North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey ZabelC. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
The small-school offensive linemen are stealing the show, even if the show is looking for other stars. The big guys are used to not receiving much attention. Not today, not when a suspect group of blockers seemingly gets stronger every day.
OT Grey Zabel, North Dakota State
Zabel followed up a stellar Day 1 with a repeat performance on Day 2, showing outstanding body control with tight, active and strong hands to keep defenders in front of him, mirror and stay attached throughout reps.
Once Zabel got his hands on rushers and defenders in the run game, the rep was over during both days of practice. He did lose his first rep clean Wednesday in one-on-ones against FSU’s Joshua Farmer, who slipped underneath his outside strike to win the corner.
Otherwise, there simply wasn’t another decisive loss on his film during the first two days of practice.
I’ve also heard that Zabel has aced his interviews, and I believe he should be viewed as a lock to be drafted within the draft’s first 40 picks, with a good shot to crack the first round.
IOL Jackson Slater, Sacramento State
Slater followed up a solid Day 1 with a higher-variance second practice, with some more commanding wins mixed in with a few decisive losses.
The FCS product was very good during one-on-ones in pass protection, with an impressive display of balance to maintain his posture and stay attached through a power-pop move from Georgia’s Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins before finding his anchor. He followed that up with two nice reps against Ole Miss’ Walter Nolan. The first turned into a commanding win where he defeated an inside club attempt and another after initially getting his inside shoulder lifted, quickly sliding his feet and cutting it off before anchoring late.
Slater ended practice during the ‘compete’ period with a decisive win against Notre Dame’s R.J. Oben, clenching him up with a circle punch before mirroring and sitting down on a late spin attempt.
Slater did have a nice rep in team against Alabama’s Tim Smith where he jump set him and ate a cross-chop attempt but some of Slater’s play strength and size concerns crept up here. He was pried open and compressed back on a double-team and got folded up on his back against a bull-rush from Smith. He also had a clean, bizarre loss across his face against Ole Miss’ Princley Umanmielen on the man-side of the protection where he barely touched him.
Overall, Slater’s athletic ability and natural leverage are good enough to allow him to match up and mirror rushers in pass protection and reach landmarks in the zone run game. However, his lack of length, girth, and mass suggests he needs to be in a zone-heavy scheme as a center-only prospect.
IOL Clay Webb, Jacksonville State
Webb was another who followed up a solid Day 1 with a more shaky Day 2, getting edged both inside and outside numerous times in the run and pass game.
Once inside of defenders, he showed the natural leverage and play strength to quickly find his anchor. Webb is a stout presence at the point of attack but plays with soft edges that were especially noticeable when repping at guard as opposed to his more natural home at center.
IOL Willie Lampkin, North Carolina
Lampkin had an excellent showing during one-on-ones Wednesday, with a couple of dominant reps including one against Georgia’s Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, where he locked him up and anchored quickly. His best rep of the day against South Carolina’s T.J. Sanders, using independent hands to strike and eat an attempted inside club move, sending Sanders on his face before stepping over him Allen Iverson style.
Lampkin is light on his feet with a firm anchor thanks to his natural leverage, strong hands and good core strength.
Lampkin’s diminutive size (5’10”, 270 lbs) did negatively impact him during the team portion of practice, including an ugly loss on a climb off of a double-team where he lunged and was scraped clean across his face, falling down in the process. He also was shed late on a double-team overtake by LSU’s Sai’vion Jones, unable to secure the lane against a late shed attempt.
Frazier was up and down both days of practice but played more at right tackle on Wednesday and battled despite that clearly not being a position he is comfortable playing.
Frazier started off one-on-ones with two very nice wins split between guard and tackle before losing around the edge clean against Notre Dame’s R.J. Oben and getting pulled off balance late by Deone Walker on another rep.’
Frazier’s body control is below average, but he used his size, strength, and active hands to hold his own most of the day.
Conerly repped more at right tackle than his natural home on the left side. The unfamiliarity showed during one-on-ones.
His first rep against UCLA’s Oluwafemi Oladejo saw him get jolted onto his heels by the bull-rush before recovering to find his anchor. He then underset Mike Green during his second rep, hopping over into contact with high pads and getting trampled by the bull-rush. He followed those up with a makeup rep, with a better set but got edged inside late in the rep and was forced into recovery mode.
Conerly also had a clean loss at left tackle against a cross-chop from Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku in what was an overall subpar, shaky day two of practice.
Jones proved to be up and down Wednesday, which was an improvement over Day 1, where his performance was more down than up. Jones lost three or four reps in glaring fashion where he was caught out of position and beaten cleanly in the run and pass game due to erratic strike timing, hand placement and balance. Yet he also went back and forth with Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart throughout the day to win a couple of reps before ending practice during the ‘compete’ period with three reps against Texas’ Barryn Sorrell, where he won two of three.
Jones has been unreliable all season on film but has enough flashes and physical tools to signal a mid-round developmental level prospect.
Trapilo never really found his footing or strike-timing during the week’s first practice, routinely letting defenders work inside his chest and around the corner quickly. He settled down on Day 2. More of Trapilo’s play strength and ability to anchor on command against power showed up thanks to him syncing up his hands and feet to establish first meaningful contact on rushers.
Although he still did get edged a couple of times late in the rep due to his feet getting stuck after initial contact.
Part of Trapilo’s allure on film was his handle on the nuanced parts of the position, such as timing, depth, spacing and working in unison with his guard, which are areas that are very difficult to showcase during the all-star game circuit. That said, Trapilo is trending in the right direction after two days of practice with incremental improvements to his technique.
Belton was pretty clearly the next best lineman on the National roster after Zabel on Wednesday due to taking good pass sets and beating rushers to the spot with an inside-out relationship that forced them to work down the middle of his frame. This movement allowed his massive, dense build, length and strength to take over repeatedly throughout the day.
In a similar vein as former Missouri tackle Javon Foster at last year’s Senior Bowl, Belton is dictating terms to rushers, thus allowing his size and strength to take over most reps.
Things still will fall apart in terms of sustaining late in the rep when Belton is unable to establish quick control of the block due to shaky body control. He doesn’t redirect very smoothly. But he has minimized those reps enough to help his strengths shine through during the first two days of practice.
Ersery struggled on Day 2 of practice due to being late with his hands and allowing rushers to work inside his frame and through both edges with relative ease. He was also on the ground a few times after being forced into scramble mode once initially beat.
The 6’6″, 339-pound blocker is clearly big, strong and powerful once latched onto defender. But significant variance exists within Ersery’s footwork, strike-timing and hand placement that has exposed shaky recovery skills.
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