HR1: Live from Mobile

Published Jan 28, 2025, 4:15 PM
Dale and Matt discuss the prospects and rosters down in Mobile, Alabama this week for the Senior Bowl where Dale takes in the practice live.

This is The Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the Black and GOLDNR Steelers Nation Radio.

Welcome to the Drive.

I am Dale Lolly here in beautiful Mobile, Alabama at the I'm currently at Hancock Whitney Stadium here on the campus of the University of South Alabama. Matt Williamson back in Pittsburgh.

We'll be bringing you the show.

Actually, we're taping the show here during the morning practice for the national team here. They were on the field now they'll be here from nine to thirty until eleven thirty. We'll be bringing you the show during the national team practice. So a lot of good stuff to get to here, hearing things talking to people down here, talking to some national scouts and things of that nature about some of these players and learning more about them. For example, you know, Matt and I talked yesterday about Taylor Elgersma, the Laurier quarterback from not the lawyer quarterback, the lawyer quarterback from Canada. I found out some info on him. But how you doing, Matt.

I'm great.

I wish I was there, can't do it because of some family stuff, but I will be also not on the drive tomorrow, just you know, kind of get that stuff out of the way. And I'm glad you mentioned that the national practice is about to start, so that will be the very first football activity of Senior Bowl week.

So absolutely to be right there next to it, right yea, yep.

Absolutely, I'm right here right around the fifty yard on here on the observation deck overlooking the field here.

Lots of media types here, I see all this. The scouts are.

And coaches are all across the way over at the press box there. I might wander over there a little later and see, you know who I can talk to over there.

But yeah, it's uh, it's an interesting one here.

So this this practice this morning, some guys that might be of interest, uh for guys that we looked to mentioned elgersma from a Laurier College.

I don't even know where Lawyer College is. That's that's l a U.

We might have to refreshment.

If people didn't listen yesterday, they're like, what the heck are you talking about with Laurier? Who is this dude? I mean, he's the Canadian guy we talked about yesterday. Yeah, they were interested.

Basically brought him into replace Howard when he backed out from Ohio State. You know, you gotta have some you gotta have three quarterbacks, you can't have two. So they bring this guy in and he he's from a Canadian college and uh said, all kinds of records up there was basically their Heisman Trophy winner uh in Canada essentially you know, won all the major awards.

Big guy, he's.

Like six what I say, six six, uh yeah, two hundred and twelve pounds, and he looks the part. He's he's tall and rangy got very leggy.

That's the first about him. Very leggy.

Uh.

So the scouts that I was talking to about him last night, this uh, this guy had had scouted him in Canada for the Senior Bowl actually to kind of give him, you know, the opportunity to come here. Because they scout, they do a great job of scouting all over the place.

Really gotten strong.

Yeah, yeah, and because they want to they want to get the best talent here and find these guys, you know, regardless of where they're at.

And so I asked him myself, well, so what's your what's your report on this kid?

He said, he's a you know, he's he's he's he'll make some really tight window throws that'll make you go wow, that was that was really uh, you know, a big time throw, you know, he said, but you do have to question some of the you know, the guys he was working with. I said, well, what would you equate that level to? He says, it's kind of somewhere between D two and D three?

Okay, okay, so kind of like when Willis was there or the other a couple of years ago.

Yeah, you know, or the kid that Tyson Badgett.

Yeah, I remember he was here a couple of years ago from Sheppard and he's I mean, he's I know, we make fun of the name and all that stuff, but he's done.

Okay in the NFL, he's stuck. He's going to be a two for number two forever. Yeah right, that's not bad, right, yeah, right. So no one knew who he was when he showed up the Singer Bowl, you know.

Right, Yeah, he was just a guy that I think he had been the Shrine Game and done well there, or one of the other you know, minor minors All Star games and done well there, and they brought him here. Well, this is you know, a situation where they just brought this kid in when somebody else backed out, so he must have been in the next guy up, you know, but he said he's a.

