I just wanted to start up a thread to talk about it. I will be attending practices again this year, as I did last year. Alen, are you planning on going to the game or any practices? Anyone else? I'm looking at the rosters now, and while they are of course subject to last minute changes, I'm VERY impressed. The talent looks way better than a year ago. East Roster 85 Kyle Adams TE Purdue 95 Pierre Allen DE Nebraska 77 David Arkin OG Missouri State 99 Marvin Austin DT North Carolina 6 Perry Baker WR Fairmont State 72 Ryan Bartholomew C Syracuse 70 JC Brignone C Mississippi State 71 Bryant Browning OG Ohio State 14 Mario Butler CB Georgia Tech 12 Delone Carter RB Syracuse 28 Graig Cooper RB Miami 51 Akem Dent ILB Georgia 17 Patrick Devlin QB Delaware 4 Ricky Dobbs QB Navy 19 Ryan Donahue P Iowa 82 Charles Gantt TE Michigan State 43 Eric Gordon SS Michigan State 61 Christian Hairston OT Clemson 7 Jermale Hines SS Ohio State 32 Douglas Hogue OLB Syracuse 66 Randall Hunt OG Illinois 78 Zachary Hurd OG Connecticut 81 Lestar Jean WR Florida Atlantic 31 Brian Lainhart FS Kent State 33 Scott Lutrus ILB Connecticut 94 Gregory Lyoyd II ILB Connecticut 83 Cliff Matthews DE South Carolina 97 Terrell McClain DT USF 44 Josh McNary OLB Army 49 Bruce Miller DE UCF 8 Jonas Mouton OLB Michigan 3 Jonathan Nelson SS Oklahoma 9 Martin Parker DT Richmond 76 Jah Reid OT UCF 16 Justin Rogers CB Richmond 22 Evan Royster RB Penn State 10 Cecil Shorts WR Mt. Union 2 David Sims SS Iowa State 13 Greg Smith TE Texas 65 Mike Smith OT Nebraska 5 Tyrod Taylor QB Virginia Tech 15 Josh Thomas CB Buffalo 80 Terrence Toliver WR LSU 1 Terrence Turner WR Indiana 21 Demarcus Van Dyke CB Miami 6 Lawrence Wilson ILB Connecticut West Roster 14 Cortez Allen CB Citadel 88 Brandon Bair DT Oregon 77 Joseph Barksdale OT LSU 80 Armon Binns WR Cincinnati 84 Jordan Cameron TE USC 85 David Carter DT UCLA 43 Chris Carter OLB Fresno State 17 Chris Conte FS California 44 Ricky Elmore DE Arizona 10 Nathan Enderle QB Idaho 78 Adam Grant OT Arizona 25 Alex Green RB Hawaii 86 Virgil Green II TE Nevada 38 Trevor Hankins P Arizona State 69 Andrew Jackson OG Fresno State 54 Ben Jacobs ILB Fresno State 22 Jeron Johnson SS Boise State 1 Jerrod Johnson QB Texas A&M 13 Shiloh Keo SS Idaho 36 Karl Klug DE Iowa 41 Orie Lemon ILB Oklahoma State 50 Laupepa Letuli OT Hawaii 21 Korey Lindsey CB Southern Illinois 60 Alex Linnenkohl C Oregon State 23 Jeffrey Maehl WR Oregon 55 Dontay Moch OLB Nevada 18 Michael Mohamed ILB California 83 OJ Murdock WR Ft. Hayes State 66 Matthew O'Donnell OT Queens, Ontario 3 Anthony Parker WR Calgary 74 William Rackley C Lehigh 72 Caleb Schlauderaff OG Utah 31 Da'rel Scott RB Maryland 33 Justin Taplin-Ross SS Utah 35 Vai Taua RB Nevada 81 Julius Thomas TE Portland State 7 Brandyn Thompson CB Boise State 16 Scott Tolzien QB Wisconsin 19 Winston Venable OLB Boise State 2 Darrin Walls CB Notre Dame 8 Ryan Whalen WR Stanford 96 Ian Williams DT Notre Dame 9 Nate Williams SS Washington 51 Zachary Williams OG Washington State 98 Ryan Winterswke DE Boise State I highlighted some of the guys I'll really be looking forward to watching, one way or another. A year ago, Rodger Saffold was the biggest standout during practices. He ended up starting all year at Left Tackle for the Rams and performing extremely well. Guys that also stood out included DE Greg Hardy, QB Mike Kafka, WR Blair White, TE Dennis Pitta and FS Kam Chancellor.
Hey Chris, I'm planning on going to practices, not game. They start Monday I believe and the plan is to be there. I will be late to some of them, because of college classes though but I should catch most of them. How much is parking ?
Well, you have to think Van Dyke will have a long look after Sam Shield's success in Green Bay this season.
Well DVD has been playing DB his whole career at UM so it's a different situation. Only thing he has going for him is he's probably one of the faster guys there.
Well I suspect that the thinking will be Shanon did not develop players very well and with Shields in a similar situation coming out last season DVD will be watched closely. CK s right, typically the Shrine Bowl has say 4th rd and back talent, this yr there are several players who could easily go in the 3rd rd or lower, and for the Dolphins it is a good thing that Devlin is at the Shrine game as it means his draft stock is not particularly high atm.
I know he's kind of more of the same of what we already have at WR, but I really love watching Jeffrey Maehl play football. I'll be most interested to see Devlin and Royster. It will also be interesting to see how Tyrod Taylor does in this setting.
Will be also be interested to hear what the fellas think of O'Donnel from Ottawa, he is a Left Tackle who is 6'10
Man, that Maehl kid had a helluvagame last night. I'd sure like to see someone like that in a phins uniform....
