Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -1/26- A Look Into Offensive Prospects At The 2017 Senior Bowl W/@MarkSchofield

Episode Date: January 26, 2017

Mark Schofield from Inside the Pylon joins Matt to dive into some of the more intriguing prospects on the offensive side of the ball at the 2017 #SeniorBowl. A couple interesting names pop up who could potentially land with the #Colts as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. No, I'm not for sale. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I am your host, Matt Dainley. And tonight we are here and we are going to go live to the Senior Bowl.

And we are here with Mark Schofield tonight. Mark, it has been too long, my friend. How are you? I'm doing well, Matt. It has been too long, but it's great to catch up with you, buddy. It's always good to talk with you. You too. A lot of stuff going on down there. Not only that, but my entire Twitter timeline has been just chock full of weights and measurements and speed and gifts and this and that. It's got to be a good time down there, Mobile. Are you enjoying yourself?

I'm having a great time. And, you know, Phil Savage, the executive director of the Senior Bowl, does a great job of, you know, giving credentials to lots of big outlets and even, you know, smaller outlets like Inside the Pylon. There's, you know, guys that are from really small media outlets, but get down here. So you've got, I think, 500 credentialed media members from across the spectrum coming down here. And so, you know, it's a great gathering of, you know, people, you know, watching these guys,

getting to see what they do during the week in practice, which is really what everybody comes down here for and getting to see these guys, getting some tape on them, getting to see them up close. Particularly for me, a guy that basically studies quarterbacks, I mean, the chance to see these guys live, see how the ball comes out of their hand on routes, see their footwork up close and personal, it's just a great experience. And, you know, we've all been kind of bombarding everybody's timeline with the tweets,

but it's a fun week and it's been a blast. It is. It looks like all of us are missing out on a good time, that's for sure. Yeah, it's a great time. I mean, if you get the chance to come down, it's definitely worth it. Absolutely. So speaking of quarterbacks then, since you are the quarterback guy, who are we interested in down there?

Who's the guy that stands out to you amongst the crowd that showed up from the quarterback position? Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, I think Nathan Peterman from Pittsburgh. Coming into this week, people kind of expected he'd be the guy there was sort of a general cola lesson around him as the top guy down here i think he's lived up to that bill and um i've seen now two practices on we had the two practices yesterday on tuesday and then one today um so he's got two practices under his belt um they probably the best throw i've seen here this week they were doing some team drills today um they were in full pad today.

They were doing 11-on-11 on a simulated third and long and threw a beautiful out route to the tight end, tight coverage, a tight window, great anticipation, ball placement on it, just a great throw. So I think Peterman's definitely stood out. A guy that I like today, he didn't have a good day yesterday, but he's definitely redeemed himself today. It's Josh Dobbs from Tennessee for that South team um coming down here is kind of a question mark you know would

he be able to sort of translate his game to more of a pro style system but you know today's practice and wednesday's practice just an array of great throws comeback routes out routes slant routes moving i had a beautiful throw during seven on seven i it was. Rolling to his left off the play action. A great comeback. About with timing, with anticipation. Putting it right where it needs to be. So, you know, what you're really looking for this week, particularly at every position, but where it comes to quarterbacks,

is can they take the coaching quickly? And you see Dobbs have a tough day on Tuesday. Come back, have a strong day today. I think he really helped himself as far as his draft stock goes with how he performed today. Yeah, he was one of those guys that really strong day today. I think he really helped himself as far as his draft stock goes with how he performed today. Yeah, he was one of those guys that really needed that too, I think, don't you? Yeah, I think you're right. Because there are a lot of question marks about –

a lot of these quarterbacks are down here. There are question marks to their games. I mean, look at Davis Webb from California. Has a big arm, throws a deep ball well, but can he give you the other routes in the tree? People were trying to figure out Antonio Pipkin, the kid from from tiffin university you know who he was and you know could he belong here and i think he's done that i think pipkin has to his credit shown he belongs at this level but dobbs is another one you know was would he be able to make pro style throws can

he work in a pro style offense can he make throws with time and with anticipation challenge tight windows and at least he showed it today and we'll see what he does tomorrow. Yeah, he's always been kind of an on-and-again, off-again kind of guy throughout the season. But you can definitely see that he's got the skill set and everything else. But once it comes down to senior bowl time, everybody wants to see the pro-level skill and the pro-level being able to go through your reads and check things

off pre-snap post-snap and everything else. So that that's, he, he was a guy that I was really curious to see what, uh, what he would do for his draft stock. So, uh, yeah, I think he really helped himself today. That's really cool. Well, that's good. Good for him because that's, that's exactly what this senior bowl is all about for, uh, people putting on a show for these scouts, uh, and to show them what they got. So let's get away from the quarterbacks for just a second. Let's play a little game real quick. I am going to tell you about myself, and you are going to tell me who I am.

