Spotlight #1: Auburn OT Brandon Mosley

Spotlight #2: Mississippi RB Brandon Bolden 

1^st quarter

10:37: Bolden with good fight for 7 yards, powers forward through a few tackles.

8:44: Eltoro Freeman with a tackle. He also has a sack and a forced fumble already. He’s someone to keep an eye on.

8:08: Bolden runs into a wall for a loss. Poor vision.

1:32: Bolden breaks one, gets loose, breaks another, drags another trying to catch him from behind for a bunch before going down short of the goal line, 39 yards.

1:09: Bolden finishes what he started, punches it in with great power and effort from 3 yards out, up the middle, touchdown.

2^nd quarter

12:12: Mosley with a good lead block. Mosley, Auburn’s right tackle, had a flawless 4^th quarter in pass protection, but was rarely run behind.

11:49: Mosley not as good with this run block.

10:25: Mosley does a good job of protecting for a long time, eventually allows pressure, but after a long time.

9:27: Bolden to the outside, cuts upfield at perfect time, great vision, good speed in the 2^nd level for 10+ yards.

9:18: Bolden up the middle through a big hole, great burst, great fight, solid gain.

8:08: Bolden takes a pass rusher down with a cut block.

6:04: Bolden gets great blocking and walks in a one yard touchdown.

2:51: Kentrell Lockett recovers a fumble, his 2^nd of the game. He also has a tackle for loss. The 6-5 248 pound 6^th year senior and has been wreaking havoc all game. He’s got talent, but a laundry list of injury problems.

 

3^rd quarter

12:09: Freeman with a huge hit in the backfield, great game for him.

8:04: Mosley gives up pressure, a rare miscue for him in this game.

6:37: Bolden powers up the middle for 3 in little space on 2^nd and 4.

5:38: Bolden shows patience behind his lead blocker and a nice spin on an outside run for 6.

4:28: Bolden with a nice 8 yard run on 3^rd and 2, finds a hole, good vision, not an obvious hole, shifty.

1:41: Mosley blocks to the inside, pancake.

4^th quarter

13:54: Bolden slips before the handoff, ball hits the turf, recovered by Auburn.

9:50: Mosley with a powerful 2^nd level block. He’s impressive.

4:15: Bolden finds a seam, good run for a big gain.

3:50: Bolden catches a check down in space for a few.

3:29: Bolden with a big inside run, ball comes out at the end, but he was down.

0:00: Auburn has two senior offensive tackles, AJ Greene on the left side and Brandon Mosley on the right side. Greene does not have ideal NFL size at 6-5 295 and really struggled in this game blocking Kentrell Lockett, who had one of his best games of the season. Lockett has talent, but has never been able to stay healthy and likely won’t get drafted barring a freak combine. The fact that Greene had trouble with him is a bad sign. I agree with the assessment that he’s probably an undrafted free agent.

Mosley, on the other side, is actually the better pro prospect. He has more ideal size at 6-6 305 and had a great game on the right side in this one. He was near flawless in pass protection, though he wasn’t blocking someone of the caliber of even Lockett. He also held his own as a run blocker. However, the fact that he’s just a right tackle to a likely undrafted free agent has to raise some questions. I don’t think he can be anything other than a right tackle at the next tackle, or even a guard, and I’d say he’s a late day 2 pick.

On the other side, the spotlight was Mississippi running back Brandon Bolden. The 5-11 220 back as all the talent in the world, but he can’t stay healthy. He showed himself to be a powerful between the tackles runner and also a good outside runner. He runs with good pad level and has great vision and shifting ability. He’s also a solid blocker and a good pass protector who caught 32 passes last year.

In this game, he had 118 yards and a score on 13 carries and looked really good, but the fact that he’s never been able to stay healthy or have more than 163 carries in a season is a big red flag. He’s got upside if he can stay healthy, but it’s questionable if he’ll ever been healthy enough to carry the load or be anything more than a backup. He’s also had some inconsistency, with a 2 yard on 5 carry performance against Georgia and he’s never been a dominant statistical player with a carries high 944 yards in 2010.

One other player who had a dominant game was Auburn linebacker Eltoro Freeman. Freeman is a high character leader and a high energy player who had a great game in this one with 12 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble, as well as a couple big hits for little to no gain. However, with only 55 tackles on the season, it’s tough to see the 5-11 220 pound linebacker get drafted, but he did have a great game here and really seemed to play bigger than his measurables.