The South team kicked off their second Senior Bowl practice of the week on Wednesday afternoon under windy conditions and a temperature of 55 degrees. Led by Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and the Detroit staff, the team spent the first half of practice going through warm-ups and individual drills and then the players spent a lot of time going up against each other in one-on-ones. Pewter Report has the details of which players stood out and struggled during those sessions.

Wake Forest fullback Tommy Bohanon was one of the best performers in pass-protection drills on Tuesday. He stonewalled the opposition on nearly play. Some of the players he beat include Florida State LB Vince Williams, Alabama linebacker Nico Johnson, and Missouri linebacker Zavier Gooden.

The best pass-protecting running back on Tuesday was Stepfan Taylor out of Stanford. Taylor showed that he is a willing and effective blocker at Ladd Peebles Stadium on Tuesday. He had a good rep where he held Alabama’s Nico Johnson at bay. Later on, he stopped Stanford’s Chase Thomas from hitting the imaginary quarterback. Another solid performer in the pass-protection drills was Florida running back Mike Gillislee. He was also a very willing pass protector that used his lower body nicely. He was beaten a few times, but he won on the majority of his reps

The next event that the running backs, tight ends, and linebackers participated in were passing drills where the offensive player would run a route and the linebacker would play man coverage.

Mike Gillislee of Florida was great in this portion of practice. The former Gator beat Florida State’s Vince Williams badly on an out route. Williams went to jam Gillislee and failed to make contact, leaving the Gator tons of open field to run his route. Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor also impressed as a receiver out of the backfield. The former Cardinal ran a very crisp Texas route against Stanford’s Chase Thomas and left him in the dust. Gillislee and Taylor were definitely the two best in this drill.

One of the most exciting drills at practices here at the Senior Bowl is the offensive and defensive lineman one-on-ones, and Tuesday’s practice did not leave talent evaluators disappointed. Director of Player Personnel Dennis Hickey and Director of College Scouting Eric Stokes both watched this drill on Tuesday.

The best performer in this drill at Tuesday’s practice was Georgia nose tackle John Jenkins. The former Bulldog has incredible quickness for his mammoth size (6-3, 359). One on rep, Jenkins delivered a nasty spin move that left the offensive guard in the dust. Later on, he showed off his brute strength by bull-rushing the guard back about 7 yards. Jenkins has shown that he can be an anchor as a nose tackle. He also said in an interview that he idolizes New England nose tackle Vince Wilfork. They both are deceptive and play the game faster than most would expect for such large defensive lineman. Jenkins had a great showing in the one-on-ones.

BYU defensive end Ezekial Ansah had an up-and-down practice on Tuesday. On the first rep of practice, he was flattened by Virginia tackle Oday Aboushi. The BYU product failed to use his hands and was forced to the ground by the former Cavalier. Later on in the drill, Ansah used an outstanding spin move to get into the backfield. Ansah has outstanding quickness and closing speed, but he needs a lot of work on hand placement and pass-rushing techniques.

Defensive end Lavar Edward out of LSU had a very poor day of practice. He did not have very many “wins” during the pass-rushing session and failed to make any plays. He was beaten badly multiple times by Oklahoma tackle Lane Johnson, who had a fantastic session of one-on-ones. Edwards also jumped offsides and was scolded by the Detroit Lions defensive line coach.

One player who quietly impressed Pewter Report at Tuesday’s practice was defensive end Cornelius Washington out of Georgia. Washington showed a nice arsenal of pass-rushing moves including a spin move. He beat Florida offensive tackle Xavier Nixon with a spin move early on in the drill. Later, Washington used a powerful bull-rush to beat Nixon once again. Washington seems to be overlooked because of Georgia’s star defensive lineman including Jarvis Jones, John Jenkins, and Kwame Geathers. He likely opened some eyes with his performance on Tuesday.

The South is scheduled to hold their last full-contact practice of the week on Wednesday afternoon and Pewter Report will be on location to provide all the details.

Pewter Report's 2013 Senior Bowl coverage is sponsored by The Theater Doctor. For nearly a decade, The Theater Doctor has been installing, repairing and trouble-shooting home theater systems all around Tampa Bay. With the Senior Bowl, Pro Bowl, Super Bowl and March Madness coming up in the next few weeks, it’s time to make sure you are ready to watch the big games the way they were meant to be viewed – on a big screen TV with a surround sound system. 

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– Andrew Scavelli and Eric Dellaratta contributed to this report