Doable watch list, you know, like a lot of these guys that are in the original rosters do not participate. And I was just thinking of this yesterday. I sent you the list of a bunch of guys that are out and you probably already had it, but yeah, I'm thinking, man, the playoff system is bad for the Senior Bowl that way. You know, a lot of these guys play deeper into the year, so you know, the the Nixon bruises, you don't want to go to the Senior Bowl, you know, obviously the Ohio State quarterbacks the perfect example. But then opens the door for next guy. So they have these long watch lists, you know, the break break glass in case of emergency, and they might call guys up from the Shine Game even you know tomorrow. I mean, they're not done adding to the roster. It happens all week.

Yeah, and for those guys, I mean, the more eyes that see you, or the more opportunities you get to be seen, the better. Yeah, you know, especially if you're one percent, you know, you're just trying to find a spot.

So it's a big it's a big week for a lot of these guys.

A lot of shuffling though, and Jim Nagy's in charge of it, does a tremendous job. Has a really good group of scouts now that really you know, scour the globe. And I'm sure you remember this, but remember last year the defensive tackle from Florida State that the Rams drafted, Fisk, practiced all week with either the North of the South or yeah, yeah it was Fisk and then was the best guy. We're the best guy in the field. We're ad tackle short. You mind flipping teams. He's like, and I heard the story today. He's like, is it the same scheme. They're like, yeah, exact same scheme. He's like, guys all day in practice. Anyways, Yeah, let's go.

They should do that. They should just randomly do that.

Have switched.

Five guys, five guys from each roster, gonna switch sides at the you.

Know, you'll know what jersey you're gonna get. Just go to your locker that morning. You don't know what you're either red or you're you know, blue.

I might mention that to to some people down here and see if like just just spice up the game a little bit, just five five guys just roll the you know, random name drawing and you know.

Probably not quarterbacks, but anybody else.

Yeah, these these these.

Uh well he'd be five on each ruster. So these ten guys are going to switch sides.

Yeah, dude at halftime. Oh that would be even all kinds of just despice live in the game up at a little bit. Uh, but yeah, Elger is going to be a guy that they'll be keeping an eye on.

Here.

Again, he's he stands.

Out at uh six sixth plus really uh big, the leggie I'm typing, I'm trying to think of who he would remind me of in the NFL.

Uh, he's got the high hips.

So I mean, I imagine once he when he cuts it loose as a runner. And the scout that I talked to said, he's a he's an okay athlete for a guy that size. Yeah, said that. You know, I'll be interested to see, you know, when he cuts it loose. You know, I imagine he's a long strider given.

That worries me his leg length. I don't like the term leggie for quarterbacks. I mean, I want more of a compact build, don't have to take a big step to get to the football, you know, quick accelerator. A lot of those guys don't have great balance, you know. I know Mahomes is a little on the short side. He's got such a low center of gravity. Russell Wilson, you know, those guys have the quick feet and are hard to knock off their pins and don't need a lot of room to operate. So yeah, I'll be definitely watching that, you know.

With this.

The other the other quarterbacks on the on the national roster, Tyler Schoff, we talked about him yesterday out of Louisville, another big, you know quarterback, he's like six ' five to twenty plus. And Dylan Gabriel out of Oregon who's six foot two hundred pounds, So he stands out from that group in a different way.

But boy, he's played a lot of football though, you know. I mean, if you can get over the height stuff, maybe he has a Knicks or Pennix like rookie Year, you know, more knicks because he's so ready. I mean, he's not gonna go in the first round like those guys. But you know what, you're getting, and I think that that's gonna be valuable.

Yeah, and that height stuff has really kind of changed really, you know, Michael Vick and Russell Wilson kind of changed the the G three of that, you know, even going back to Doug Doug Flutie. But really it was it was you know, Vic and and Wilson that kind of carved a path for those for the shorter quarterbacks.

Yeah, that was a I mean, Wilson was a third rounder, Vic was first overall, but Wilson in particular, you know, Bryce Young should send him a Christmas card every year, you know, because if it wasn't for a couple of those guys, namely Wilson, there's no way Bryce Young goes first overall.

Well, the same thing you know with Arizona.

Yeah, absolutely, Kyle, you know he went first, to Kyler Murray went first overall. He was he's what five ten five eleven mm hmm.

