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Here are some Whispers and observations from Dan Leberfeld about the rookie minicamp . . .
It’s always the case in these rookie camps.
Certain players look like men playing among boys.
It’s usually the players who are not rookies, and have been in a camp before.
An example of what I’m talking about is Marlon Lucky.
The former Nebraska tailback came out of school last year and was in camp with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was cut on August 22.
He played a few games for the UFL’s New York Sentinels last year, and his rights are current owned by the Hartford Sentinels (the team moved).
But while waiting for the UFL, he got an invite to the Jets rookie camp as a tryout with the help of his former college coach Bill Callahan.
He was clearly ahead of many other tryout players on the growth curve.
Lucky was impressive at Jets camp running routes and catching the ball out of the backfield. Remember, this is a player who had 75 receptions two years ago at Nebraska in Callahan’s offense. He was the top receiving back in the nation that season.
With his savvy as a route runner, he was tough cover for the young linebackers in camp.
This guy deserves an invite to camp, but it might hard for the Jets to finagle this because they are pretty crowded in the backfield . . .
The Jets left tackle at the rookie camp was second-year player Dan Gay, who spent some time on the team’s practice squad last year. The Baylor-product can play any position on the line accept center . . .
While Joe McKnight is in awful shape, his impressive natural skills were hard to ignore at camp. He has really, really quick feet, and is terrific at making the first defender miss . . .
The Jets had a lot of botched center-QB exchanges at camp and a big reason why was the back injury to Michael Parenton, who was supposed to be the center at camp . . .
Cornerback Bo Smith hurt his right hamstring . . .
The best name of any player in camp – Penn State cornerback Knowledge Timmons . . .
Bart Scott got his cousin, safety Lance Caldwell, a tryout with the Jets. He went to Scott’s alma mater Southern Ilinois and is also from Detroit . . .
The Jets brought two arms into camp, Washington State QB Alex Brink and Richmond signal-caller Eric Ward. Both guys are going to have a tough time making the league because of suspect throwing motions . . .
Linebacker Josh Mauga, who has had a couple of brief stints with the Jets last year (training camp and practice squad), had a really nice play in pass coverage in the right flat. His issue isn’t ability, but on-and-off back problems . . .
Speaking of Nevada-Reno linebackers, while it’s early, undrafted free agent Kevin Basped looks like a pretty good prospect. He probably made a mistake leaving school a year early. He needed another year, but he certainly looks the part of a 3-4 OLB at 6-4, 254 pounds. And he was pretty productive last year with 9.5 sacks. But remember those sack totals weren’t against great competition. This guys seems like an ideal practice squad candidate.
He’s raw, but has a good size-speed ratio, and probably could have warranted a middle round selection. He looked very athletic in the camp . . .
An interesting tryout player was Erik Ainge’s former right tackle at Tennessee, Al Toeaina. He certainly looks the part (6-5, 329 pounds). He’s another example of a player who is better than just a mini-camp tryout (but hey, that is how Jim Leonhard got his foot in the door in Baltimore). If the Jets don’t sign Toeaina, he will just go back to Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, where he played last year.