And here's the best part about this game, Mark. You are never going to be wrong, okay? Okay. You're going to be right every time. Okay, so I am a mid uh, a, a mid to late round running back big or small school, non-specific. Uh, but I've, for some reason or another, I've been deemed that I'm not a top couple round talent. Uh, but I do have some one cut ability to get up field and, uh, people are slightly starting to overlook me.

But I'm standing out at the senior bowl. Who am I? I think that's Jamal Williams from BYU. I mean, he's a guy that is really – yeah, I think he's kind of made him, you know, really help himself this week. And the guy that, for example, Sean Cottrell over at Inside the Pylon did a piece on him, basically called him basically just like a workhorse type guy. And, you know, he's kind of fit just like a workhorse type guy and you know

he's kind of fit to build this week he's you know showing some good visions and good cuts um so he's a guy that i think helped himself a guy that um they're not might not be a lot of whole thoughts for him in the nfl but i think he's done some nice work is sam rogers the fullback from virginia tech um he's a guy that you know not many teams run a true fullback system. A lot of teams just use their third tight end as a potential fullback, H-type back, H-back type. But if you're a team that might want to use a fullback, he's been doing some good work this week. He's on that North squad with the Chicago Bears, and if they're thinking about employing more of a fullback, maybe in front of

Jordan Howard, Rogers might have helped himself out with how he's performed this week as well. So those are two guys that kind of jump out to me. Yeah, that's a good call there too, especially with the Bears staff coaching them there. Yeah, and I mean, if you look at, for example, like the Colts this year, they used Doyle a lot as sort of like a de facto fullback in a lot of formations. And then, you know, you get an actual fullback in front of them. That frees up Doyle to move, you know, do some more stuff in the passing game,

you know, sort of be in the wing, you know, be on the edge of the line rather than being in the backfield. And that just helps the entire offense. So, yeah, I think Rodgers has done some nice things. Yeah, that's interesting. Those guys, fullbacks are not too typical in the NFL anymore. A lot of times, like you said, teams are using their more of an inline blocker who can also double as a pass catcher at the tight end position to move in and out of the backfield when they need them in a certain set.

All right. Guy number two. I am a move type tight end, and with this class being so heavy in skilled tight ends, I'm another guy who people are kind of overlooking me, but they're telling me that I'm somewhere around a mid-round guy behind the top tier or two. Who am I? I mean, I think Evan Ingram from Mississippi. And I don't know if he's even in that mid-tier right now. He may have moved himself up with how he's done this week. And a story came out this week from Josh Norris at Roto World on NBC

that he had received a sixth-round grade from the advisory committee last year, which is why he chose to go back to Mississippi. So he comes back for his senior year, and he's having a great week down here during some team drills today. He caught a beautiful seam route from Antonio Pipkin. Ran a great route, nice hands catch. And what was really interesting, and this kind of gets us to the differences between how these two NFL coaching staffs have been handling these guys,

there were a couple of plays where they actually lined Ingram up in the backfield next to the quarterback in the shotgun, having him chip and release to the flat. So he looks like, like you said, like a move tight end. Somebody he can put all over the field. He can serve in a bunch of different roles for an offense. And so Evan Ingram, you know, maybe he got that six-round grade from the advisory committee last year. I wouldn't be surprised to see him come off the board in the second round. I've heard a lot about him in the past couple of days,

just from you guys all being down there. And I couldn't even tell you who tweeted it out, but I'm pretty sure I saw at least a couple people saying that he was, you know, basically either the player of the day or the player of practices so far or something. He's definitely shown up. And this South group of tight ends, you've got O.J. Howard, you've got Ingram, and you've got Everett.

I mean, it might be the strongest position group I've definitely seen in the past two years, you know, the two years that I've been coming down here and from just watching the scene from afar, you know, maybe the past like three or four years. I mean, it's just a really talented group. I mean, I think O.J. Howard, probably a first-round pick. I know people have some question marks about him. You know, can he get separation? Things like that. He's shown it this week. Everett's done some nice things as well, as well as Engram.

So, you know, three really good players that I think, you know, could find themselves, you know, hearing their names called. You know, obviously Howard day one, the other two guys probably day two. Very interesting. I mean, I'm actually, we just don't seem to have too many seasons or too many years where there's a lot of really skilled tight ends in a draft, it doesn't seem. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't – No, and I can't remember the last time we had a tight end class like this.

