The “winners” of the day for the North Practice were RB Charles Sims, WR Jared Abbrederis, OT Jack Mewhort, DE Trent Murphy, and LB Chris Borland.
Offensive Linemen
-Zach Martin of Notre Dame continued to be the best of the bunch of the offensive linemen. With great feet on the move and working downfield, along with transitioning to his second block, Martin showed the athleticism to fit at guard or tackle in multiple spots. Holding up well at the point of attack, including against powerful rushers James Gayle and Ra’Shede Hagemen consistently, Martin has shown the ability to play offensive tackle, which may be his best NFL position.
-The opposite of Martin, Cyril Richardson of Baylor struggled mightily and now opens the door for heavy question marks about his NFL fit. Consistently working to recover laterally, Richardson has been easily driven off balance by quick rushers, and then struggles to adjust his feet and gets driven back far too easily for a lineman his size. He’s likely struggled his way out of the Top 40 picks this week already.
-Ohio State’s Jack Mewhort had a very solid day, getting work at both tackle spots. He doesn’t win every time, but he’s a plus pivot blocker in the run game, exchanging his feet as he drives the outside shoulder of his defender, along with winning at the point of attack as a run blocker. He may not have the elite upside or plus kick slide to be a high pick, but Mewhort looks the part of an eventual starting offensive tackle.
-Of the interior linemen, Weston Richburg gets the slight edge over Tyler Larsen based off practice today. Both had their moments and their disappointments on Day Two. Richburg has plus interior strength and can hold up one-on-one against power rushers, but needs to maintain that hand position through his block, and can be beat by counter rushers inside. Larsen needs to win initially with hand placement and quickness, or else he struggles to keep leverage against both rushing linebackers and interior linemen.
-Finally, Michael Schofield of Michigan and Brandon Linder of Miami struggled all day. Schofield was aptly dubbed “Michael HOLD-field” by Ryan Allesio (@JinxFootball on twitter), and the description fits what he does consistently to not get beat. Linder has the size and strength in his upper half, but he plays on his heels too much, worried about the counter rush. He was blown up by an initial push by Minnesota’s Hagemen.
Defensive Linemen
-The best defensive lineman of the day was Stanford’s Trent Murphy. He had success consistently off the edge, playing with plus speed/bend around the edge, better than expected on film. He also was very active in exchanging his hands, disengaging at a high level against Seantrel Henderson and Jack Mewhort consistently. Some project him as a stand up, 3-4 outside linebacker, but Murphy may be best as a versatile defensive end in a 4-3 defense.
-Ra’Shede Hagemen is a prospect that’s easy to like, but tough to really fall in love with. He put four linemen on their ass today, including an initial push that forced Brandon Linder down, along with driving a double team block by Tyler Larsen and Michael Schofield that put all three down and would have collapsed a hole perfectly had it been team drills. However, he doesn’t slide and adjust laterally well enough for a rusher at his length, and gets completely controlled by lineman that can get underneath him initially. He’s a high upside, Top 20 talent that hasn’t developed enough to be a consistent threat in the NFL yet.
-Pittsburgh’s Aaron Donald was the big winner of Monday, and he was certainly solid on day two. The most impressive takeaway today was Donald’s ability at the point of attack against double teams, winning with lower balance and hand strength. His hand exchange is so quick laterally, and he consistently wins with his counter rush move if he can’t simply drive underneath after his first step.
Linebackers
-Chris Borland is really taking advantage of the week with another strong performance. He has a real feel for the game and minimizes his size limitations by using leverage and short area explosiveness to his advantage and disengaging quickly from blockers. Scouts have also been impressed with his pursuit effort as he’s been flying to the football all week.
-The lone “true” inside linebacker on the North, UCLA’s Jordan Zumwalt is taking advantage of his reps by showing fluidity in coverage and read and react ability versus the run to make tackles near or at the line of scrimmage. He gets into some trouble shedding if blockers absorb his initial pop as he isn’t the thickest or strongest but he’s a fighter. As expected, he’s the most fiery North player on the field and a vocal leader who teammates seem to respond to.
