Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - SENIOR BOWL, DAY 1: Indianapolis Colts Observe GREAT Crop of Defensive Playmakers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Senior bowl practice got underway today. And man, it looks like it is a good year for the Indianapolis Colts to need help on defense. Let's get to it. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Locked on Colts, part of the Locked on podcast network, now the number one podcast network in all of sports.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Thank you for joining me, everybody. I am Jake Arthur, your Indianapolis Colts beatwriter for Roundtable Sports, and I am reporting to you live down here from Mobile, Alabama, at the newly named Panini Senior Bowl. And as I mentioned at the top, practice got underway today, Tuesday, for the national team and the American team. Plenty of Colts representation down here. I've seen part of the scouting department today at practice.

Starting point is 00:01:03 I'm sure I'll see many more of them as the week goes on. A few Colts coaches on staff on the national and American teams as well. So they're getting a good eye on this thing. If you listen to Monday's show, I talked about how over the last couple of years, really the entire Chris Ballard era, but there have been a ton of players that the Colts have picked up, who they scouted at the Senior Bowl, who are now players on the team.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Also, if you listen to Monday's show, So there was an inordinate. I can't get that word right, but you know what I mean. A ton of players, a lot of star power that backed out of the senior bowl kind of within the last few days. So a lot of the players that I said, let's keep an eye on these guys throughout the week. They're not here. But that did not really disappoint. I'll be honest with you.

Starting point is 00:01:57 There was plays to be made all over the field. So let's get to my notes from day one. Why don't we? All right, so on the offensive side of the ball, now not everything I'm going to talk about is really applicable to the Colts necessarily. But I want to give you guys kind of a full picture here. So usually on the first day of senior ball practice, the passing game is pretty rough. The quarterbacks and the past catchers are not used to each other and there's a lot of balls on the ground, a lot of balls failing, what have you. There was still some kind of scattershot quarterback play and stuff out there today.

Starting point is 00:02:31 but Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia, one of the Heisman finalists, I thought was comfortably the best quarterback of the day. On the other side of the coin with the American team, Garrett Nussmeyer, wasn't too bad today either. So the two quarterbacks who you would really expect to see look comfortable, I thought they did. But Diego Pavia, I think, was definitely the best quarterback of the day. He had perhaps the best passing play during 11 on 11s. one point. He went downfield to Baylor wide receiver Josh Cameron about 25 yards down the right side. As far as like scripted within structure passing plays, there weren't a ton of big ones. There were some big plays to be had in one-on-ones though, especially. You look at like Notre

Starting point is 00:03:26 Dame's Malachi Fields. During one-on-ones, he caught a nice like 35-yard touchdown down the right side. Ted Hurst from Georgia State. Awesome play. Just an absurd touchdown. He left up and caught a touchdown again from about 35 yards with one hand. And then you got a guy from John Carroll University, Tyron Montgomery, who's got everyone going out to try and find John Carroll film at this point. He had a great one where he kind of mossed the defender a little bit. North Carolina quarterback, Thaddeus Dixon, was there in coverage. So you got some guys make it some big plays all over the field there. As far as running backs goes,

Starting point is 00:04:05 I thought Penn State's, Ketron Allen, had a pretty good day. There were some running lanes for him to take advantage of, but he also looked really, really good in pass pro. Really solid player there from that instance. Moving on to tight ends,

Starting point is 00:04:21 this is kind of a sleeper pick for me when it comes to the Colts, because you got Drew Ogletree as a free agent, you got Moe Wally Cox as a free agent. So do they look to pair someone behind, find Tyler Warren. Do they want to move on from the Will Mallory thing, since they're never going to put him on the field since he's just a pass

Starting point is 00:04:39 catching tied in. But Justin Jolly from NC State, I thought he looked really good. He's got a wide receiver background. I thought he looked so comfortable, so smooth. He had a really nice one-handed catch where he caught it with the near side hand, which is always the hardest to do, I think. Then he had a nice yards after catch play on something we see with Tyler Warren. lot actually the bootleg to rollouts you dump it off to your tight end he picks up 10 extra yards

