's out there, and with Jack Besh, he's a guy who's going to go up and get it for you. He's got that physical frame, contested catchability. That's what he did on that play. I think went up there against mac McWilliams from UCF and that was one of the highlights of the day and of the week really for Milroe.

Yeah, nice job there. Riley Leonard dropped arm angles a couple of times. I wouldn't say that he's just, you know, a purely natural thrower, but his time is going to come in the game when he can move around. I think him and Milroe are going to be better Saturday guys than they are going to be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday guys.

I would actually say MVP candidates on that front because of that ability to have that dual threat for him. And then you know, we again we don't talk about the running backs a lot here, but I'll say that Devin Neil had one of the runs of the day, kind of a multiple cut where he was able to kind of have it what would have been an explosive run. Marcus Yarns has showcased some serious speed and I think, you know again where you know, not having a belcal type of back, you want to look for guys that can fill a certain need for you in that room.

He might be one of those guys.

Yeah, it's definitely turned into a committe league unless you got one of those rare guys, and he's someone that can definitely provide that particular role. The tight ends continue to be good man. Mason Taylor another solid day today. Jackson Hawes did a nice job in pass protection, one of those one on one drills, you know, competing. I love his competitiveness. A big tight end. A lot of big tight ends in this game. There's been other years where it's like just bulked up receivers. I feel like we got some guys with some size who could play in the line.

One of those Jake Brenningstool, who left Clemson, is the most productive receiver in Tiger program history. There he caught a bunshit passes today. It's kind of one of the favorite targets, so it's good to see him get some of that production. We didn't see him a ton on Day one, but that's kind of what it's all about. Get guys a bit more comfortable, get the quarterbacks a bit more comfortable, and start firing off some.

Of these completions. But I would agree with you on the tight ends.

We get to the receiver position. You mentioned Besh had a nice play down the field. Anybody else from this group stand out to.

I thought Isaac Taslaw had a really a good one on one period, and I don't know that we've had the kind of the Lad Maconkey type resime.

No, you know what I need to I need to go back though, and I need to give some love to the Washington State receiver because Kyle Williams in that national team, that national practice, he's done a nice job getting off press separate in the top of routes. But I'm with you in terms of overall receiver position. It's not a great receiver draft. And I don't know that anybody's taking the bull by the horns here to kind of separate from this group.

I would say you kind of hit it there. Kyle Williams has been one of those guys.

So was Jayden Higgins today from Iowa State was a guy who used, you know, his big frame and still was able to kind of showcase some quickness getting off the line with his release package. So yeah, Isaac Taslaw I thought was good. Ty Felton had had a strong hands catch on the sideline today that reminded me. That reminded me of some and then I don't know that we showed it on NFL Network today just because there's a lot of things going on at once. But Arian Smith had had a deep ball catch for a touchdown that was pretty impressive as well.

Yeah. No, it's definitely cool to see some individual highlights, but waiting for somebody to kind of take over and establish themselves as the cream of the crop.

Here.

Let's go to the trenches here. Offensive line, defensive line. It's always fun to watch those guys. I thought, I'll start us off on the defensive side. Shamar Stewart by far his best of the two days. He was speed, it was power, it was one on ones, it was team You just don't it's hard to find guys that are six five, two hundred and eighty pounds with thirty four and a half inch arms that can move like he could.

Move yeah, And I think we saw a nice battle developing throughout the day in this practice between Shamar Stuart and Emery Jones from LSU, so much.

So that they called them back out there for the competition period.

In fact, it was one repon team and remind me of you called this out or not, But Emory Jones washes Shamar Stewart all the way down the formation and then kind of lays on top of him.

I don't know, I wouldn't call it a pancake, but got him to the ground. It was a knockdown for sure.

And and so then those guys come back in the competition period and they get no, it wasn't Shamar Stewart.

Yeah, Shamar Stewart cooked him with a sack. He cooked him in the one on ones, and then he got a sack in the team period on him and yelled all yelled at the top of his lungs.

That's right, exactly right.

And then Baron Surrell and Emory had a chance to go at it in the competition period and they got three cracks at it, one one, one the other, and then they tied.

On the third. So maybe we'll get the true rubber match on it tomorrow.

Yeah, No, it was fun to watch. Those one on one periods at the end are a lot of fun offensive line wise. Anybody else you want to get to here, I thought, I get. I got to give Lampkin a lot of love. Man, when you're under five eleven, you're two hundred and seventy pounds at center and you're going up against some of these monsters. Man, he competed. You know, Walter Nolan is the most talented defensive lineman, interior defensive lineman in the game. He handled him a couple of times in team I was impressed.

Jackson Slater from Sacramento State also, I thought, showed up today more so than Day one. The interior played a lot of guard at Sex State. I think we saw him even snap the ball a couple of times here he got I think he got one of the reps on the competition period at the end and won the rep.

So he was good.

Carson Vinson continues to put a good week together from Alabama A and m out at left tackle, and yeah, I think that covers it for me for day two for the offensive line group on the flip side, if we're going to the trenches, Dion Walker.

Had a better day for himself.

Hey guys, Pad's know, yeah.

Exactly, and look and that's that's tough on a guy like Willie Lampkin, who he was lined up with a bunch on day one, you know, six foot seven going up against five foot ten, but he did well.

