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 The Dallas Cowboys signed eight undrafted players Monday: Travis Bright, G, Brigham Young; Rudy Carpenter, QB, Arizona State; Julian Hawkins, WR, Boise State; Jamar Hun, FB, UTEP; Greg Isdaner, G, West Virginia; Kevin Ogletree, WR, Virginia; Asaph Schwapp, FB, Notre Dame; and Michael Turkovich, G, Notre Dame.
This team is talented and just drafted an even dozen players. It’s doubtful, then, that any of the players above will make the active roster, let alone land starting jobs this year. Mostly, they’re being added to the roster as practice fodder; that’s especially true at QB, where you only have three guys otherwise.
I don’t know any of these guys or their talent levels, aside from the fact that 200-odd players were thought worthy of drafting and none of these were. If I had to take a guess, I’d say one of the fullbacks has the best shot at making the roster just because the Cowboys only have one on the roster.
With the 35th pick in the 6th round, the Dallas Cowboys took another deep backup in Virginia tight end John Phillips.
NFL.com says:
Overview
Carrying in the suddenly strong UVA tradition of producing NFL-caliber tight ends under coach Al Groh, Phillips went from being a part-time starter to first-team All-ACC selection in 2008. Teams looking for an athletic receiver to threaten the seam should look elsewhere, but as a secure short- to medium-range target with the size and strength to contribute immediately as a blocker, Phillips quietly ranks as one of the draft’s better all-around tight ends. Had an arm span of 34 1/2 inches and a hand span of 10 1/4 inches at the combine.
High School
Talented two-way player at tight end and defensive end for coach Will Fields at Bath County HS … considered the 24th-best tight end nationally by CollegeFootballNews.com and ESPN.com, and 30th by Scout.com … 3 stars by Scout.com … 87th on Scout.com’s East Hot 100 list … listed as the No. 15 player in Virginia by SuperPrep, 16th by Scout.com, 21st by TheSabre.com and 24th by Rivals.com … listed 16th among players in Virginia by the Roanoke Times and 24th on the Charlottesville Daily Progress “Gold List” … named first-team All-State tight end as a senior when he caught 40 passes for 714 yards and five touchdowns … Roanoke Times All-Timesland tight end and region defensive Player of the Year his final year … first-team All-State at tight end and second-team as a defensive end as a junior … caught 25 passes for 495 yards and six touchdowns in just 10 games that season … finished his career with 87 receptions for 1,513 yards and 16 touchdowns … defensively he had 324 tackles, including 90 for loss and 42 sacks … also a standout in basketball and baseball … three-time All-Pioneer District honoree in both sports … All-State and MVP in baseball in 2004.
Analysis
Positives: Prototype height for the position with long limbs. Solid build with room for additional growth. Reads the defense and can find the soft spot in the short and medium levels of zone coverage. Reliable hands. Catches the ball cleanly with his hands and secures it quickly. Good body control to catch the pass outside of his frame. Lacks the quickness off the snap that teams prefer, but accelerates smoothly. Physical inline blocker. At least adequate quickness off the snap and laterally for the down block. Provides a good initial pop and effort as a drive blocker. Veteran with four years of starting experience.
Negatives: Strictly a short- to medium-range target. Lacks the straight-line speed to challenge the seam. Only adequate elusiveness to make defenders miss in space. Occasionally lines up in the slot, but lacks the burst off the snap to continue in this role in the NFL. Could use more bulk in his upper body. Provides pop as a blocker, but lack of initial quickness evident in this area, as well. Struggles to recover if beaten initially.
At least Scouts, Inc. has heard of this guy:
| Overall Football Traits |
| Production |
3 |
2005: Phillips appears in all 12 games and starts the three games Virginia opens in a two tight end set. He catches two passes for a total of 27 yards and one touchdown. 2006: Phillips starts four of the 12 games he appears in catching two passes for a total of 65 yards. 2007: Phillips starts eight of the 13 games he appears in catching 17 passes for a total of 193 yards and two touchdowns. 2008: Phillips starts all 12 games catching 48 passes for a total of 385 yards and two touchdowns. |
| Height-Weight-Speed |
3 |
Adequate bulk and room on frame to add significant weight but top-end speed is marginal for position. |
| Durability |
2 |
Durability is not a concern to out knowledge. |
| Character |
2 |
2008: Named the Rock Weir Award winner for the offense as the most improved player during spring drills. |
| Tight End specific Traits |
| Ball Skills |
3 |
Stays focused and looks ball into hands but traps ball against frame too much and vulnerable to dropping passes should catch. |
| Separation Skills |
3 |
Shows adequate footwork running routes but doesn’t show much burst coming out of cuts and going to have a harder time separating from man coverage at the NFL level. Struggles to avoid contact at the line of scrimmage and can get muscled out of routes. |
| Blocking |
2 |
Initially gets hands inside defender’s frame and drives legs once in position but doesn’t always lock on and slides off some blocks as a result. Got stood up by Georgia Tech DE Michael Johnson during 2007 game. Takes adequate angles to downfield blocks and shows adequate body control in space. |
| Toughness |
2 |
Plays with a mean streak and appears to take pride in blocking. Lowers shoulders into defenders when running after the catch. |
| Big-Play Potential |
4 |
Fluid turning upfield and runs hard but isn’t going to make many defenders miss and doesn’t show a second gear in space. Takes too long to reach top-end speed and isn’t much of a vertical threat. |
Calvin Watkins makes an interesting point: “Cowboys TE coach John Garrett should know exactly what to expect from Phillips, a good inline blocker who will serve as the No. 3 tight end. John Garrett was Virginia’s receivers coach before coming to the Cowboys two seasons ago.”