Starting point is 00:05:06 saw one of those from jolly today uh alabama's joshua cuvus was another tight in that i thought really stood out made some plays over the middle of the field just looked really really smooth sure hands uh now last year at the senior bowl was a big standout for tight ends it's kind of a coming out party for guys like mason taylor elijah oroyo um harold fanon was out there. So we saw some really good tight-in play. And so now I'm kind of intrigued to see if that continues a little bit this year. As far as offensive line go, there was a few guys that really stood out, but someone who really caught my eye was Texas A&M, offensive lineman, Tray Zune the third. We saw him at left tackle today, and we saw him at center. During the 11-on-11 portion,

Starting point is 00:05:53 I noticed him just being a really good left tackle, sealing the edge off on run plays, especially in keeping those running lanes open, but also just not letting anyone past his kind of bubble and past protection either. So I'm sure because of his frame is why he's going to get some reps to center and it's probably getting more consideration there at his NFL kind of projection. But I thought in both spots he looked pretty good. And then if you were a fan of the big, nasty, offensive linemen, then Georgia Tech's Keelan Rutledge is your guy,

Starting point is 00:06:30 just nasty and powerful, just playing like a bear out there today, maybe a little overaggressive at times during one-on-ones. But that is a guy who, whatever fan base he goes to, he is going to be a fan favorite unless he's just racking up penalties. But I think a lot of people are going to think really highly of him. He's already becoming, from what I can hear, one of the more buzzed about offensive linemen, especially interior offensive lineman in this draft.

Starting point is 00:07:00 So I would not be surprised to see him go in the top 50, ultimately when things are all said and done, on his way to a solid performance here, and then we'll see what things look like at the combine as well. So those are the stuff that really stood out for me on the offensive side of the ball, but we've got even more on the defensive side of the ball coming up here in just a moment. There's nothing like being in an NBA arena, the crowd, the energy, the moment. Getting tickets, though, that part has not always been so simple.

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Starting point is 00:11:15 Reminder, today's show, it is a good example of why I need to be part of the everyday or club if you have not joined already. So the Everydayer Club, you can get our audio episodes ad free, but you also, even more, I think, enticing is you get an invite to the members only locked on Everydayer Club Discord server, which includes a group chat for listeners of our shows. Zach and I are both in there. For instances like this with the Senior Bowl, we love to chat it up. It's also good for you guys to bounce questions off of me, someone who is down here.

Starting point is 00:11:50 if you want to know about specific players, you know, maybe I've noticed something about them. So just go to locked on colts.com to join or even gift a subscription. Again, the link will be in the show notes. All right, so let's talk about the defensive side of the ball here. Obviously, the Colts need help on defense. And I did notice Colts director of college scouting, Matt Turpinning, and Southeast Area Scout Anthony Coughlin. They were keeping an eye on that defensive line, especially earlier. noticed them watching it with the national team.

Starting point is 00:12:22 And a lot of big, big performances from defensive linemen, guys who I thought really stood out, Clemson Edge, T.J. Parker, Penn State defensive tackle, Zane Durant, Texas Tech Edge, Romello Height. Those guys really stood out. That trio in particular. Big in one-on-one, speed power, slipperiness. Parker has his draft stock. It's kind of always been around the first round, but it's really kind of waxed and way.

Starting point is 00:12:50 and he's fallen out of favor versus some other guys. But he has really put his assets to good use here. Like you may have seen a play going around on social media that he had today on one-on-ones where he's got these long arms. And he uses a great long-arm technique, just totally dominating the offensive tackle to get to the would-be sack and win the rep. So a guy like that, I think, really benefited from this first day. the Colts, when you think a defensive tackle, you got to wonder what the future is like with Grover Stewart, DeForest Buckner.

Starting point is 00:13:24 Both of them are going to be 32. Buckner is coming off of a neck injury. But Texas Tech nose tackle Lee Hunter, absolute menace today. He's a huge dude, but moves so very well. Very just sturdy and strong. But he's also able to rip through, you know, he ripped through some double teams today. I thought he crashed the running wings really well, provided some interior pass rush, got to Diego Pavia for a sack or two today. So he was just really, really good.

Starting point is 00:13:59 Next up, Iowa defensive end Max Llewellyn, very, very active, very successful day. I had him with a couple of would-be sacks during 11-on-11s against Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson, Michigan Edge, Derek Moore. was another one who was just, I mentioned someone playing like a bear earlier, ferocious, just a powerful edge rusher. He had a really, really good day as well. Utah defensive in Logan Fanow, he had a couple big plays during 11-on-11s. He got a tackle for a loss, and then I think it was like the next play came unblocked and had another one where he just crashed down on the running back or could have.