Yeah, and he's a better athlete too than you you know.

Yeah, So, I mean it's it's just that that stigma.

Of the shorter quarterback is really it's it's not quite what it used to be. I mean, it used to be when the you know, the you wanted the six five guy that could stand in the pocket and survey the field and all that stuff. And now because everybody wants the runners, well, most of those six five guys aren't really good runners or you know, aren't not the plus athletes, you know, in terms of being able to move and run and all that stuff.

That's why you know, Ben Roethlisberger was.

Kind of an outlier in that regard because he moved Josh cam Newton, right.

There aren't many that are king along and hard to knock.

That's why Josh Allen's he's an avatar total. Yeah.

Absolutely.

I just double checked because I was curious how tall Mahomes is, and he was. He was exactly at six to two at his combine. I thought he might even be a little shorter. But I mean he's that's fine, you know, I mean that's obviously there's no problem there.

Yeah, right, but it doesn't you know, it used to be he has to be six to four or he has to be at least six to three and change. And now it's you know, that's that's obviously changed. It's a running back position for this group. You know, Uh, you're looking at Oli Gordon out there for this group. Damian Martinez, who we mentioned yesterday, the two hundred and forty pounds back out of Miami, So I'll be interested to watch him base shol touton from Virginia, Texa guy we didn't we haven't talked much about, but he's another good sized back with speed.

Yeah.

I'm looking at the running back list now and I would say Gordon and Martinez are probably if I had to put a betdown of national running backs that end up in Black and Gold, those would be my top two draft picks. Yeah, but watch yeah, I mean they're big, physical dudes for sure. Martinez, I really want to see what he does is in the receiving game while he's down there, and running.

Backs are tough.

They're probably the toughest eval at the Senior Bowl because they're not going to tackles and things. But you see him in protection, you see him in the past game, which is exactly what I'm to see with Martinez.

And then I don't know if he's for the Steelers.

But somebody I'm really keeping an eye on that I think is extremely interesting is the Syracuse running back out the Quinn Allen. Yeah, the quick Dallin. Sorry I'm reading this wrong. He In, he is a really established receiver, you know, so well rounded football player. I just think could be a good pro.

That would be you know, a lot of times in our mock drafts, Matt, we have doubled down at the at the running back position, and I think there's a there's a place for something like, you know, maybe a late round running back, even if you took one earlier, because you can use those guys as kick returners.

Absolutely, you know, I mean everybody does now, you know.

Yeah, you know Arthur Smith was in the football you know there was there was enough carries there for all three guys last year and touches three guys.

Yeah, you're gonna be to make the roster.

Yeah, and some of these dudes. And you know, I always use Benny Snell as an example because I was really impressed with he was a big dog on campus. He was the feature guy in the offense, and he turned into a core special teamer. Now he's not going to the Hall of Fame. I'm not saying he's Jim Brown or the best special teamer in the world. But if you take a back, you know, like in our mock scenario. Let's say we take one in the third round and then he use one of those seventh round picks on a dude. Well, that's seventh round pick. Better learn how to play on special teams too, you know. I mean, ideally he brings more special teams value than Cordell Patterson, who's just a returner. You know, if he could also do kick off, you know, uh, coverage those type of things too, and then you have a lot of value and you're probably gonna if you're the Steelers third back, there's a really good chance to get carries. And then there's a really good chance somebody's gonna get it, you know, dinged up aheady at some point in the year, and you're gonna get serious carries.

That's just how it goes.

And I was watching me Kai and does first draft, and they did their first one last night on TV, and he mentioned, and I've heard him say this before, he has thirty five running backs with draftable grades.

So even if you know the Steelers don't draft too, which.

They probably won't, I mean, it's a cute idea, but thirty five agent, Yeah, thirty four five aren't getting drafted. There's going to be twenty five drafted and you go spend some money on an undrafted free agent too, you know, so really deep class and looks like the group there in Mobile is pretty strong too.

Absolutely absolutely, But let's get to a break, Matt, before everything really starts.

Kick off.

The teams on the field kind of getting going through their warm up process. Here, got the offense on one side working against the other offensive players. Defense on the other side of the field working some of that stuff here. But he is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. We are here in Mobile, Alabama, for we're the Senior Bowl here at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

Matt.

