Senior Bowl
“Pigskin” Paul Guillemette
Senior Bowl, Mobile, AL If all-star games are the dairy aisle of
your local grocery, then welcome to the cream section. Even though agents hide some of their players in performance camps, you’ll find the vast majority of the Top 100 senior Draft prospects playing and practicing in this venue. Even though the elite guys weren’t in Mobile, I felt that the game featured two very viable receiver options that both have Jennings potential in my eyes. Quinton Patton of Louisiana Tech had a strong week of practice. Even though he’s not a blazer, he has good size (6’ 0”, 202 lbs), 9 1/8” hands and good quickness in and out of his cuts. In fact, at times his resemblance to Jennings and his skill set was a bit eerie. After a great week of practice, Patton all but disappeared in the game, but he did perform well on special teams coverage units. Aaron Dobson of Marshall displayed good hands and solid route running ability. He also demonstrated nice footwork on sideline patterns. He’s not as quick looking as Patton, but his 79” wingspan was the longest of any wide receiver in Mobile. The defensive line group was particularly strong and deep this year. But more than half of the guys in this group I would eliminate because they are not well suited for a 3-4 scheme, especially for a team like Green Bay which uses a two-man defensive line formation quite frequently. One of the most intriguing DL guys who did not disappoint in Mobile was Montori Hughes of Tennessee-Martin. There’s nothing small about this smallschool kid who measured 6’ 5”, 328 lbs.
and looked even bigger. He also has a wingspan of over 80”, though his arms are actually less than 32” long. Hughes moves well and penetrates into the pocket, and I also like his attitude. I ran into him at Monday practice and he had a walking boot on his left foot. He said it was an ankle issue from the regular season that flared up in the Raycom game the week prior to Mobile, but he hoped to be back in action Tuesday. He was, and even though he limped between plays and had it triple taped, he practiced well the entire week, and had a solid game-day performance. Potentially, he looks like a bigger, maybe faster Ryan Pickett. Kawaan Short of Purdue is likely to be over-drafted with a chance to go late in the first round. But if he slipped to late round two, or the Packers moved out of round one to acquire extra picks, he showed he could have good value for the Green Bay scheme once they get past pick 50 or so. Short needs to get in better cardiovascular condition but has traits that Trgovac should like. He’s 6’ 3”, 308 lbs. with 33 3/4” long arms and a wingspan of over 82”. That should certainly put him in a position to bat some balls and obstruct the line of vision for quarterbacks. Despite not looking like he was in good shape, he has agile footwork (ala B.J. Raji) and uses his hands well most of the time. If the young man doesn’t elevate his Draft stock too much at the Combine, I like the Packers potential of Brian
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Schwenke of California as center who also showed well at guard during the week. He appears to be a hard charging, intelligent, over achiever, just like a guy named Scott Wells who left Green Bay for big bucks last year. My gut tells me it might not take him a long time to compete for playing time in the interior of the offensive line. On a somewhat down note, former Badger and West Allis native Ricky Wagner had a rough go of it as he was switched to right tackle for the North. He was strong and assignment sure in the running game but had trouble handling the quicker pass rushers. Some of his struggles were no doubt due to the position and stance switch, but it did raise questions about his ability to protect the edge against the elite pass-rushers he’ll face in the NFL. My absolute “sleeper pick” of the week was safety J.J. Wilcox of Georgia Southern. Up until his senior season he was a running back. Talk about a guy who made up for lost time. He looks to be a natural in coverage and really hits a ton. Wilcox is probably not a sleeper any more in NFL circles. He made his point in Mobile and got himself an invite to the Combine. I can also tell you that people who interviewed him were impressed with his articulate, quietly confident manner. This is the kind of player that Thompson would not hesitate to select if he fell to them as a value pick from round two onward.
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