Senior Bowl Practice Notes: WRs, DBs, Javon Kinlaw shine on day one

Breaking down the first day of practices at the Senior Bowl. Who stood out most on day one?

After all of the buildup, the 2020 Senior Bowl got underway with weigh-ins in the morning, then an hour and a half practice for the South team (coached by Zac Taylor and the Bengals) followed by the North team (coached by Matt Patricia and the Lions). It was a day of contrasting styles, with the Bengals getting right into things while the Lions stretched for 20 minutes and spent another 15 having players run at each other in some sort of flag football version of the Oklahoma drill.

Despite all that, it was a fun day of practices with plenty of initial observations. Let’s go through some of my notes on day one of the Senior Bowl practices.

South Practice

• Immediately as he stepped on the field, Javon Kinlaw was the talk of the day. He looked the part of a mammoth defensive tackle, then went and dominated one-on-ones, showing up Clemson lineman John Simpson on multiple occasions, winning with quickness and impressive hand usage.
• Elsewhere on the defensive line, Florida edge rusher Jonathan Greenard looked spectacular. Greenard’s first step was wicked today, along with his bend around the edge and violent hands. There’s a good chance we’re talking about him as the top riser of the week on Thursday night.
• Shifting over to the offensive side of the ball, the highly touted wide receiver group made some waves. Florida wide receiver Van Jefferson was as sudden and tactical a route runner as advertised. He created separation with ease in the one-on-one drills. Jefferson won’t be anyone vertically with speed, but he can be a very good slot in the NFL.
• Devin Duvernay was the other standout at the wide receiver position for the South team. He can handle all the strength from defenders and his speed is deadly. Duvernay looked a little better with his quickness than the tape showed all year.
• Some other notes on the receivers. Jauan Jennings made a highlight-reel play down the field and shows some strength, but he’s not the most refined player. Austin Mack had some drops, but he makes separating look pretty easy. Collin Johnson had the route of the day, and he looked a little better than I expected.
• Vanderbilt tight end Jared Pinkney finally got some looks in the passing game, and he looked good doing so.
• Despite a lot of players dropping out at defensive back, the south DBs came to play today, especially at corner. Dane Jackson out of Pitt looks very fluid and won a lot of reps today with recovering quickly and breaking up passes. A.J. Green out of Oklahoma State made some nice plays, and he’s big enough to handle playing on the perimeter. Darnay Holmes (UCLA) also looked good with recovery speed and quickness vertically and over the middle of the field.
• Don’t forget about Georgia Southern corner Kindle Vildor. He picked off a pass and broke up a couple passes today.
• Lastly from the South, Lenoir-Rhyne safety Kyle Dugger looked great with his movement skills, especially for his size. He lined up deep and in the slot and looked great covering tight ends in drills.
• Quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Steven Montez need better days going forward. Justin Herbert outperformed them by a mile.

North Practice

• The quarterbacks from the North team didn’t look great other than Jordan Love. Love put some great touch on deep balls in the one-on-ones, but he did have some bad misses in 11s later in practice. Hopefully, we see growth as the week goes on.
• The North running backs all have a scatback archetype, but Joshua Kelley looked the best in full-team drills.
• Apparently all Ohio State wide receivers do great at the Senior Bowl. K.J. Hill looked smooth running routes, and with his great hands, won a lot of reps throughout the practice. Quartney Davis from Texas A&M is another receiver who I was excited to see, and he delivered, putting together crisp routes and stopping on a dime, making defenders look silly.
• Chase Claypool was the other receiver who stood out for the North team. He’s got great size and has such natural hands for the position.
• Brycen Hopkins looks so natural as a receiving tight end. He looks uber-athletic and can make it happen after the catch.
• I wasn’t too impressed with Nick Harris today, as he got pushed around a bit by bigger defensive linemen. Temple’s Matt Hennessy did impress though, with a strong anchor at the point of attack.
• North Carolina linemen Jason Strowbridge might have had the best day of anyone today. Strowbridge weighed in at just 267 pounds, but he kicked inside and dominated in one-on-ones. He was so impressive off the snap and won with great leverage. Strowbridge put Wake Forest lineman Justin Herron on his back, drawing praise from Patricia himself.
• Neville Gallimore isn’t a good run defender, but when he’s asked to rush the passer, he absolutely dominates. He looked quick and powerful in day one at the Senior Bowl, doing away with most linemen in his way.

• Zack Baun had a really nice day today, and it was awesome to see him get moved around. He dominated in pass protection drills with the running back, looked quick enough to cover tight ends, and got around the edge against tackles. Versatility is king.
• Kenny Willekes struggled a bit today trying to corner around the edge, often getting driven too far around the arc.
• Notre Dame corner Troy Pride Jr. looked very physical against wide receivers and disrupted routes very well at the line of scrimmage.