It was a beautiful morning at Ladd-Peebles Stadium here in Mobile for the North practice. Today’s focus was on the big boys in the trenches, as well as some linebacker and running back work in the passing drill.

Big winner: Hobart OL Ali Marpet. The D-III stud found a home at left guard after mostly negative reviews from Tuesday while playing tackle. His hand placement and upper body technique was perfect on most every rep. He showed adequate ability to generate power from his base and transfer it through his hips and shoulders, though he’s certainly not a mauler.

During some drills he was asked to pull across the formation to pick off the backside defensive end. He quickly shuffled and engaged in balance. He locked up Kentucky’s Za’Darius Smith expertly on one rep. Marpet had a lot of folks buzzing along the sidelines all morning.

Biggest loser: Pittsburgh OT T.J. Clemmings. It’s not that Clemmings was bad, but relative to expectations the athletic tackle certainly disappointed. The biggest knock is his slow hands and reactions.

There was a set of two reps going against Penn State’s rather pedestrian Deion Barnes. On the first rep Barnes was slow off the snap and Clemmings landed a jab to the neck that sent the pass rusher sprawling. But the next rep Barnes used an effective stutter move to get inside Clemming’s punch and crossed his face easily for what would have been a sack.

Clemmings lacks the great base strength many expected to see. Utah’s Nate Orchard (who was great) transferred speed to power on him and walked him backwards. When Clemmings was able to get the upper hand with the hands and shoulders he was outstanding, but it didn’t happen often enough.

Biggest surprise: Iowa DT Carl Davis. I don’t know where this Davis was for the Hawkeyes all year, but he was a dynamic interior presence all morning long. He checked all the boxes. Quick first step, check. Fast, strong hands, check. Pad level and leg drive while engaged, check. Creativity to beat the double-team, check. After his impressive weigh-in totals, notably his great length, he is a definite riser from the first two days here.

Eye openers:

Cincinnati ILB Jeff Luc was very good in pass rush drills. He’s way too strong for any of the RBs or even TEs to handle when he applies himself to a bull rush. Luc was often quite stiff-hipped on tape, but he’s moving pretty well here in coverage drills. He also nicely anticipated a screen and dodged the combo block from Jamil Douglas to stick with David Cobb as he flared out.

Delaware TE Nick Boyle is the best pass-blocking TE on either roster. He also showed the ability to make the leaping catch. He’s not twitchy or explosive but seems like a perfectly functional #2 tight end.

Wisconsin T Rob Havenstein isn’t very quick with his arms or hands but he understands his game well. He’s pretty adept at pushing out when a rusher gets into his pads and redirecting them with real power in the upper body. His technique isn’t always pretty but he’s got the function over form outcomes that do translate well to the next level.

Washington DT Danny Shelton was a monster when facing linemen one-on-one. He dominated just about every rep, the exception being Florida’s Max Garcia getting low on him and stopping his leg drive. Yet Shelton does need some work. He was coached up on being more violent with his hands. Shelton also faced a bunch of double-teams in reps and while he’s very good at steering the pile laterally he wasn’t all that good at generating backwards movement. I stand by my long-held comparison to Shaun Rogers, the inconsistency included.

Arizona State G Jamil Douglas showed good initial quickness and pad level executing combo blocks. He doesn’t sustain the burst however, and he leans out too far when trying to engage in space.

Douglas’ Sun Devils teammate Marcus Hardison was up and down in drills. He’s a first-step demon and he flashes fast hands and a natural swipe/yank move. There were a couple of reps where he handily won right off the snap. Yet he overextends to engage and doesn’t have very quick feet, which leads to real problems when he’s engaged in run defense. Duke’s Laken Tomlinson bowled him over on a rep simply by having better foot frequency and shoulder/hip coordination.

Tennessee State RG Robert Myers almost made the “big winner”. He plays a little high at 6’5” but Myers is a natural bender with good knee and ankle flexion while engaged. Tenacity is a not an issue, nor is violence in his punch. He toned down his wind-up from yesterday, a quick implementation of a coaching point. He is handily the best North OL at getting out to the second level and engaging with power and balance.

Unlike his Iowa teammate, DT Louis Trinca-Pasat is just not impressing. If he doesn’t win with his perfectly average first step and burst, he’s got nothing. He’s undersized and lacks both power and speed.

Nebraska RB Ameer Abdullah is a great receiver who is lightning after the catch. He uses his hands naturally and gets north/south with urgency. Yet in pass protection drills he was as bad as any back I’ve seen in my seven Senior Bowls and four Shrine Games. Absolute zero functional strength and no concept of what to do with his hands.

Utah DB Eric Rowe played safety today. It’s his old position for the Utes before switching to corner in 2014. He picked off a bad (there is no other kind) Sean Mannion pass early on by smartly playing centerfield. He’s go the size to play either spot and certainly fits the role of a hybrid player. I’ll be surprised if he’s not a first-round pick.

Another Ute also made somewhat of a position change as DE Nate Orchard got some reps with the linebackers in the passing drills. He’s not as good getting to the QB coming in space or playing off the other linemen, though he did drop with decent fluidity and spatial awareness. I much prefer him playing 4-3 end.