No. Yeah, and, I mean, I think that's super exciting, and it seems totally nerdy, but it is exciting because that position can do so much for an offense, especially with some sort of a brilliant mind at the coordinator position there. I mean, those guys can really do a lot for an offense. Thinking about a potential home for a guy like Ingram, something I was talking about with Joe Ferriola and Ethan Young from inside the pylon, just kind of informally today after the practices get done. But you look at Miami and what they expected to get from Jordan Cameron at the tight end position.

They didn't quite get it, what they were hoping for this year. But Adam Gates likes to use the tight end. I mean, Evan Ingram in that offense would make a lot of sense. I think he'd make, from what I'm hearing from down there, it sounds like he'd make a lot of sense in a lot of places. I think you're right. But, yeah, I mean, I think Ingram, he's made himself some money this week. Yeah, that's good to hear.

Like I said, it's nice to see these young guys do that and actually get noticed down there amongst, you know, a good portion of the elite in their company. So one more then, one more for our little game here. You know, the offensive line, I think this draft class is considered to be pretty suspect at best. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I mean, it's probably not the strongest O-line group. Give me a guy who has moved himself up into possibly to battle for maybe between two

and three other guys for a first-round talent? I mean, I think Forrest Lamp, the left tackle, he actually suffered a high ankle sprain, so he's not going to be practicing the rest of the week. But, you know, he practiced all day Tuesday and looked really well. He's kind of got himself into that mix, that left tackle spot. Maybe they're not first-round talents, but on the inside, I think two guys stood out this week.

John Toth, the center from Kentucky. He's just a true center. Probably won't get moved around a lot, but he's done really good work. I think he's probably played himself into the second round, into day two. Guy is, you know, somebody that, as I covered the SEC this year at ITP, somebody that I watched a lot and thought really high of even coming into this year. He's kind of lived up to the billing that I had for him. And another guy that is a center, Ethan Posick from LSU.

He's a little bit more versatile. I think he could probably slide around, maybe just play a swing guard if he need to be. He could also play center. He's got some fight to him on Tuesday, getting to a couple of post-play scraps with some guys up front from the defensive line to help his own. Definitely a guy that I think has also

done really well this week. So those three guys, you know, Lamp I think is probably in their first round conversation. The other two are probably second or third round, but they've all handled themselves really well. That's good. I don't think that the Colts need to necessarily go for a lineman early. I wouldn't be surprised or really be upset if they went for one in mid

to late rounds. They need a ton of defensive help. So it's hard to really say when you've got some guys that uh can go in and start and some depth now you know you may not have elite talent at too many positions at all along the offensive line for the colts but like i said they just need so much on defense that it's just hard for me to say go draft another offensive lineman when you put four on the board last year so uh hopefully hopefully they'll get somebody either later in the in the draft maybe they'll get a uh another guy through free agency or something like that or maybe they just find a guy

undrafted that they liked uh better than anybody who was in the top four or five rounds on their board so uh we'll just see and a lot of that has yet to be determined with the new GM coming in, whoever that turns out to be. So that'll be exciting. So I'm excited for that. That will be. Well, tell us a little bit then about your experience down there at the Senior Bowl, Mark.

I mean, it's just been an amazing time. And like I said, I give full credit to Phil Savage. He's really done some amazing things here with the Senior Bowl and how welcoming the Mobile community and the senior bowl staff are to you know writers both big and small i mean you know to be able to come down here and you know just sit in the stands and take it all in and like you know be able to like you know be there for the way ends or you know see the practices up close and then practices get done go over to the home renaissance hotel where they have everything set up it's kind of like the staging area for the weigh-ins or you know see the practices up close and then practices get done go over to the home renaissance hotel where they have everything set up it's kind of like the staging area for the senior bowl they've got the actual film room where you can go in and watch all 22

of the practice tape that just occurred so you can like see something on the field you want to go back and look at it get yourself in front of the computer screen and load up the plays and you know take a look at all angles it's just you know, it's an amazing experience and it just helps, you know, people that are in the content business like ourselves, like give our readers and our listeners like another angle, another way of digesting information for the teams that they care about, for the players that are interested in, for the game that they love. And so Senior Bowl is a great experience. If you get a chance to come down here for it, I would highly recommend it. That's very cool. You know, like i said uh we talked off air briefly but uh before the show

but i i'm definitely uh gonna be working in some plans there like i said uh jake arthur one of my buddies a guy that i've used to write with he's been on the show several times as well but uh i think he and i will probably make our trek down there uh next year that just seems like I'm missing out on too much, and I don't want to do that. So who's your biggest standout overall? Take anybody that you've seen at any position down there this week. Who's the guy that stands out the most to you that is just going to, no matter where he goes, what team, what round, he's going to make somebody very, very proud.