ESPN writes- Jacksonville was lucky to land Monroe here. He has the quick feet, length and awareness to develop into a franchise left tackle. Although he isn’t a dominant drive-blocker at this point Monroe almost always finds a way to get a job done. He’s quick enough to get into position and he does a nice job sustaining once he locks on. In addition, we expect him to get stronger once he gets in to a team’s weight-training program.
 The Lions are up. Could they take yet another wide receiver? Almost certainly not, as there isn’t a consensus stud worth taking at the position.
The ESPN boys think they might be eager to trade down.
With less than 3 minutes left on the clock, they got the Kansas City Chiefs to bite. They take Branden Albert, the outstanding offensive guard from Virginia.
Scouts, Inc.: 12th
(6′5″, 309, 5.169) | VIRGINIA
Strengths: Is tall and thickly built. Also has long arms and big hands. Shows a quick first, takes proper angles to assignments and gets into position quickly. Plays with a mean streak and drives legs once locked onto the defender. Has very good initial quickness for his size. Shows above-average range and can pull around the edge. Shows smooth footwork getting into pass sets and shuffles feet to stay in front of defenders. Gets adequate hand placement and extends arms once in position. Keeps head up, shows good awareness and can adjust to line stunts as well as blitzes. Never missed a game because of an injury and is durable.
Weaknesses: Does not have overwhelming power and doesn’t knock many defenders back with initial punch. Plays too high at times and is going to have problems driving two-gap defenders off the ball. Runs well on a straight line but has some trouble hitting the moving target. Doesn’t get great knee bend in pass sets and can get pushed back into the pocket. Appears to take plays off at times and may lack ideal endurance at this point.
Overall: Albert started all 37 of Virginia’s games during his three-year career (2005-07), including two at offensive tackle in 2007. He allowed just one sack and received an All-ACC honorable mention in 2006. He was a first-team All-ACC selection in ‘07. Bottom line: Albert needs to improve his power at the point of attack and learn to get under defenders’ pads. He also is a bit inconsistent when it comes to hitting the moving target as a second level run blocker. However, he is a massive guard with very good short-area quickness and tenacity. He could possibly move to ROT in the NFL but we think he fits best inside at guard, where he should quickly develop into an upper-echelon starter. He could be the top interior offensive lineman selected in 2008 draft no later than the second round.
Rick Gosselin: 18th
Mel Kiper: 8th
Nothing sexy here but good value for the spot. And Brody Croyle can certainly use better blocking.
The last Hurricane game will be played there on Saturday night. From the Miami Herald-
Yes, Hurricane fans, we know you love the Orange Bowl — and you will miss it. But you can’t take it with you. Not even one fistful of sod.
So said University of Miami football coach Randy Shannon and university President Donna Shalala on Monday in a jointly issued plea for decorum. They asked that fans please not storm the field and grab things — be they hunks of grass or chunks of goalpost — after Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. game against the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Virginia game will be the last played by the Hurricanes at their home for the past 70 years.
*****
In case some fans disregard their plea, Shalala and Shannon warned that there will be 300 Miami police officers on the field at the end of the game to ensure that no one tries to snatch a memento.
In addition to arrest, students would also face sanctions from the unversity, they said.
While the Hurricanes will be done with the OB, the stadium isn’t closing yet. So the seats will be needed for other events, including maybe high school football games. I know as recent as two years ago a State Championship HS game was played at the Bowl.
What a waste of manpower if 300 police have to be on duty at the game. Don’t police in Florida have something else to do? Like shooting out innocent people’s car tires or sue a family for a slip and fall after responding to call where a child almost drowned? Criminals can pretty much expect a free hand on Saturday to do their mischief.
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