Baltimore Ravens scouts were reportedly speaking with Illinois guard Randall Huntafter practice at the East-West Shrine Game, to be played in Orlando, Florida on January 22nd. The 86th East-West Shrine game profiles some of the nation's best college players, to which Hunt was invited. Randall is a 6'6", 320 pound offensive guard, who opened holes for junior running back Mike LeShoure, which finished the season as the nation's 3rd leading rusher with 1697 yards, and has declared early for the NFL Draft.
The Ravens offensive line proved to be one of their major weaknesses in both the run game and pass protection. They allowed QB Joe Flacco to be sacked 40 times (9th worst in the NFL) and hit 79 times (10th worst in NFL). Their running game produced 1,831 games (14th in league), but their 3.8 yards per rush average was only tied with three other teams as 25th best in pro football.
Thanks to Alfie Crow from SB Nation blog, Big Cat Country, for attending the East-West Shrine Game practices and reporting to the rest of the network on these sightings. Here's what he had to say on his blog about Illinois' Randall Hunt:
"Nebraska's Michael Smith and Illinois Randall Huntwere the stars of the East offensive line. Smith routinely stuffed pass rushers in drills and was rarely beaten. He showed pretty good footwork and didn't allow himself to get into bad positions when defensive ends tried to set him up in pass rush moves. Hunt at the guard position was the only person who was able to even look respectable against North Carolina's Marvin Austin. Hunt shows good power and once he gets his hands on a defender can usually lock them down."
Hopefully, Alfie will get us more information on any players from this weekend's East-West Shrine Game that the Baltimore Ravens might be talking to and looking at as a possible draft choice in this April's 2011 NFL Draft.