I mean, a couple of guys really stand out on the offensive side of the ball. I think we've been talking about tight ends. O.G. Howard, I think, you know, talking with some people inside the pile and some other buzz from, you know, people from other media outlets. He might be the best overall player here. He's really had a great week, and he's answered a lot of the questions that people had about him. Another guy that is really impressed, I think, is Switzer, the wide receiver

from UNC. Some people are curious to see how he's going to be able to handle himself. He's one of those guys that it seems like he's always open. Whatever the route is, whatever the coverage is, it seems like he's always found a way to get open, so that's impressive. Cooper Kopp,

the wide receiver from Eastern Washington, he had a little bit of a slow start to this week, had a little bit of a slow start Tuesday, but I think he's kind of upped his game a little bit, especially into today, into Wednesday. So he's been pretty impressive. The linemen that I mentioned have been pretty good. Those are the guys that pretty much stand out.

A guy that people were really interested in, Jim and Robert at the wide receivers from Air Force had incredible numbers at Air Force. I mean, averaging, you know, putting up 300-yard games, averaging something like 30 yards a catch. But he only runs a handful of routes in their system. So we were curious to see him when he came in here late this week on Wednesday. Had a bit of a slow start, but came in great measureables, has great ideal size for the wide receiver position.

So I want to see on Tuesday and then into the game how he performs. But those are some guys that have kind of stood out. Are they trying to get him through a bigger portion of the tree while he's down there? Yeah, they definitely are. And, you know, it's a learning curve for him. You know, slants and digs and stuff weren't the routes he was running. But, you know, he's got the talent. He's got the size.

So it's a matter of putting it all together. Absolutely. And for some reason the name – who was the UNC receiver again you were talking about? Switzer. Switzer. Switzer. When I was watching Trubisky's tape earlier, maybe two or three weeks ago, I almost wanted to stop watching Trubisky, get off of it,

and go watch his film because he was impressing me so many games of that, of watching Trubisky. I couldn't get my eyes off of him. He was just fantastic. No, he's a player. He's going to be – and like you like you said cups been getting a lot of attention uh i've talked i've actually heard two or three podcasts in just the past 24 hours where people have been really high on him he seems to be a solid route runner as well and uh you know i think

that uh desmond king from uh iowa is gonna be the guy getting the raw end of that deal. His video is probably never going to die. Yeah, yeah. Well, Mark, I wanted to thank you for coming on with us tonight and kind of talk about the offensive guys down there at the Senior Bowl. I hope that you guys are all having a fantastic time. I know that there's a lot of guys that I interact with down there. Also, Kyle Krabs, Joe Marino from Locked On NFL Draft here, Locked On Podcast Network are down there as well, and they're doing their thing. But it was great to catch up with

you, man. Great to talk to you. I hope you guys have a fantastic week down there. Enjoy the rest of the practices, and be safe on your way home. Sounds great, Matt. Always great to talk with you. Love catching up with you, and we'll chat soon, man. Thank you, Mark. It's always good to catch up with Mark. He's so knowledgeable. He and I are both kind of quarterback guys. We just really love the position. And so we wanted to geek out a little bit there, but I wanted to get you guys away from talking general managers and Pagano and this and that, Colts, for just a day or two. Probably have John Oning on here from FanRag Sports in the next day or so. He's going to talk to us hopefully a little bit more about the defensive side of the ball.

And I just think that it's something worth talking about once we get these guys down to the senior bowl. It's very interesting. If you guys haven't been paying attention to it that much, I mean, I get it. It's a little nerdy, but when you get to watching these guys who are going to be rookies next year, you really get to see whether it's an FCS guy or a high level D1 guy. You see sometimes that not only does their skill sets mesh a little bit and close together, but you also see some guys that regardless of what size or how big their school is, you really just see the talent just paint itself all over that field. And it's really interesting to check it out.

So if you guys haven't been paying attention to the Senior Bowl, I know it's on NFL Network. I'm not really sure if there's another network that's covering it very closely at all. But get up with Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino on Locked On NFL Draft. They've been covering it. That is a fantastic show here on the Locked On Podcast Network. And it's just definitely worth your time. Also, subscribe to the podcast and continue to give me those ratings and reviews. Those have been helping fantastically.

Hit me up at LockedOnColtsPod at gmail.com, LockedOnColts and mdanley underscore NFL on Twitter. And also go like the LockedOnColts Facebook page. Tomorrow we'll come back with a little bit of Colts news. Everything that's happened probably in the past 48 hours or so. See if anything goes on with any GM news or anything like that. We'll get on that. And then either tomorrow or the following day we'll have John Oning on here,

like I said, from FanRag Sports. And he'll talk to us about his experience down at Senior Bowl, maybe a little bit about the guys on the defensive side of the ball and who's standing out over there. So thank you guys again for listening, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts,

part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.