You know what was.

Interesting to me today maybe one of the more intriguing things to kind of file away Prince ely Uma Meellen, who is about two hundred and fifty pounds, was lining up a bunch not just in one on ones, but in the team drills as kind of like a NASCAR package, you know, three technique, and boy did we see that quickness getting through some of the interior guys.

It's just not fair. I mean, he's got he's got so much burst and Juice did no clue where to line up. They were having to line him up. He didn't know where to go. But when he eventually got where were supposed to be, he was impactful. As we as we go back to the secondary, I was I was all on Dan Jackson today from Georgia, who was all around the field, did a great job. But one on ones their safety obviously, you've got Malachi Starks and the much heralded safety as a teammate. He kind of gets lost in the shuffle there, but man, he had a good day covered well one on ones and a team. He showed up in the run period as well.

Yeah, and if we kind of continue going on the corners and safeties.

I thought Billy.

Bowman showed up again from Oklahoma. I think he put up some good GPS speed numbers. Maxwell Harriston continues to be one of the best in show, kind of overall amongst.

Any position group.

He had another great day to day and boy does that dude have a smile and an infectious type of personality.

What did he say is game team as Game Day, nameless.

Mad Nax, mad Max. Yeah, kind of like the movie.

Dante Trader showed up again from Maryland today, although on the playoff talking about earlier from Devin Neil, the running back out of Kansas, Dante had a kind of dead to right shot. Obviously he's not going to try, not gonna light him up, but Neil joked him out of his socks on that one, so you know, look, win some loose on some of those. But I thought he did a pretty good job on the on the whole kind of creating some some splash plays.

I think that pretty much covers it in terms of what we saw today. As we wrap this thing up here, we get looked forward to another day of practice and then the game on Saturday. There is one NFL thing I want to hit on before we get out of here. Kellen Moore looking like he's got a real shot at the at the Saints gig. As someone who grew up in New Orleans. I'm going to give you the floor there. You like that move?

I think I would.

I mean, it's hard to say when you know we're projecting coaches, right, He's never been a head coach. Ben play called had been a really good one. I know you got to know him a little bit from his from his time in LA with the Chargers. Think he's done a real nice job kind of orchestrating the offense for Nick Sirianni and Philly this year. Obviously they're sitting there in the in the postseason. It helps when you can turn around and hand it off to a two thousand yard running back as well.

Look, they've got talent in New Orleans.

The thing that I don't that gives me reservation, and not because of Callen, but because of the Saint situation. It just feels like they need one of those resets. And it's kind of been a band aid approach for the last couple of years. And you wonder, you know, if you're kind of hamstring hamstrung with the cap and you're just trying to kind of try to patch things up, is that a place where a first time head coach can thrive. Maybe maybe it is. Is it gonna be Derek Carr? Is that even gonna be his quarterback? I think there's a lot of unanswered questions that this type of hire would kind of present as we go forward.

I think it's interesting. I like the idea of just kind of getting outside the family a little bit. You know, there was talk they were going to get guys that had been previously been assistant and now obviously Dan Campbell's don a bang up job with Detroit Eron Glynn's going to get his shot with the Jets. Dennis Allen had come back there to be the head coach, so it's kind of like, Okay, let's let's just get outside of that. I feel like the Patriots and I hope it works out with Rabel, but I feel like they're just it's just the next iteration of Belichick. And I'm kind of like the Saints, let's just get a let's get a new fresh start here.

That's what this would be.

And look, Mike McCarthy would have been you know, I'm not calling it a retread, but certainly familiarity there from his time, you know, with Sean Payton in New Orleans and he pulled himself out of the search. So yeah, it does feel like it's kind of Kellen's Kellen's opportunity at this point. But we'll see anything could happen. I do think that that part of it does create a fresh mindset, and I think that could be something that's that's very needed in New Orleans.

And I think also Kellen's seen when you build up a line of scrimmage and you've got a study running back, good things can happen. And they've got the makings of some good pieces along that offensive line. Floag as a rookie, I think, is going to be a really good player for them going forward.

You know.

See it seems like at the running back position, Alvi Kamara is gonna play at least fifty. I don't know.

Sure, Chris Olave didn't play a whole lot this year because he was hurt. You know, you get that piece back, and we forgot how good he was as a rookie just because we didn't see him a ton this year. And yeah, I mean, like there's some stuff, but the defense is getting a little bit older, right Cam Jordan. The Mario Davis, Marshall Lattimore is now gone. I think this is a big draft for New Orleans to kind of refill the coffers here a little bit for a new head coach.

We'll see what happens there. But one of your take on that as our New Orleans Uh well, we don't say resident, what do I say New Orleans? Uh yeah, yeah, sure, let's go with that in New Orleans native. All right, it's been it's been fun down here at the reach of Senior Bowl. We will have more coming your way. We'll get definitely going to have an opportunity to recap the game what we see there. Uh TV deal, whether we get another episode between now and then, we're efforting. We're efforting. But I mean, yeah, this couch, you know, this is this is a lot of content for this for this case. Get him out here, all right. We gotta we gotta wrap this up. I get it right out of my room. I appreciate you guys. We will see you next time. Right here, unmoved the sticks

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