Hankerson, Ponder lead the way in Senior Bowl win

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on January 29, 2011, 7:44 PM EST

All week at the Senior Bowl, I heard that the North team had most of the first-round talent.  It certainly didn’t look that way Saturday as Chan Gailey’s South squad beat Marvin Lewis’ North team 24-10 on Saturday.

Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder got the MVP award after throwing for 131 yards and two scores on only 13 attempts.  We were even more impressed by Miami wide receiver Leonard Hankerson, who capped a strong week with five catches, 99 yards, and this 18-yard score from Ponder.

Ultimately, the practices mean more than the game in Mobile.  But Washington’s Jake Locker showed Saturday why many folks still aren’t sure what to make of him.  His numbers weren’t bad in the end (98 yards on 10 attempts), but his accuracy looked a little wild on a few throws and he fumbled the ball when trying to extend a play.

Overall, Locker’s North squad really struggled to block and get any offense going.  They had one first down in the first half.

Bengals fans watching a Bob Bratkowski offense must have suffered flashback’s to Cincinnati’s 2010 season.

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15 responses to “Hankerson, Ponder lead the way in Senior Bowl win”

  2. Christian Ponder got MVP, but he’s clearly a West Coast QB. Kaepernick looked ok, but he’s 3rd round or 2nd at best. Ricky Stanzi looks like a good back up. Luck probably staying was a good decision – but he wouldve been easily a high pick. Von Miller looked unstoppable…and one RB Bilal Powell looked good in some plays. Locker looked absolutely awful, that dude is dropping fast.

    On to the combines next Month.

  3. I think the bills staff is a lot better than given credit for. I think with another draft and offseason their team will perform a lot better than expected.

  4. Marvin’s now a perfect 0-3 in Senior Bowls.

    If anything is going to happen with the Bengals assistant coaches though, now will be the time. They do value getting to coach the Senior Bowl teams (3rd time Marvin has done in 8 years) so it may have been a big reason why they’ve not made any changes yet. If things really are going to change in Cincy (and while I hope they do I’m doubtful they will) in terms of staffing it will be going down over the next week either way.

    -QG

  5. It’s difficult to project, zazu, because – as it stands – the Patriots and Jets have had two coaches make noise for their brilliance and are two teams with a lot of talent in its prime, though New York might lose some to free agency and New England still has a lot of young players.

    The Dolphins have a high concentration of talent in its prime and – if they get the right QB – they will be tough, too.

  6. The Bengals staff did these kids a complete disservice. Their coaching was a joke. They were all smiles while being kicked around and did not care. They truly did not care, while the Bills coach told the stupid reporter chick to shut up so he could coach.
    Now I see why Palmer wants to transfer.
    The pass plays they called for Locker in the 1st half were pathetic. And what’s up with having the ‘tremendous OL’ that allowed Locker to get sacked and fumble in about .5 seconds.
    ‘Tatumo64’ above needs new glasses.
    Locker looked the best of the QBs.
    Stanzi looked OK, but is immobile.
    Ponder had a HUGE advantage – he played the entire 2nd half, while the North substituted on every series. Why did the kid from TCU leave from having the wind knocked out of him? Does he work out with Jake Cutler?
    Sure Locker had a high pass at the end, but the north defense lost the game. Locker made 60% of his passes and had the highest yards per pass.
    The over analysis of this kid is a joke – it’s just like Tebow last year, and we know how he ended up.
    The skinny QB from Nevada looked like a WAC QB – like a skinny Jamarcus Russell. Overall, he was all over the map.
    But again, seeing the lack of commitment from the Bengals staff made this game meaningless. It looked like the QBs and receivers played about 45 minutes with each total before the game. They should focus on damn plays, not ‘footwork’. This isn’t the combines.
    Locker will still be 1st round, but the other 2 will be in the 4th at best.
    Re. being a ‘West Coast QB’ – who do you think are playing in the Superbowl dufus? Very ignorand comment.

  7. The North did have more of the talent, but they had Lewis coaching and as usual he got the least out of the most.

  10. The South as usual dominates with the talent, but atleast ole Bratt couldve not been so predicatable as usual. 1st offensive play for the North, an end around that goes for a -2 yd loss. Great coaching Bratt. Also Locker looks horrid. Thank god he didnt go pro last year and screw the Rams out of $70 million.

  11. Some of you casual fans hae no clue about this game.

    carson9:
    The South clearly did NOT have the better talent. If you had watched the practices all week you would have seen just how talented the North team was. The South executed their plays better for a change, they were on a lengthy losing streak before this win.

    oscar:
    Kaepernick had 5 incompletions, 3 were dropped, one was thrown away, and the last was high to the sideline with a rusher (Baylor’s Phil Taylor) in his face. All but the throw away and last pass were on the money, even the INT that bounced off the hands of North TE Mike McNeill.

    Stanzi is NOT immobile. He’s far faster and quicker than RIvers and Matt Ryan, no he isn’t going to run his 40 in the same area Locker and Kaepernick do, but he can move his feet and is an above average athlete. You might know that if you had watched these guys more than… let’s say…yesterday.

    tatum:
    Miller looked unstoppable? He made a couple of tackles, he barely rushed the passer and when he did he got one pressure. Start watching football with your eyes instead of relying on what everybody is saying for a change.

    Ponder may have been the MVP but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have some major shortcomings in this game. The long pass to Hankerson was terrible. Hankerson was very well covered by a CB, who was deeper than he was, and over top by a S, and he threw the ball with so much air under it, and underthrew it so badly that it turned out to be an awful pass that Hankerson (who should have been the MVP despite one drop) had to make a great play to get back to it and catch it.

  12. @brasho,wow i didnt know superscouts posted on pft,can i have your autograph?..ps if your not a scout and you were watching north/south practices for the senior bowl…….nuff said

  13. Wait, you’re surprised that Marvin’s team underwhelmed you when it had high expectations?

  14. with all the crap said about the Bills coaches when they were hired… they are a legit NFL coaching staff. Just wait until they get some talent there.

    Gailey has had Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tyler Thigpen be effective NFL QB’s for him imagine what he could do w/ a stud QB

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