East-West Shrine Game Observations

[totalbirdbrain]

In case anyone is interested, here were my notes from the East-West Shrine

game last night. No particular order in my observations.

1) Kevin Robinson from Utah St. would be an awesome selection as our kick returner.

2) Jamie Silva from Boston College would be a pretty good selection as a later round

pick for depth at safety and special teams, assuming he runs ok at the combine.

He was was all over the field making plays.

3) The Quarterback Josh Johnson from San Diego had a nice game running the football and to a lesser extent passing it. The commentators gave him the game ball.

4) I personally liked the play of San Diego St. Quarterback Kevin O'Connell. I hadn't ever see him play, but he looked the part of NFL Quarterback and was pretty mobile himself.

5) Quarterback Paul Smith from Tulsa has a great arm, but didn't have a particularly good game. I wasn't impressed with either of the other two East quarterbacks, Morris or Morelli.

6) Placekicker Taylor Mehlhaff looked the part of an NFL kicker.

7) Big runningbacks South Carolina Cory Boyd and Ole Miss BenJarvus Green-Ellis both were impressive.

8) Running back Thomas Brown from Georgia looked pretty good, as did Fullback Jerome Felton from Furman and running back Anthony Alridge from Houston.

9) Someone on this board had mentioned runningback Marcus Thomas from UTEP to me in a thread a couple of months ago. I forgot whom said it, but you were right. He looked good.

10) Linebackers Alvin Bowen from Iowa State, Spencer Larson from Arizona, and Jonathan Goff had some good plays. I especially like the tackling technique of Goff, and unfortunately he put Allen Patrick out of the game with some kind of knee sprain.

11) Defensive backs that I liked included Dwight Lowery from San Jose St., Dennis Keyes from UCLA, Justin Tryon from Arizona St., as mentioned Jamie Silva from Boston College,

D.J. Parker from Virginia Tech, and Trae Williams from South Florida.

12) Defensive End Kendall Langford from Hampton had a least one sack. No other defensive end made much impact in my opinion.

13) I thought the better quarterback play from the West was the difference in the

game, although I'd give the East's offensive line the edge.

14) I am not sure who it was, but one of the punters had a good leg and was also able to drop the ball inside the five yard line.

[Carter]

totalbirdbrain (1/20/2008)

---

9) Someone on this board had mentioned runningback Marcus Thomas from UTEP to me in a thread a couple of months ago. I forgot whom said it, but you were right. He looked good.

That was me.

Thomas is going to be a gem, I really hope we get him.

[totalbirdbrain]

Yeah, now I remember. Man, it is awful to get old and forgetful.

With the depth at running back, Thomas could be a real steal.

Anyway, thanks Carter for the tip.

[birds_till_death]

thomas brown is a good quality back, but he's been fighting the injury bug his entire college career. i believe this was the only season where's he's actually been on the field more than he's been off it.

that being said, i'd be willing to gamble a 4th or later for him solely because of that much injury concern, but i don't think he'll last that long. ****, michael bush went in the begining of the third with a blown out knee.

[Norwood32]

I really like Goff, he could be our future at MLB and we can draft him in the 4th or 5th round.

[totalbirdbrain]

grendel, I didn't see anything spectacular, but I didn't see him get pushed around at all either. I guess the thing that stood out is that he is a pretty large person.

[Jerry Maguire]

I would love to see Atlanta spend a 4th on Robinson. he is listed as a UDFA right now, but he won't be. Some teams are willing to spend 3rd rounders on kickoff specialists now. Atlanta needs help in the PR game, and Robinson has some upside as a slot receiver...

[totalbirdbrain]

The Cush, I don't know about using a 4th, especially an early 4th,

but his punt return touchdown was not a fluke, in fact Kevin Robinson

had 1 punt return and 3 kickoff returns for touchdowns in 2007 .

In fact, he also leads the nation in Punt Return Average

[Carter]

birds_till_death (1/20/2008)

---

thomas brown is a good quality back, but he's been fighting the injury bug his entire college career. i believe this was the only season where's he's actually been on the field more than he's been off it.

that being said, i'd be willing to gamble a 4th or later for him solely because of that much injury concern, but i don't think he'll last that long. ****, michael bush went in the begining of the third with a blown out knee.

Thomas Brown is a good back, but I think Kregg Lumpkin has a bit more for the NFL running game. They both have the ability... both have also struggled with some injuries... but given a chance, I believe they both can shine. It would be awesome to see them both do well.

Danny Ware came out early last year and I was honestly a little surprised he slipped to UDFA... but he was able to make the Jets practice squad after having a great preseason and then he signed with the Giants. I think Thomas Brown is a better back than Ware, but we'll see.