Now, I'll be back with more right after this.

This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the Black and Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio.

And we are back. I am Dale Lolly. He is the Matt Williamson and this is the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. And I am here in Mobile, Alabama. Matt back in Pittsburgh. But we'll be bringing you shows all week long from here in Mobile, and Matt continuing to go through the roster here for this national team that is currently on the field. Some of the wide receivers on this national roster. You get de Kwon Felton from Virginia Tech. Xavier Rostreppo, who we talked a little bit about yesterday. A little bit shorter Felton though, six to four and three three eighths two and twenty two pounds. Yeah, he's kind of intriguing to big wide receiver, you know, just you know these king sized wide receivers.

I mean he's Mike Williams size.

Yeah, been big, physical guy that really needs to show in a separation skills quickness. You know, I'm sure he has the contested catch stuff, but can he get away from man coverage down here and those drills favor the receivers, you know, in one on one you get a long time to develop your routes. Can he take advantage of that situation will be key for him.

Yeah.

We also have on that mentioned Rastreppo. He is a guy that, again not the tallest of receivers, but thick. Again, you get the guy that you get the ball in his hands and let him go. Tess Johnson, also on from Oregon also on the national roster, five nine and two eights, one hundred and fifty six pounds. This guy, he has a seventy three inch wingspan at five Like I'm looking here at the other guys as some of.

These he's got he's got a weird build.

Yeah, it's it's he's just got a kind of just a really long arms and so yeah, he's a he's a shorter guy. He's a lighter guy, but he's got he's got, you know, over a six foot wingspan for a guy that's five to nine. So it's just you know, you can you can get away with a little bit more. I think if you're if you get that kind of size in terms of that. Iowa States Jayden Higgins also on the national roster here, He's almost six four, two hundred and seventeen pounds, He's got a seventy nine inch wingspan, which you would expect from a guy.

Guy here, he's very impressive, very impressive on the hoof, Like he really looks the part. And I would think Higgins or Restepo as it stands right now, is probably odds on favor to be the first receiver drafted out of this group.

Yeah, yeah, tight ends.

You got Harold Fannon is in this group, Elijah Rojo from from Miami. So a couple of talented, you know, mid round type tight ends. The bowling green kid Fannin, you know, maybe the one of the super Yeah, very productive, but you'd expect at at that level. But he did that. You know, he had some games against uh, some big time competition and and uh did didn't matter just as well, it didn't matter who he was playing against.

So keep an eye on him.

Looking at the offensive lineman Marcus mcbow from Purdue is on that national roster. You got Anthony Belton from NC State, Wyatt Millham from West Virginia, Gray's Abel from North Dakota State.

So they've got some guys there.

Josh Connelly from Oregon might be a first round pick, probably will be a first round pick. So they've got some guys in that group that have quite some some pedigree.

For that group.

Absolutely, so it's one of the better groups out there. I mean, now I'm looking at it. I mean, Ozzy Trapillo from Boston College has a chance to go on Day two. Jalen Rivers from Miami could be a Day two guy Uhursery.

From Minnesota first round.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean I think Connorley's going in the first round. You mentioned abow the WU dude Wyatt Millam too.

Is he a guard? Is he a tackle? But he's gonna go pretty early too. So that's a good group. I mean, if you're looking for o Liman, you're in the right place.

Yeah.

Moving over to the defensive side of things. Uh, you got h a Zeri A Thomas from Florida State. Uh be interested to see him, of course. So we just did the Daniel Jeremiah draft yesterday and Daniel Jeremiah had him in the first round. Going to the ball more Ravens if you remember. Uh, they've also got on this one very im porter from Iowa State. Both of those cornerbacks six to two, a couple six foot two cornerbacks. Yeah, are should be taken, probably both in the first two rounds of the draft.

I don't care.

I would make it.

Think this is a great day for them though, I mean, can they change directions, can they sink their hips? I mean, they're gonna do a lot of football stuff one on one in on a real spotlight.

This will be a key for those guys.