Starting point is 00:14:42 It was, I don't think they were playing live at that moment. but a couple big plays back-to-back, nonetheless. Duke defensive end, defensive Anthony, he sacked Diego Pavia, and then I think he recovered a fumble shortly after as well. Illinois defensive end, Gabe Jockus, had a great one where he had a strip sack against LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeyer. So I love an edge rusher who can bend the edge and then not only get to the quarterback, but he's got his eyes in the ball.

Starting point is 00:15:13 He sees the ball and he's going to smack it away. They don't all just have that kind of lizard brain instinct to him, but it appears that Jaka certainly does. I am also paying special attention to linebackers because we all know this team needs a linebacker overhaul, and there was some standout performances today. Oregon linebacker Bryce Bocher had just a really good day in the passing game. Good hips, very fluid, good hands and coverage. He also had a rep where it's a, you know, a blitzing, just a pass rush rep against the running backs.

Starting point is 00:15:49 Totally flattened Penn State running back, Nick Singleton. You guys might have saw that clip going around as well. Kyle Lewis from Pitt is another big one. He's won, is he a safety? Is he a linebacker? It doesn't matter. You know, he's probably a little undersized for like a will linebacker, but he can really do some cool things. He gets after the passer.

Starting point is 00:16:10 He's got some Ben. If you send him as a pass rusher, very rangy sideline to sideline, probably not the most powerful dude in the world, but I have really liked what I've seen from Kyle Lewis so far. So that's, let's see, Arkansas linebacker is Avian Sori as well as Arizona State's Kishon Elliott. I felt they both stood out in the second practice of the day. Both of them just around the ball a lot. Like I think if you're a linebacker, you've got to be where the ball is by the end of the play,

Starting point is 00:16:41 unless you're deep down field, those guys are where they need to be at all times, it seems. And then Elliot made a really good play where he kind of had to reach behind him and break up a pass over the middle of the field. So active hands and coverage. I definitely love that. And then another one, you guys might love this name.

Starting point is 00:17:01 Texas A&M linebacker Scooby Williams. He had a couple really good plays in succession as well. He broke up a pass over the middle of the field. field, but then blew up a run play on the next play. So shown a little versatility there. If you want the Colts to get a new safety, which they may need to do in the event that Nick Cross signs elsewhere in free agency, Kansas State's VJ Payne had a very, very productive day, maybe the best day of any safety out there.

Starting point is 00:17:33 He's not the most, like, instinctive proactive player, but he's got very good reactive speed in reactive timing. He was able to get to the ball at the catch point numerous times. Also broke up a nice little chunk play over the middle of the field against Houston tight-in to intercozuel. And then the last guy I want to shout out here, Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood. He's someone who I've seen his projections kind of all over the place. Top 50 nonetheless, I'm sure.

Starting point is 00:18:04 Kind of an up and down day. He was beaten on some stuff by receivers who make like nice sharp cuts. in the intermediate portion of the field. But when it was running down field and needed to show him off speed, then there was one guy who was clearly above the rest, and that was Colton Hood. So a nice bounce back day from him when he had his low points. Someone who maybe could be on the Colts radar when they get on the board.

Starting point is 00:18:31 If he's still there, it's an okay cornerback draft, so we'll see if he's available when the Colts get to pick him. So that is it for today, everybody. Thanks again for tuning in and making us your first listen after practice. I'll be back with you throughout the week to break everything down from the Senior Bowl. Make sure you subscribe and follow Locked on Colts so you get all the latest episodes. If you don't already, follow at Locked on Colts at Jake Arthur, NFL, and at Zach Hicks, too, on social media. Again, if you never miss an episode, then the Everyday Air Club is built just for you.

Starting point is 00:19:06 get us audio get our audio ad free plus a members only discord access and more so head to locked on colts dot supercast.com to join the club with that thank you guys for listening and stay tuned here just shortly for the locked on cold squad show

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - SENIOR BOWL, DAY 1: Indianapolis Colts Observe GREAT Crop of Defensive Playmakers

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