MORSE: Who to watch at the East-West Shrine practices and game

Practices for the East-West Shrine games are getting started. Here are prospects that you should look for during the week leading up to the game Thursday night.

These are players highlighted by Mike Field for Boston Sports Journal. The Patriots are coaching the West team and these players are all from the West team:

WR Zay Flowers (BC): Here’s a top-50 pick with a chance to break into the first round. He’s explosive with the ball in his hands and he’ll interview well for teams. In my opinion, he is heads and shoulders above every player in Las Vegas. PFF has him projected as a 1^st round pick.

DE Habakkuk Baldonado (Pitt): Smart kid that is still developing. Great size (6-5, 260) with a frame to put on more weight. Needs more anchor, and polish but he has good instincts and I love the upside.

TE Luke Schoonmaker (Michigan): The CT native is one of the more balanced TE’s coming out this year. He’s a top 100 player that could be a Patriots target late Day 2 or early Day 3.

DL Devonnsha Maxwell (UT-Chattanooga): Same school as Cole Strange. Set the school and conference record for sacks (37.5). Consistent producer each year and played well against top talent this year.

RT Dalton Wagner (Arkansas): He has his own area code at 6’8” and 331 lbs. He will need time to develop and catch up to the speed of the Pro game. He was a 6-year player at Arkansas.

Pro Football Focus has a list of who to watch.

Kobie Turner DL Wake Forest – Led all Power 5 schools with a 93.1 run defense grade

Villiami Fehoko Edge San Jose St – 65 pressures this season, 4^th in the country

Moro Ojomo DL Texas – Top 15 in both pass rush and run defense

Devonnsha Maxwell DL Chattanooga 23 sacks and 19 Tackles For Loss the last two seasons

Colby Sorsdad OT William and Mary 2^nd highest FCS grade (Cody Mauch North Dakota State had the highest) Didn’t allow a sack in 22 games. 3^rd Highest run blocking grade. Captain and RT.

Mohamed Ibrahim RB Minnesota 6^th year senior. 1675 yards rushing, 1106 yards after 1^st contact

Desjuan Johnson DL Toledo – He was the most valuable DL in the country according to PFF.

BJ Thompson Edge Stephen F. Austin – 92.6 pass rushing grade was 2^nd amongst FCS

Dante Stills DL West Virginia – 90.3 run grade 5^th best in Power 5

Yasir Abdullah Edge Louisville – Top 5 Edge, 10^th in TFL

Isaiah Moore LB NC State – 94.4 run grade tops in Power 5

Jordan Mims RB Fresno State – 0 fumbles in 260 rushing attempts

AT Perry – WR Wake Forest –

Demario Douglas WR Liberty – 5’8 170 4.48 Punt Returner

Others that I think deserve a look, especially given the Patriots team’s needs.

Michael Turk P Arizona – we need both P and K and have 11 draft picks

Andre Szmyt K Syracuse – 2018 Lou Groza award winner and three-time nominee for the Burlsworth Award (walk-on)

TreVius Hodges-Tomlinson CB TCU 5’8” 170 4.38

Ricky Stromberg C Arkansas – Led Arkansas as the #1 rushing team in the nation. Received SEC coaches award as the top run blocker. Andrews isn’t getting any younger.

Jack Colletto FB Oregon State – played RB, FB, and MLB. Draftscout lists his primary position as FB but his secondary position was QB/LB/ATH ran a 4.76 40 at 6’3 239 lbs

Coaches at East-West Shrine game

Joe Judge has been added to the Patriots staff in Las Vegas as has Keith Jones. Jones played for DeMarcus Covington at UT Martin and was a minority placement with the team. Covington was incorrectly listed as the West team Defensive coordinator. He is actually in Mobile at the Senior Bowl and is the Defensive play-caller for the American team.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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