Yeah, you've also got Dorian Strong from Virginia Tech in that group as well. So they got they got some three big cornerbacks on this uh on this roster on the north side and the national side of things.

Should make it interesting.

Strong at six six foot and a half and one hundred and eighty pounds, so he's got these he he's the small one of the group.

UH had almost six to one.

He doesn't quite have the size of the other guys even I mean bilal Cone Uh from Western Michigan another six foot one cornerback, one hundred and eighty six pounds, Tommy Hill out of Nebraska six foot, two hundred and ten pounds.

You know.

So there's just some big dudes playing these positions here, you know, in the secondary.

Yeah, And times have changed a little bit, and that kids growing up are smarter that they realize that there's so many wide receivers that come into the league, the competition at that position. You know, if I'm fifteen, sixteen years old, try to concentrate on offensive side of the ball, defensive side of the ball. Well, if you were six to one or are above, it was always receiver, you know. And now some of these guys are like I can be an outlier at six ' two and maybe have some receiver ball skills and be a higher pick when in my time comes, you know.

Right, Yeah, I mean teams need these guys to cover the the condors out there playing wide receiver in the league. Here at the linebacker position, Uh, we're not going to deal with that too much.

I don't know that the Steelers.

Are going to be taking any linebackers or safeties necessarily unless it's a you know, as you're looking for late round Nickels safety. Interior defensive lineman, you got Darius Alexander from Toledo and Nias Peebles from Virginia Tech, Jaha Black from Iowa. I mean, they got some big or good interior defensive lineman on this group here. Moving on onto the other side, here the edge guys, Ty Robinson from Nebraska's on on the north you got Mike Green from Marshall, Donovan Azeriku from Boston College. They get some pass rushers on this on this landon Jackson National Defense, I mean, the offensive defensive line drills are gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

Yeah, They're gonna be highly scrutinized, really good competition to me. That's the highlight of Senior Bowl anyway, even more so than one on ones with the receivers and corners. But that's definitely with this group gonna be you know, must watch TV. There's a lot of I mean all future NFL players, but there's a lot of high picks who are going to be involved.

We talked about the old line too.

Yeah, I forgot that the one safety is here that might be of interest to the Steeler. Sebastian Castro out of Iowa is a guy to keep an eye. He is, uh, play some play, some nickel and does some of those things. I don't I'm not seeing a size on him necessarily. I think he's he's like I can't remember now exactly what the size on him is, and I don't see him here on the on the measure chart, but I think he is.

Measure charts are hard to keep up.

Just under just under six foot in about two hundred and ten pounds.

But he also plays the slot.

Do you say Castro?

Yeah, he is five eleven two oh two with big ten and chans and good wingspan, eleven in charms.

And again, yeah, was there nickel for Iowa. So that's another guy to keep an eye on here. But lots of lots of talented guys here, a lot of talent on the football field, and looking forward to seeing this group work and then of course the the American roster will come in and work in the afternoon. We'll talk more about that American roster when we come back. He is the Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lolly. You're listening to the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. I am live here in Well. I guess we're taping this on I'm live right now.

Uh, I hope I'm still alive.

Uh here in Mobile, Alabama at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Matt back in Pittsburgh, and of course you can follow my coverage from down here on Steelers dot Com. I'll be talking to some of these prospects when practice ends and and doing some write ups and some guys who interest me.

Over the course of practice. We'll see what Mike Tomlin h.

He always likes to get down on the field and and uh get you know, get a look at these guys on the hoof, as it were, and see who who has good practice skills who doesn't. I was talking with somebody last night Matt just as a quick aside here. Hm, they think Mike Tomlin might be the only head coach who's actually.

Here this year.

Wow, that surprises me.

Yeah, what do they do think they're thinking it?

Maybe maybe Mike Rabel comes, because Rabel would always come when he was with the Titans. Yeah, we'll see. Uh, we'll see if he shows up. But uh yeah, Tomlin, Uh, you know one of the guys who is here every year. He is very active on the field and one of the few coaches who still comes. There's there's there's teams now that don't even send their coaches to to this, to the combine anymore. Like I don't that I don't understand it.

I don't understand either.

