Nate Solder talks about potential Rams draft picks

TST is on the ground in Indianapolis, at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Combine. I caught the tail end of Arkansas TE DJ Williams' press avail, and just finished listening to Colorado OT Nate Solder. 

No, the St. Louis Rams are not looking for an offensive tackle, but they are possibly looking for defensive linemen, a subject that OTs from BCS schools know quite well. Asked about the best players he's faced, Solder pointed to Purdue's Ryan Kerrigan and Oklahoma's Jeremy Beal were the toughest he's faced. Solder did not see MIssouri DE Aldon Smith this year, but he did last year. Here's what he said about Smith:

I was very impressed with Aldon Smith. I thought...he's big, tall, athletic, strong, he's got extremely long arms. We had a real tough time with him. 

Smith and Kerrigan have both been discussed as potential first round picks for the Rams. Kerrigan was mocked to the Rams in a recent mock draft; ditto for Smith. That's not really a scouting report, but hearing an OT talk about some of the pass rushers he's faced does at least offer some insight. Both Kerrigan and Smith have their fans among pundits, as well as their detractors. We talked about both players on last week's edition of Turf Show Radio.

Interesting tidbit: The biggest animal Solder's ever shot was a cow elk. (Yes, I took that awesome photograph)