Wide Receivers
-A major shock to me, Tim Benford of Tennessee Tech was the most consistent receiver on the field for the East roster. He's very sudden, explodes very well in his cuts, and was able to plant, flip and comeback to the ball very well. He was a favorite target in the offense, and if he can show some shake in the open field too, he might get himself firmly in the draft-mix. Still, a long week ahead for the smaller receiver.
-Two guys were working primarily in the slot today: AJ Jenkins of Illinois and Kevin Hardy of Citadel. Hadey had three drops that I counted, two of which were on him and he just couldn't shoot his hands out and extend for difficult but certainly catch-able passes. As for Jenkins, he showed why he's one of the safer receivers in this draft, running tight routes inside, extending well for the catch. Jenkins especially is likely limited to the slot in the NFL and doesn't have great moves after the catch, though.
-California PA's Thomas Mayo looked about as good as I expected, especially for the first day. He explodes well out of his low stance off the snap, tracked ball well, especially in coverage on the inside, and took to coaching well. His deep routes are still an issue, and one of his biggest weaknesses showed up in practice, as he struggled to hold his route down the field and react without changing his path deep, but overall, he very well could've been the best of the NFL outside receivers
-Also of note, LaRon Byrd of Miami and BJ Cunningham of Michigan State showed great concentration on some passes, catching away from their body well. But both dropped passes throughout the practice, and neither was able to separate down the field. Hope Cunningham gets a shot in the slot this week as well, as I think he's best as an inside-out slot receiver.
Tight Ends
-To me, Temple's Evan Rodriguez was the clear leader of the tight ends, also not overly surprising to me. He showed tight, smooth routes in the seam, and used sutler hand placement, route definition down the field to show some separation ability, including one deep pass over the head of Penn State safety/linebacker Nick Sukay. He, as well as the other tight ends, played some full back, but overall, Rodriguez looked the part of the best tight end at the game.
-I haven't scouted much of Chase Ford of Miami (FL), but he flashed a little today, catching the ball away from his body, smooth down the field in his movements. But he didnt' fire off the ball well as a blocker (something I'll be watching closer tomorrow), and didn't seem to get separation on man coverages.
-Emil Igwenagu of UMass looked raw as expected, but didn't do much in terms of an in-line tight end. He seemed very comfortable coming out of the backfield on his routes, however, and he looks like he NEEDS to be an H-Back in
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