South Team Practice Recap

The South team is run by the Houston Texans this week, which will be telling for the Buccaneers personnel members in attendance because most of the defensive players they’re going to look at (the defensive line, mostly) are going to be operating out of a 3-4 formation, something the Buccaneers could think about doing themselves.

One of the early surprises in that train of thought was that UCF linebacker Shaquem Griffin was working with the 3-4 outside linebackers rushing the passer. Griffin had 18.5 sacks over the last two years, so he certainly knows how to disrupt a pocket, and that was seen throughout the day in Mobile.

Another notable thing to mention is that Ole Miss outside linebacker Marquis Haynes also had a good day rushing the passer from that spot. Both Griffin and Hayes were impressive 3-4 players from the first practice. They not only could collapse the pocket, but also held up against the run.

The day wasn’t good for all pass rusher on the South team, however. UTSA defensive end Marcus Davenport, who has been mocked as high as No. 7 overall to the Buccaneers, didn’t have a great first day. The clip above was just one example of him getting beat off the ball on run plays. That’s something he’s here to prove he can hold up against.

As you can see in the second clip above, Davenport again lost the initial push off the line of scrimmage, but did a nice job to recover when the ball arrived. The problem was he was already a few yards back. Davenport has to be able to hold up against the run if he wants to be in play for the Buccaneers at No. 7 overall.

Finally, for the South team (for potential Bucs prospects anyways), running back Ito Smith had a few nice runs, including the one shown above. As stated on the previous page, if Smith can maintain that explosiveness while being over 200 pounds, that’s idea. Tuesday was a nice step in the right direction for him.

Click to the next page to see the video evaluation of the Bucs targets from the North team.