SAN ANTONIO - All-American Bowl practices got underway on Tuesday morning. The East team had a fairly active practice session with one-on-ones and team drills. Here at the takeaways from the East team's first day of practice.
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF JEREMIAH SMITH
Jeremiah Smith lived up to hype on day one of All-American Bowl practices. He measured in at 6-foot-3 but moves like a much smaller and quicker receiver. Smith was toying with defensive backs for the better part of the day. The Ohio State signee can create separation from defensive backs with speed, route running skills and a combination of both. Smith's crisp cutting abilities and long arms made it impossible for defensive backs to keep the ball out of his hands. He has the strength to break press coverage and the long speed to beat defensive backs on deep routes. Quarterbacks are going to constantly find Smith open the rest of the week.
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MORE ELITE RECEIVERS
While Smith gets most of the headlines when it comes to standout receivers, there are plenty of outstanding pass catchers on the East team. For as dominant as Smith was on Tuesday, Terrance Moore was just as successful. The Clemson commit overwhelmed defensive backs with his size and strength. Moore rans great routes and showed off reliable hands, even pulling in an impressive one-handed catch during one-on-ones.
Ny Carr and Kylan Billiot proved to be very difficult matchups for defensive backs as well. Carr has great quickness off the line, sticky hands, and very long arms so defensive backs had a hard time keeping him in check. Billiot overpowered defensive backs and proved to be a reliable deep threat. NiTareon Tuggle and tight end Luke Reynolds shined as well.
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OFFENSIVE LINEMEN ARE UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
The East offensive line may look outmatched on paper when compared to the defensive line but they really held their own on day one. Josiah Thompson weighed in at 265-pounds but played much stronger than that. The South Carolina signee anchored well in pass protection, showed excellent lateral quickness, and did a good job of setting and resetting his hands. Thompson will need to bulk up at the next level but he has a great skill set. The same can be said of Wisconsin signee Kevin Heywood. He isn't as technically developed but plays with a physical edge and even tossed one defensive end during one-on-ones. Penn State signee Cooper Cousins was the other standout for the East's offensive line. He was easily the most physical and aggressive offensive lineman on day one. Cousins has solid technique and seemed to get better as the day went on. From a physical perspective, Cousins was the most college-ready of the bunch.
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OUTSTANDING DEPTH ON THE DEFENSIVE LINE
The receiver group is the deepest on the East team but the defensive line isn't far behind. There were at least six defensive linemen who flashed at various points on day one. Jordan Thomas, LJ McCray or Bryce Young could make an argument for the best defensive lineman of the day. Thomas knocked offensive linemen off balance by playing with impressive quickness and aggression. He showed off a variety of hand techniques as well. McCray is more physically developed than Young but both won one-on-one reps in similar fashion. Their speed off the line put offensive linemen on their heels and, if they couldn't just run by the offensive lineman, they used a power countermove to win the rep.
Eddrick Houston won his fair share of reps mostly by overpowering the offensive lineman. Hevin Brown-Shuler, Amaris Williams and Jeremiah Beaman also won some impressive reps.
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DEFENSIVE BACKS HOLD THEIR OWN
The defensive backs had a tall task trying to match up with the impressive East receiver corps but a few of them had a fair amount of success. KJ Bolden had a solid first day of practice. He kept receivers from making plays over the top and forced quarterbacks into bad throws because of his tight coverage. Zavier Mincey and Marcellus Barnes have good size and used that to their advantage. Receivers had a hard time breaking free against the two of them. Omillio Agard is on the smaller side but receivers could not get separation against him. He didn't win all his one-on-one reps but he was in position to make a play most of the time. The same can be said of Trajen Greco.
