At the Senior Bowl, the game is secondary

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, January 26, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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How much pressure is there on the participants in this year's Senior Bowl? Consider this quote, posted on buffalobills.com, from Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Perry Fewell:

"What we as coaches like to do is watch their individual drills," said Fewell. "While we're watching we're checking to see if they have a good work ethic," Fewell said. "Do they enjoy practice? When they're practicing is this guy a talker? Is he a focused guy? What kind of demeanor does he have on the field?

"You watch how he accepts coaching, how he does his drills, how he interacts with other players during the drills. Is he a team guy? Is he a 'me' guy? How does he fit into the scheme of things?"

You not only have to go to practice at the Senior Bowl, therefore, but you have to look like you're enjoying it. Every shrug or smirk might wind up on someone's videocam. And if that doesn't engender paranoia on the part of a prospect, the initial weigh-in will.

"You're stripped down to your skivvies in front of 400-500 people (pro scouts)," said Georgia DE Quentin Moses, "and everybody is looking at your body."

Kind of creepy, huh? But the pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow is enough to tempt college seniors to do just about anything to be among the average 90 percent of Senior Bowl players who are drafted. Last year, 11 went in the first round.

This year's game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., will kick off at 3 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 27). And trust me -- by February, everyone will have forgotten who won.

Indeed, guys like Lorenzo Booker and Garrett Wolfe and Dan Mozes are really playing for themselves. But they can't act like they are, because that might earn them the dreaded label of being a 'me' athlete.

And while some members of the North and South rosters simply want to confirm what they've already proven, others have something to prove.

Florida State's Booker has been a standout in practice this season, for example. And he needs to be, because he never put up the numbers as a Florida State running back that were expected upon his bi-coastal commitment to FSU out of Ventura, Ca.

Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe fell off the Heisman watch charts after a couple of subpar performances last season, and now his 5-foot-6 height has become a liability rather than a curiosity. Height could also become an issue for Ohio State QB Troy Smith, Heisman or no Heisman.

Mozes, West Virginia's center and captain in 2006, has been dissed by a number of scouts who say he lacks strength.

In the case of Michigan DL LaMarr Woodley, a nagging hamstring injury has been eroding the pass-rushing skills he came to Mobile to show.

"To me, what's good about it is that you're seeing 'good on good,'" Jacksonville scout told Ivan Maisel of Sports Illustrated.

Therefore, the agents who have shepherded their charges down to the Gulf Coast also see it as a possible antidote to the NFL Combine later this winter.

As in: "OK, so my guy only ran a 4.6 instead of a 4.4. You saw how well he played down in Mobile, against good competition. That speed doesn't always matter."

Careers have been made or broken in this game, which might trigger a good reality show someday.

Except that for players like Wolfe and Florida QB Chris Leak, it's all too real as it is.
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