2016 East-West Shrine Game: Tuesday’s West Team Practice Report
By Charlie Campbell –
@draftcampbell
The second practice for the West team of the East-West Shrine was held in St. Petersburg, Fla. under sunny skies with temperatures in the 50s. The West team is being coached by former Atlanta Falcons, SMU, and Hawaii head coach June Jones. Jones had the players in full pads.
Like the East Practice on Tuesday morning, there were a lot of eyes on the line play, as the players were hitting in full pads. A few small-school defensive linemen stood out with impressive play in the one-on-ones and team drills. They were Manitoba’s Ebuka Onyemata and Montana defensive end Tyrone Holmes. Each had wins where they showed speed and strength to fight off blockers. Both received a lot of attention from scouts after practice as well. Finishing the week with a strong day on Wednesday would be huge for each one.
A couple of offensive linemen that struggled were Nebraska’s Alex Lewis and Wisconsin’s Tyler Marz. Marz in particular had a rough go and showed some frustration after getting beaten. He did have a nice bounce-back rep where he pushed Southern Utah defensive end James Cowser into the turf. However, Cowser came bace to beat Marz with ease to stuff a run for a loss in the run scrimmage. Marz looks like a day-three guard competitor and Lewis should be a right tackle or guard project. Neither one looks talented enough to get mid-round consideration.
This was another underwhelming session for the quarterbacks. Indiana’s Nate Sudfeld is the only one who really has a NFL skill set on either team. He has size and a strong arm, but his accuracy and ball placement can be off. He also needs to speed up his decision-making process.
Sudfeld had some good and bad plays on Tuesday. On the positive side, he scrambled around to buy some time before throwing a bomb to Texas-San Antonio tight end David Morgan for a touchdown. It was poor coverage by Arizona State’s Lloyd Carrington and Illinois safety Clayton Fejedelem. On the negative side, Sudfeld threw a poor pass short of Colorado State tight end Kivon Cartwright who had a step on Utah safety Tevin Carter, but Carter intercepted the pass and raced down the field. Poor location also could be seen on another play when Minnesota cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun dropped an interception from Sudfeld.
Sudfeld has enough physical skills to warrant a late-round pick as a developmental third quarterback.
Western Kentucky quarterback Brandon Doughty had an ugly practice. Doughty is smaller and doesn’t have the arm of Sudfeld, so his margin for error is a lot smaller. Doughty had a terrible pass with a receiver running wide open down the field in busted coverage. He could have lofted an easy rainbow straight down the field, as there wasn’t a defender within 30 yards of his target, but Doughty had his pass fall incomplete and it wasn’t even close enough for his receiver to adjust to the poorly thrown ball. Doughty had an interception dropped, came close to some others, and fumbled the ball away on a handoff in the team scrimmage. Doughty looks like an undrafted free agent and a training camp arm.
Illinois safety Clayton Fejedelem had an eventful practice. He was in a lot of plays, so that speaks well to him being around the ball. However, he left some big opportunities on the field. In the seven-on-seven, Fejedelem made a nice break on a ball but juggled and dropped what should have been an easy interception. He also was part of busted coverage on Sudfeld’s long touchdown pass. Fejedelem showed well in the run session, and overall he’s helping himself this week.
Wisconsin safety Mike Caputo is a similar prospect to Fejedelem. Tough players who are short on the size or speed to be a legit starting candidate. They’re both more of backup and special-teams competitors. Caputo had a nice breakup on a pass to Colorado State tight end Kivon Cartwright.
Cartwright was all over the field with receptions in the 7-on-7 and the team scrimmage. He had a good catch down the middle seam, shielding Caputo from the ball. This is a weak tight end class, so Cartwright could garner more day-three consideration based on his performance at the East-West Shrine.
Stanford wide receiver Devon Cajuste is an interesting prospect. Cajuste (6-4, 227) is a big receiver who can make some splash plays but also has some lapses. He ripped off an impressive run on a screen pass and also made a superb falling catch on a pass out of bounds. However, he also had an ugly drop. If Cajuste could add some weight and be a receiving tight end, that would be interesting, but that is said every year for big receivers who are too slow for the next level, and it doesn’t pan out. Thus, Cajuste is at most a late-round pick.
WalterFootball.com will have more recaps from the East-West Shrine practices on Tuesday and Wednesday along with a run-down of the post-practice team interviews. Follow @walterfootball for updates.
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