I mean, of course they video everything and you know, zoom and blah blah blah. But there's something he said for being there.

Yeah, don't you want to don't you want to interact with these guys a little bit?

Actually? I think I.

Think I want to go to the Lamb night And okay, I mean I just want to be there even if I I was a coach and you have to divulge your secrets, but see your buddies and talk a little bit about players.

You're not even interested. I mean, there's a lot to gain from that.

Yeah.

Tom's down on the field now chatting with some other guys. He's with Arthur Smith right now, so they're talking to the one of the officials and one of the other scouts is down here. So yeah, so Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith here, we'll see where they I know Omar Con is here as well. But anyways, let's get to a break. He's Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Networks.

He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

And we are back. I'm Dale Lolly.

He is the Matt Williamson and this is the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. I am here at Hancock Whitney Stadium here just to pull back the curtain the morning here in Mobile, Alabama. It's not even ten o'clock here yet, but the national team on the field, the American team will come in and they'll practice this afternoon. Right around noon, they'll come in and they'll be done by two o'clock our time here, because we're an hour ahead here in the South or in the Central time. But Matt, just looking here real quickly at that American roster again, Jackson Dart, Jaylen Milroe, and Riley Leonard.

The three of the four quarterbacks are you also have.

Seth Hennigan from Memphis, And I gotta be honest, I don't know much about Seth hen Hennigan at this point, but that Memphis program has produced some pretty good players over the last few years.

Yeah, I'm on the official Senior Bowl site and he is not even on the roster yet for them, So maybe he's a real late edition.

Maybe doundate that.

But man, I mean, Leonard doesn't really interest me from the Steelers perspective, but Milroe and Dart are really gonna be, you know, all eyes on. I mean, this group of quarterbacks is one of the most to gain.

Here, you know, or to prove. Yeah, absolutely talked about him a lot last couple of weeks.

You could you could see Darton mill Roe and Dart Milroe at Howard, you know, and and then Gabriel were all kind of fighting in that group to see who's going to be the third quarterback taken.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but Howard isn't working out, you know, and these two are going to be right next to each other throw, which is great.

He did enough during the playoffs, uh you know series to kind of improve his stock in so, I mean, he really played well in.

The playoffs for Ohio State.

Looking at the running backs, you've got Devin Neil out of Kansas, You've got r. J.

Harvey at a U c F.

You've got Jark West Hunter out of Auburn, Marcus Yarns out of Delaware. Have you seen anything on him yet? Because he is supposed to be an outstanding athlete. If you're you're coming to a game like this had Delaware, yeah, you better have some do something special. And from what I've read and seen about him, he does that.

He's got some.

That's what I've heard too. I just read a small paragraph on him the other day.

Is he was kind of a sleeper, you know, not a lot of name people knew him from Delaware. Of course, he was a big fish in a little pond there, but really explosive. As you mentioned, people expect him to be a phenomenal tester. I would think this environment is good for him home run hitter, you know, so interesting player.

Yeah, another guy that maybe you take a flyer on late in the draft, or you know, you bring him in as a priority free agent and next thing you know, he's your kick returner or something in your third down back. You have some packages for him in that regard. The wide receivers of this group, Jack Beck at a TCU, Ty Felton out of Maryland, Bruce McCoy out of Tennessee, and Jalen Royals at a Utah State. This is a big week for Jaylor Royals because he was limited because of injuries this year. He had a ton of catches yes last year and it was really i mean just extremely extremely prolific.

At Utah eight.

But is a bigger receiver and is a guy that you know has some has some pedigree there. He just missed some time this year.

Yeah, and he's another one that I think has a chance to go higher than people might think at this point. It wouldn't shock me that if he has a good week. You know, we do our mocks that you know, Steelers second round could be Royals. You know, in consideration at least that he can get downfield. He's got size, I was a track athlete too. I mean I think he was like, I.

Think you're pretty accomplished.

Yeah, yeah, so I think he had like a over a six foot there's maybe a six foot two high jump and also know ran sprints and things of that nature. So the speed is there, the athletic ability is there, and he can he catches the ball well. So you just keep an eye on the Jalen Roys. He'll be number seventeen on that American roster. On the offensive line. You get some guys there, Miles Fraser out of LSU, Jonas Sayavania out of Arizona, Carson Vincent from Alabama, and m and armand Membu some guys there out of Missouri that I want to keep an eye on out of that group.

