2014 Senior Bowl: Day 2 Recap

Day 2 brings us the first of two padded practices where the prospects can either earn or lose the most of their stock. Which ones stood out and which ones faltered under the limelight of many eyes upon them? Both teams got an opportunity to practice at Ladd-Peebles today. The North team took the field first around 10 AM EST while the South got in at 2 PM EST. Here are the links!

Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting recaps the North and South practices

Dane Brugler of CBS has his recap of the South standouts

Brugler also has his North questions

Rob Rang also of CBS has North linemen domination

Walterfootball has a list of team/prospects meetings

My Thoughts:

North

- Stanford DE Trent Murphy has been second best defensive lineman of either side by far. Murphy has been making a ton of money this week and is flying up the boards into a possible first round pick.

- Minnesota DL Ra'Shede Hageman continues his impressive start into Day 2. He showed off his power by utterly controlling the offensive line and had several pancakes in one on ones. Hageman has been dominant against virtually everyone he's faced this week so far.

- Pittsburgh DL Aaron Donald is stealing the show. He's very quick off the snap and his hand movements are impeccable. He has an arsenal of moves to go to should his initial push fail him. Donald is undersized at 6'1 288 but projects as a Geno Atkins type. A fearsome pass rusher that virtually did it all by himself at Pittsburgh.

- Notre Dame OT Zach Martin has played very well at tackle, in fact so well that he could be considered the best tackle in Mobile. Martin projects as a guard at the next level but his showing at tackle could change a lot of minds this week. He has a slight problem defending against the longer defenders though.

- Missouri DE/OLB Michael Sam is very fundamentally sound when working with the defensive ends but needs some coaching to be an effective outside linebacker.

- All three quarterbacks continue to show that they are wildly inconsistent. Virginia Tech's Logan Thomas has been the worst of the bunch. Thomas really needs to consider a position change. Today was a really good day to evaluate the QBs in terms of what they will do under windy conditions. All three featured great arms but everything else was terrible.

- West Virginia RB Charles Sims surprised a few folks with his agility and receiving skills. He showed good hip control and a willingness to hit the hole hard and take on defenders.

- Wisconsin WR Jared Abbrederis is flat out the best receiver on either side this week. He's a solid route runner and very consistent in his receptions. He won't blow you away with his speed but his consistency will beat defenders eventually.

- Abbrederis' teammate LB Chris Borland is having a monster performance in regards to showing off his pursuit skills and tackling ability. He's an underrated athlete that could play inside in a pinch.

South

- EIU QB Jimmy Garoppolo continues his rapid rise up the boards. He has a lightning quick release and the ball seems to explode out of his hand.

- SJSU Qb David Fales continually regresses each day and today was a rigorous challenge. Fales showed that he cannot complete out passes without some level of serious difficulty, throwing up wounded ducks in most cases. It seems like he cannot compensate for his small hands like Garoppolo can.

- As impressive as Garoppolo is/was, Fresno State QB Derek Carr is arguably the best one of the bunch. He has a plus arm, decent athleticism, and good pocket awareness.

- Vanderbilt WR Jordan Matthews improved from yesterday's performance but still needs to work on get off a lot. Matthews seems like he lacks the skills to beat corners off the line.

- Arizona State DL Will Sutton showed off his quickness and agility, blowing by guards and centers with ease. Sutton was apparently asked to play at a heavier than ideal weight by ASU and it's affected him. His hands are pretty good but needs to develop counter moves to offset any initial failures.

- Tennessee DL Daniel McCullers has regressed badly even after a bad first day. He showed up out of shape and can be easily beaten once fatigued.

- The star of the South defense is undoubtedly BYU LB Kyle Van Noy. He is a freak athlete, even more freaky than former teammate Ezekiel Ansah.

- Another guy who impressed today was Florida CB Jaylen Watkins. He's shown off a lot of talent in Mobile after sitting behind Purifoy and Roberson while at Florida. Watkins has good instincts and even better recovery speed but needs to work on his jam at the line skill. This could be the 2014 version of current Titans DE Lavar Edwards. Edwards was less touted than his star teammates but has had a better career so far.