Day 2 of practices at the Senior Bowl is in the books and the Wednesday was much more competitive than Tuesday. Both teams were in full pads and there was a noticeable uptick in the intensity at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Tempers flared on a few occasions and the players began to showcase their skills. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts in the trenches on Day 2 of Senior Bowl practices.

North Team Practice

Rob Havenstein was billed as a slow tackle who did his best work in the run game and struggled in pass protection. However, he has done an impressive job out on an island as he showed good feet and impressive grip strength to latch on to defenders. In the run game, Havenstein has done a great job as well as he has been able to create some movement and show the ability to seal the edge on zone plays. Another player who did well was Ali Marpet from Hobart College. Despite being a smaller guard, Marpet shows great quickness to seal defenders and enough strength to anchor against the considerable power of the North Team defenders. If Marpet was on scouts and evaluator’s radars before they came to Mobile, he certainly will be when they leave.

On the defensive line, Carl Davis had another fantastic day. He is too quick, too strong and too good with his hands for the interior lineman thus far this week. Davis has made a living in the backfield this week, whether it’s in team, inside run or one-on-one pass rush drills. Another player who had a good day was Deon Barnes. He is inconsistent against the run, but in the pass-rush drills he flashed some great ability. He blew by T.J. Clemmings on a few occasions with quick hands and great quickness on his way to what would be a sack. Barnes is an under-the-radar prospect, but he has great size and athletic ability that should intrigue many teams.

South Team Practice

The offensive lineman that really impressed for the South Team was Shaquille Mason. Coming from the triple-option offense at Georgia Tech many wondered if his game would translate to more pro-style offenses. Nevertheless, he has really stood out this week as he has shown great feet and a strong base to deal with myriad of interior defensive lineman he was going against. Another offensive lineman who has really helped his draft stock is Daryl Williams. He is a massive tackle who plays with great strength and enough foot quickness to survive. Once he gets his hands on defenders it is over as he strong grips and base overwhelm defenders.

On the defensive line, Gabe Wright was very productive. Wright is very disciplined with his hands and he is great at hand fighting and using he quickness to get by offensive lineman. Wright has shown that he can hold up at the point-of-attack and be a stout run defender, while also showing the pass-rush ability that made many like him on tape. The player who may have helped himself the most thus far is Trey Flowers. He has great length (33.875-inch arms) and he uses every single centimeter of it. He does a great job of using his length to create separation and set the edge, but he also uses it to be able to control and steer opposing lineman as well. Flowers has been very impressive and his stock should should rise because of it.