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Cal CB Daymeion Hughes (left) impressed Defensive Backs Coach Raheem Morris with another strong workout Tuesday

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Standing Tall

Jan 23, 2007 - Daymeion Hughes, the Cal cornerback currently putting his skills on display in Mobile, Alabama, joined the rest of the Senior Bowl players at an official weigh-in on Monday morning. Hughes tipped the scales at 185 and was measured at five feet and 11 inches tall, making him one of the smaller defensive backs on the North team’s roster.

Since the actual practices have begun, however, Hughes has stood tall.

Cornerback just happens to be one of the strongest positions on the North depth chart. Some early mock drafts have Hughes, Michigan’s Leon Hall and Fresno State’s Marcus McAuley – all members of the North team being led by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coaching staff – as the highest rated corners available. Hall has Hughes by 10 pounds and McAuley has two inches on both of them, but Hughes has had no problem standing out in the crowd.

“All these guys out here are playing hard, but he’s kind of standing out a little bit,” said Bucs’ Defensive Backs Coach Raheem Morris. “He made a couple big plays yesterday and looked good again today. He’s a quick-feet guy. He’s a little bit of an undersized guy and all that stuff people keep talking about, but some of that stuff doesn’t even matter. I like the kid and I like the way he plays.”

Of course, Hall and McAuley and the rest of the North DBs have performed well, also, and the majority of the week’s work still lies ahead. Draft stock can still rise or fall between now and Saturday’s game, but Hughes believes he has helped himself so far.

"I definitely feel like I’m going in the right direction. As long as I keep things positive and stay confident on the field I’ll be okay. I feel like I’m one of the top corners out here."

“I definitely feel like I’m going in the right direction,” said the Cal prospect after Tuesday’s chilly morning practice. “As long as I keep things positive and stay confident on the field I’ll be okay. I feel like I’m one of the top corners out here. I’m going to try to continue to play like it for the remainder of the week. So far, I think it’s going well.”

Morris has helped. The Bucs lured their former assistant back from his Kansas State defensive coordinator post because they appreciated his attention to detail and his outgoing, high-energy approach. Morris is in constant motion on the field, providing frequent tips on footwork, positioning and technique. Hughes says the schemes and techniques being taught by Tampa Bay’s staff are familiar, if couched in different terminology, but Morris’s guidance helps drive the information home.

“I think the Bucs’ coaching staff is great, especially Coach Raheem,” said Hughes. “He keeps me fired up all the time and makes sure I’m going in the right direction and my techniques are right. I really like this coaching staff a lot.”

And so far, the scouts at the 2007 Senior Bowl like Hughes quite a bit, too.

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Additional Senior Bowl Notes

Syracuse cornerback Tanard Jackson shows up on many of those pre-draft ranking lists, too, but during these first two days at the Senior Bowl Jackson has shown up somewhere else: safety.

Given his solid build, intelligence and physical style of play, Jackson appears capable of playing either spot in the secondary, and the Bucs’ staff decided to see how he would handle the safety position this week. The early results have been very encouraging.

“He was a corner at Syracuse, but we’re kind of cross-training him right now, giving him some looks at both, corner and safety,” said Morris. “He’s a smart kid, and that’s part of the reason we’re looking at him at both spots. The other reason is we think he’s a little bit of a banger, so we wanted to see that at safety. He likes to make contact and be violent.”

On Sunday evening, during his initial meeting with the North players, Head Coach Jon Gruden challenged them to approach position switches with an open mind. Gruden acknowledged the added difficulty of learning a new job while also trying to absorb an unfamiliar playbook in a matter of days, but urged them to look at it as an opportunity to prove their versatility.

Jackson obviously took up that challenge, because he has been more than open to the idea of shuttling between two positions.

“I love his attitude, actually,” said Morris. “He’s had a great attitude about the cross-training; he didn’t even know that was going to happen when he got here. He’s excited about it, and I’m excited about how he’s doing. He’s a really good kid.”

The North roster has already been thinned a bit by injuries. At least two offensive players – Northern Illinois running back Garrett Wolfe and Rutgers tight end Clark Harris – have been shelved for the remainder of the week and will not play in Saturday’s game.

Wolfe, the nation’s leading rusher, suffered a hamstring injury on Monday. The undersized (5-7, 170) back had shown impressive quickness in the opening practice and was getting a look at punt and kickoff return, too. Harris reported to Mobile with an injured toe, having sustained the ailment in Rutgers’ Texas Bowl win over Kansas State. He tried to play through the injury but was unable to do so.

Washington State wide receiver Jason Hill, on the other hand, continued to practice on Tuesday after sustaining an ankle injury in the first practice. Hill, who had his ankle heavily taped, was able to cut and accelerate in his routes, making it all the way through Tuesday’s workout.

Michigan defensive end LaMarr Woodley tweaked a hamstring on Monday but tried to practice on Tuesday, only to aggravate the injury. Woodley stayed on the field but watched most of the drills without participating.

Minor injuries are not uncommon at the Senior Bowl and the rosters are generally refreshed during the week to make sure both teams have a full complement of players for Saturday’s game. The Bucs were due to find out Tuesday afternoon what seniors from around the country had been called in to replenish the thin areas on the depth chart.

The North team practiced kickoff return on Tuesday morning, and the following players got looks as return men: Hughes, McAuley, Maryland defensive back Josh Wilson and Fresno State wide receiver Paul Williams. Virginia Tech wide receiver David Clowney also returned one kickoff, though he was lined up as the lead blocker in front of the return man, only fielding the ball because it was very short.

Those same men became the outside sprinters on kickoff coverage when the two units switched sides halfway through. Wilson, for instance, returned several kicks during the opening minutes of the session, then later became the widest cover man on the left end of the kickoff coverage line. The slightly undersized DB (5-9, 184) excelled in coverage, sprinting quickly down the “speed zones” on the outside and then finding a gap to get to the return man.

Wilson also showed admirable restraint. During his final kickoff return, he took exception to a hit in the chest delivered by Hughes. The two sides switched moments later, and Wilson twice fought through the blocking to get to Hughes, now the return man, first. In both cases, Wilson established position but pulled off on the hit, as per practice etiquette.

The weather for the first two days of the Senior Bowl has been bracing. On Monday afternoon, the North team was treated to intermittent showers that turned into a steady rain by the end of practice. The rains held off on Tuesday but the mercury dipped for the North’s morning session. Temperatures in the 40s were supplemented by swirling winds, making for a rather cold practice. Still, the majority of the players worked out in simple jerseys with no sleeves underneath. Art Valero, the Bucs’ running backs coach, took it a step further, working the whole practice in shorts and without a jacket or gloves.