Yeah, and Emery Jones is someone I'm paying attention to because it seems he was getting first round buzz before the season LSU tackle and he's a little shorter, maybe he's a guard, but I'm looking at him maybe as a fourth rounder for the Steelers and he plays four different positions for you something like that. Yeah, he does have good pedigree. Who knows, this isn't a bad group either, but a lot of these guys seem like they're Are they tackles?

Are they guard?

You know, the big dude from Arizona is probably a guard, even though he was a tackle in college.

You know, what's membo gonna be? I mean it.

I think the other O line group's a little better than this one, but this is an interesting group as well.

Yeah, they get the three L s U offensive lineman on that American offenser, so that might, you know, in terms of game stuff, might play in their favor because you know, you put those three guys together on the field, they don't you know, they've they've played a lot of football together, so it might give them a little bit of an edge, particularly against that really good defensive front from the national team. At the cornerback positions. Some interesting guys there as well. Trey Amos, who you know, potential first rounder out of Ole Miss. You got Maxwell Harriston out of Kentucky. Another guy who is considered a potential it could be a first rounder, right Yeah, Jacob Parrish out of k State, Upton Stout from Western Western Kentucky. Uh, there's some there's some dudes on that group as well that can help their stock this week.

Oh, quite a bit, quite a bit.

I mean Stout is a guy that people were real excited to see. Small school dude from western Kentucky. Probably a true slot, but they talk about him being as just a real bulldog, a real feisty Mike Hilton type, you know what I mean.

Could use that guy.

Gott Absolutely, we'll.

Come and play the run and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Looking at the uh, the interior defensive line from that group, they got a good group here, Dion Walker, Walter Nolan, Uh, you got Omar Norman, Lott, t J. Sanders, I mean, holy mackerel. Uh. I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to. Yeah, there's a lot of talent with Tim Smith from Alabama, I mean, just Cameron Jackson from Florida. I mean, they got some dudes on that on that side of the ball here for the American defense big time.

And I'm sure Shamar Stewart's listed as an edge, but will he line up inside as well? I mean he's got size. I mean, their defensive front is really interesting. I'm hoping Walker can keep his pads down and be the middle of the field for so the guy out of Kentucky I mean his height worries me a little bit.

I wish you would have wait In at six ' six and change as opposed almost six eight. But there's a lot of good players in that group.

Yeah, you mentioned those edge guys.

I mean they got Princely Yunemeln the guy Prince you at a ole Miss I Prince you, Kyle Canard out of South Carolina, Schamar Stewart, who you mentioned, Jared Ivy ed of ole Miss, sive On Jones out of LSU. I mean, they got some dudes. It's going to be a really, really good group.

Prince you might be the guy that steals the show when it's all said and done, and I bet weigh ins and walking out on the field, he's going to be the guy that your eye goes to immediately, like just looks the part first guy off the bus type.

Yeah.

Yeah, they get some you know, really talented rosters here. And again they've they've done a great job of getting some of the he's the best time. They don't have you know, the top ten type picks here at this thing, but they've got some guys that you know from guys from picks twenty or I should say ten to fifteen down through eighty. I'll bet you there is there's probably forty of those guys here somewhere in that range.

Wow. Yeah.

I mean again, some of those need to decipher themselves, but some of the receivers we mentioned, or a lot of Day two picks.

I mean, there's probably I.

Don't know how many the running backs will go that early, I mean at that position, but there's definitely a couple of quarterbacks, a lot of linemen. Yeah, I can probably get the close to that number.

Yeah.

I was talking with somebody here last night, and I had one of their Senior Bowl scouts, and I said, you guys had one hundred and five guys drafted out of the Senior Bowl last year.

What's your expectation this year is somewhere? He said.

Probably not quite that number, he said, but I'll bet you it's somewhere, you know, north of nine five guys drafted in this game.

I mean, so that's what kind of talent you're looking at here.

