MOBILE, Ala. — Duce Staley was smack dab in the middle, whistle in mouth, as Florida’s Dameon Pierce and Appalachian State’s D’Marco Jackson stormed toward each other like battering rams.
Staley is the de facto head coach of the American team at the Senior Bowl, and the Detroit Lions and former Eagles assistant was given carte blanche to schedule practices as he saw fit. And one of his wrinkles, which the players and personnel from other teams seemed to enjoy, were one-on-one drills in front of the entire team.
The drills were held immediately after warmups and at the conclusion of 2 1/2-hour workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. It seemed only fitting that Staley’s final matchup pitted a running back against a linebacker in blitz pickup, and that Pierce stoned Jackson.
