Hiring an offensive coordinator wasn't the only thing the St. Louis Rams were working on yesterday. Scouts were in Florida checking out 2011 NFL Draft prospects who were practicing for the East-West Shrine Game.
Rams scouts spent a little time talking one-on-one with a couple of defensive tackles, North Carolina's Marvin Austin and South Florida's Terrell McClain.
You're probably familiar with Austin. Prior to being dismissed from the team in 2010, Austin was considered one of the top defensive tackles in the country, one of the best prospects period. Just look at his draft grade from last June and the other names on that list. In a ridiculously early 2011 mock draft, 3k had Austin going 6th overall. And now Austin is working hard to rebuild his draft stock, and not matter how much work he does, it's unlikely that he'll get back into top ten pick consideration. But maybe he'll be a possibility in the second round. That's where CBS Sports and NFL Draft Scout put him, in the second or third round.
The Rams picked two players from South Florida in last year's draft: CB Jerome Murphy (third round) and DE George Selvie (seventh). Could McClain be another USF prospect for the Rams? McClain was a first team All-Big East player this year. CBS and NFL Draft Scout have him, for now, as a potential sixth or seventh round pick. At least one report from yesterday's practice said he looked pretty good in practice yesterday, better than another DT that the Rams talked to.