Parking was free when I went last year. Whole thing was pretty informal actually. Have you tried to get media credentials yet?
Marvin Austin has a chance to play himself back into the late first round. Hope he's matured during his "time off to think".
Every time I have seen Oregon play he stood out to me. He's just a guy that makes plays. Unfortunately what the Dolphins need the most at WR is a speedy downfield guy and I'm not sure Maehl is that guy.
You use them to meet women and you get a 10% discount at bars. Would love to find a Brad Smith type of player in rd #7.
I think you're supposed to have them to attend the practices, although they seemed pretty loose about the whole thing last year. If you get media credentials I think you're supposed to get in to the game for free. I know that I got free parking at the game itself last year because of it. Just look on the website, there's an online form to fill out. Say you're with an organization. Can't hurt.
I'm curious about that too. If he's out of shape, then he's an absolute moron and deserves to take a tumble.
I'm rooting for my boy Lester Jean. Despite his QB (Jeff Van Camp) basically being a tackle dummy for over half the season (mind you, through no fault of Jeff's), he put up over 900 yards this season.
Ooo. I'm looking at it now. For coverage areas, do I just put my location or entire country? Also, name and for title of requester...?
Well, last yr it was Greg Hardy who entered the season as a #1 pick then vanished so it is certainly possible.
Alrighty. I'm not doing a full workup on Bruce Miller or Jah Reid so I just took a look at their first halves against the Bulldogs. Here are my thoughts. Bruce Miller is a linebacker at the next level. He moves like a linebacker. He needs to be off track, because he can't win in a straight line or in tight spaces. He can be trusted in space to break down and either attack the ball carrier, or chase the player and get him down. His movements aren't clean yet, but he's physical, and has a strong will. He's very aware for a player on the defensive line, can sniff out running back and flanker screens, and has the mobility to get to them. He seems to be given a lot of read responsibility compared with other ends. As I said, he can't win on the straight ahead track, and so I don't view him as a good natural pass rusher. He doesn't have a good first step, or the frame to do damage that way. He's more of a blitzer, can pick his lanes and find the best way through, being physical. He's got good, quick hands and the potential to shed blocks as a linebacker and as a blitzer. He's a frenzied player, the kind of player that plays well on special teams and would embrace whatever role a coach gave him. Probably very coachable. Very enthusiastic. I see a solid draft prospect, I would say a late round draft pick, possibly an undrafted free agent, that could make the team on special teams and be a backup linebacker, then one day he could get his chance due to injury and who knows? Jah Reid is the more interesting prospect to me. His combination of frame and lower body strength and explosiveness are very intriguing. He's no stiff, he can explode and has good mobility for a guy that is supposedly 6'7" and 325 lbs (I doubt the listing is accurate). His lower body is extremely thick compared with his upper body, which is a little narrow. For being a tall guy, he plays with great pad level, but part of that is because he's prone to waist bending. This isn't due to inadequacy or lack of mobility, this is just him being a raw player. He's comfortable firing out low and makes solid contact, and when he plays behind his pads and gets those huge tree trunk legs churning, he's very difficult to defend. He doesn't have a strong upper body yet, and needs some development that way. He doesn't play with level shoulders or head, and doesn't have good eyes to anticipate and stay a step ahead of his assignment. This could come with time and more confidence in his upper body strength as it develops. I see a guy that, with a little development, could start in this league. It would have been interesting if he'd been groomed to play left tackle. I think he has the feet for it. As things stand I might prefer to keep him at right tackle.
I watched Jah Reid live this summer. I was at UCF practices for a full week. He was the only OL that was consistent in the full-week of practices. I didn't catch any of Miller, as when I watched defense, I focused on the secondary. Josh Robinson is a player IMO.
To me, Jah Reid could get a lot better, he has a lot of potential, and that's not a word I like to bandy about.
The key thing with him is that he responds well to the coaches. He understands what is asked of him out there. In practices, they flip flopped him on both sides of the line and he shut down everyone that he went against.
Not from what I saw at the practices. He did some flipping but in the scrimmage at the end of practices, they had him working primarily at RT. The coaches never yelled at him for any problems or anything. I was impressed. George O'Leary chewed everyone's *** out every day but never his. They would give him some pointers, the norm, but not much yelling.
Ryan Sims is another guy that I like. Good, solid, physical safety that is very smart and knows where to be, can find the ball and make plays, force fumbles, etc. He's like a shorter, more physical version of Kurt Coleman, but without quite the same resume as far as snagging interceptions (had 5 a year ago but only 1 this year I think). And Ricky Elmore of Arizona has some potential. He's a lengthy, good straight line pass rusher that has a pretty darn good first step. Doesn't get small at the bottom of his rush, he's stiff around the middle, and doesn't have a feel for being a two-way player playing the run and pass, but when you've got length and a first couple of steps like he has...you'd be surprised how many chances you get to get the rest of that stuff right and be more fluid. I know this sounds crazy but the difference between a Ricky Elmore and a Ryan Kerrigan is actually not huge, it's stuff that could get coached into him over time. I only looked at about one half or maybe three quarters of his game against Oklahoma State and I could tell that he's a double-digit sacker...didn't even have to look up his stats. His stats confirmed it though, btw.
Alen, if you're thinking of showing up today, I wouldn't bother. Practice is moved to the hotel ballroom for a walk thru. It's at 1:30pm, but since it's in the hotel the access might be more restricted. Generally speaking, practices are held in the fields in the shadow of the Citrus Bowl. Last year, access was not very limited. Warm ups are at 9:45am and 2:15pm every day. I'd try and get to a few. I plan on being back here Wednesday and Thursday.
