East-West Shrine Game

Houston sports radio guy Lance Zierlein is blogging from the East/West Shrine Game practices. Nebraska has three players playing for the West Squad – Zac Taylor, Matt Herian and Ola Dagunduro.

Monday's Practice Report

· Zac Taylor - Nebraska, 6'2 / 210: Taylor showed a better than expected arm but tends to windup a little before his release. Taylor excelled with his accuracy and looked sharp with his slant passes. Overall, I think he had a solid showing.

· Ola Dagunduro (DT, Nebraska) was very quick off the ball and caused problems for linemen throughout the one on one drills.

Wednesday Practice Report

· Nebraska TE Matt Herrian looks painfully slow and he's clearly not back from the devastating knee injury from 2004 that cost him all of last season. In the passing game, he just won't have the ability to get much separation on the next level.

· Another of my favorite players at this game is Nebraska DT Ola Dagunduro. He's not the biggest guy, but he's quick off the ball and gets his hands on the O-lineman very quickly. I think he'll be drafted on the second day and make a team that is looking for an up-the-field DT.

Thursday Lance brought in John Harris from College Football News to provide five players per side to keep an eye on.

West Players to Watch

4. Matt Herian, Nebraska TE - I really expected Herian to be more productive in the passing game at Nebraska and thought that he had the opportunity to be a poor man's Owen Daniels. I think he may actually 'fit' better at the next level than at Nebraska.

I don’t have a lot to add to this, but I felt it was interesting nonetheless. I think Ola is going to be a steal for some team, and could be a very productive 2nd day pick. The same could be said for Taylor. I don’t think a team will groom him to be a starter, but he could be a more than capable backup. Herian is just a sad story. I almost wanted to turn away at times when he was in action on the field. He was once as athletic and speedy and as a TE can get. He is now but a shadow of his former self. That is sad, but I wish him all the luck in the world.