Be sure not to miss the 2008 Miami Dolphins Draft Party, Presented by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The draft party will be held on Saturday, April 26, from 2:00 - 6:00 pm at Dolphin Stadium. The party features full coverage of the NFL Draft, 2008 Season Ticket Select-A-Seat, player, alumni and cheerleader autographs as well as free parking and admission.
By Andy Kent
Special for MiamiDolphins.com
April 4, 2008
They say that defense wins championships, and with the crop of defensive linemen entering this draft, there should be more than enough hope to spread around the 32-team NFL. LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey received most of the hype during the 2007 college football season and the bowl games, especially after helping the Tigers win the national championship with a dominant performance in the BCS National Championship game. USC's Sedrick Ellis turned heads at the Senior Bowl and has since passed Dorsey on some mock draft boards, with Virginia defensive end Chris Long and Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston also causing scouts to salivate.
Gholston is just one of six underclassmen – four defensive ends and two defensive tackles – that are expected to be picked in the first two rounds, and three of those six attended Florida schools. Miami defensive end Calais Campbell and Florida defensive end Derrick Harvey are considered to be two of the best defensive ends behind Gholston, while Florida State defensive tackle Letroy Guion is ranked just a few spots behind Dorsey and Ellis by some scouting Web sites.
BREAKING DOWN TOP DE PROSPECTS
Chris Long - He has the genes thanks to his Hall-of-Fame father, former Oakland Raiders defensive end Howie Long. But at the NFL Combine, Long showed that he can more than stand on his own two feet with outstanding performances in the vertical jump (34 inches) and 40-yard dash (4.75 seconds). His vertical was the second highest among defensive ends and his 40 time was the sixth fastest, and combined with what he put down on film last season and throughout his career, Long is at the top of a lot of draft boards. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Vernon Gholston - Maybe Gholston's name wasn't on the tips of many tongues in January because his Buckeyes took another beating at the hands of an SEC opponent in the BCS National Championship game, but he's certainly generating a lot of conversation. The versatile athlete sparkled in Indianapolis, running faster (4.69 seconds) and jumping higher (35 inches) than Long, with both turning in similar times in the three-cone drill (7.12 for Gholston to 7.02 for Long), and like Long, Gholston has shown the ability to excel at linebacker in the 3-4 scheme, which makes him attractive to a number of teams. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Derrick Harvey - Harvey has been compared to another former Gator defensive end with a similar build, Jevon Kearse, because of his speed and his wingspan. Kearse earned the nickname "The Freak" coming out of college because of how quick he could come off the edge for his size (6-4, 265), and Harvey is substantially lighter at 230 pounds and also is envisioned as a possibility at linebacker in the NFL.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Calais Campbell - By far the most imposing defensive end in the draft at 6-foot-8 and 280 pounds, Campbell hopes to follow in the footsteps of other past Hurricanes defensive linemen like the now-retired Warren Sapp and Vince Wilfork of the Patriots. He ran a 5.03 in the 40-yard dash at the Combine and was one of the few bright spots on a Miami team that went 5-7 and missed qualifying for a bowl game last year. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
BREAKING DOWN TOP DT PROSPECTS
Sedrick Ellis - Once he found out LSU's Glenn Dorsey was not attending the Senior Bowl, Ellis seemed to receive an extra burst of adrenaline as he took over Mobile for the week, dominating the drills in practice and then doing the same to the South team in the actual game. Heading into Indianapolis he appeared to have surged past Dorsey as the top defensive tackle in the draft, but he struggled a bit at the Combine, running a 5.24 in the 40-yard dash. Ellis more than redeemed himself at USC's Pro Day this past Wednesday by turning in a 5.01 and a 5.05 in the 40, a drop of nearly three-tenths of a second. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Glenn Dorsey - There isn't much more that Dorsey could have done in his senior season at LSU to command the attention of NFL Scouts, but concerns over his durability because of injuries that kept him out of the Senior Bowl and out of drills and workouts at the Combine seemed to offset his winning the Lombardi Award that goes to the nation's outstanding defensive lineman and helping the Tigers win the national championship. A solid workout during LSU's Pro Day and a clean bill of health administered by doctors just might have pushed him back ahead of Ellis.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Pat Sims - As a junior formed an intimidating defensive front with teammate Quentin Groves at defensive end and really excelled against the run, standing up blockers and pushing them into the backfield. Sims is seen as someone that can play in the 3-4 or the 4-3 and he helped his cause at the Combine with a 5.06 in the 40-yard dash and a 27-inch vertical jump.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Kendall Langford - Could be the small-school surprise in the draft after an eye-opening performance at the Senior Bowl that was validated with an even more impressive Combine. Langford ran a 4.97 in the 40-yard dash, which was second to the 4.88 run by Maryland's Dre Moore, and he had a 27-inch vertical jump and some scouting sites project him as an NFL defensive end. He has the ability to rush the passer and stop the run, which should garner him plenty of interest between now and April 26th.
By Andy Kent
Vernon Gholston - Maybe Gholston's name wasn't on the tips of many tongues in January because his Buckeyes took another beating at the hands of an SEC opponent in the BCS National Championship game, but he's certainly generating a lot of conversation. The versatile athlete sparkled in Indianapolis, running faster (4.69 seconds) and jumping higher (35 inches) than Long, with both turning in similar times in the three-cone drill (7.12 for Gholston to 7.02 for Long), and like Long, Gholston has shown the ability to excel at linebacker in the 3-4 scheme, which makes him attractive to a number of teams. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Glenn Dorsey - There isn't much more that Dorsey could have done in his senior season at LSU to command the attention of NFL Scouts, but concerns over his durability because of injuries that kept him out of the Senior Bowl and out of drills and workouts at the Combine seemed to offset his winning the Lombardi Award that goes to the nation's outstanding defensive lineman and helping the Tigers win the national championship. A solid workout during LSU's Pro Day and a clean bill of health administered by doctors just might have pushed him back ahead of Ellis.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