Yeah, and there are kickers and punters and long snappers.

Long snappers those guys don't get drafted, so you know you're not.

Gonna get drafted. Yeah, that screws it. Up.

Yeah, yeah, you know again' if there's thirty five running backs that are have draftable grades, maybe one or two of these guys don't. Maybe there's an injury that pops up at the combine. Unfortunately, well, it definitely will be. You know, one of these guys will look good here and go to the combine. They're gonna say, you know, you have a bad kneed. No, I didn't know that.

You know.

Unfortunately that that stuff happens too.

Hopefully it's not something worse than that. We've seen some of that right right right as well. But yeah, I'm the bad news in Indy. Yeah, you don't want that. And then that's when you start seeing those guys pop up on it. He's visiting everybody, well, yeah he hit something. Maybe it doesn't get disclosed necessarily that he had a something wrong with him, but they find it there. And then the next thing you know, he's visiting fifteen different teams right before the draft because they all want to get their updates on it.

Yeah, and some of them are, well, you would fail a physical now at Indy, but by the time the draft rules around, you might be okay. And you know, so these are always ever changing.

Yeah, that was one of the reasons why Darnell Washington, for example.

You know, yeah, good Cook fell off.

You know, he fell to the fourth round because some teams weren't sure about his knees. And it's not been a problem.

Not been a problem at all. And I mean that was a historic tight end draft as well, so a lot of ties didn't break in his favor because of Durbelly. Yeah.

I mean if you have him equal or even just slightly ahead of somebody else, but then you look, well, our doctors are saying that that knee is going to be an issue, well then you don't work. Trey Smith's another one. You know, Tray Smith is a Pro Bowl player for the for the Eagles or for the i should say the Chiefs, and he fell to the sixth round because he had the heart issue. Oh, by the way, he just pulled out of the obviously pulled out of the Pro Bowl. And so Isaac sam Mong now going to the Pro Bowl games this year.

Oh, really good.

So Steelers get another guy in the Pro Bowl games from that. If you listen to some people completely devoid of talent roster.

And Trey Smith's obviously been a huge success story.

I mean, he's about to get paid a lot of money on the open market.

Yes, And you know, I think at this point, because he's four years into his career, you know, those those questions that you had about is you know, is he going to have a long career? Is that this heart going to be an issue? It turns out to not be the case. I mean, he's four years into the into the league and he's played a lot of snaps and played at the high level. You don't necessarily look at that as a situation anymore.

I would assume not.

I mean, and it's not like a knee that man, this guy's taken every Wednesday off. You got to barely get him the game day. He's going to fight this knee the rest of his life. Maybe the hard issue corrected itself, or there's medication for it.

I don't know. I mean, who knows.

But he's been playing really well and it's not like they have to pull him out of games or have heard and it's ever been an issue since he's given the league.

Absolutely, but let's get to another break, Matt.

That's going to do it for our number one of the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. I am live here at Hancock Whitney Stadium in beautiful Mobile, Alabama.

The sun is shining. There's a few clouds in the skies, but the sun is shining.

Usually I end up coming down here Matt every year and getting sunburned, but only on half of my face because I'm I look like two face, because the left side of my face, because that's where the I'm looking at the field from and the sun's on the left side of my face. I always end up getting sunburned on the left side and not on the right, And I look silly, I look silly, hartless. But that I mean, that looks really silly when I get sunburned on one side of my face.

But you makee me move around a little bit more.

Yeah, yeah, Well, there's there's not much you can do about that.

I mean, you're I mean, I can go over to the other side. I actually I can't go over to the other side, you know, on the on the sky outside of things here. But then I would just be evening out my my sunburn, I guess. And is it worth is it worth walking all around the field to go do that?

I don't know.

Right now, I'm in the shade so I got a nice shaded spot here, so it's not that bad.

But that's gonna do it.

You look funny when you come I hope you look funny when you come back.

That's what.

Funny er, funny er, that's right right anyways, that's gonna do it for our number one, Matt, and now I will be back with our number two of the drive right after this

SNR Drive with Matt & Dale (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Dale Lolley and Matt Williamson tackle the days topics regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers each aftern 
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