Senior Bowl 2012 Roster: Early Reports on the Most Impressive Prospects

The Senior Bowl is really the first major step towards the NFL draft each year. This year's game is loaded with a bunch of guys who project as first-round selections. 

Here's a look at how some of the top prospects at the 2012 Senior Bowl are faring so far in what has been an exciting week of practice. 

Quinton Coples, Defensive End, North Carolina

Coples might be the highest-rated player on draft boards to attend the Senior Bowl this week. At 6'6" and 272 pounds, he is an ideal defensive end in a 4-3 set. He has a phenomenal blend of size, speed and power, but there have been questions about his work ethic and motor this season. 

In the opening practice Coples was dominant from start to finish. He has continued that dominance so far in the rest of this week's practices and appears to have solidified his status as the best pure defensive end in attendance.

If Coples can answer questions about his desire during his team interviews, he should be able to further cement himself as one of the best defenders in the 2012 NFL draft.

Courtney Upshaw, Outside Linebacker, Alabama

Upshaw is a versatile defender who projects as a 3-4 outside backer at the next level. At 6'2" and 270 pounds he certainly has the size for the position if he can prove his initial burst as a pass rusher is up to snuff.

During the week's first practice, he showed great power against both the run and the pass and owned the one-on-one pass-rush drills with his strengths and quickness. The only question he has yet to answer is whether or not he can diagnose plays and react to them naturally when standing up, and how well he can move in space. 

Upshaw has serious competition from several very talented edge rushers among draft-eligible players this year. He needs to continue to stand out this week. 

Nick Foles, Quarterback, Arizona

Foles entered the week as the consensus top signal-caller at the Senior Bowl, but he has been a tad inconsistent and Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden has outplayed him thus far. 

Foles has all the measureables at 6'5" 245 pounds with a great arm and solid intangibles, but he has been less consistent with his accuracy this week. He tends to check down and dump the ball off a lot and at a showcase game like the Senior Bowl, scouts want to see you show confidence and let it fly a bit.

After two days of practice, Weeden has moved ahead of Foles, but the fact that Weeden is 28 years old is working in the Arizona quarterback's favor. If he can tighten things up he can still emerge as the top prospect at this game. 

Melvin Ingram, Defensive End/Outside Linebacker, South Carolina

Melvin Ingram has been on point so far this week, showing explosive burst, great power and leverage when rushing the passer and breaking things down against the run. 

At 6'2" and 272 pounds, Ingram is either ticketed to be a defensive end in a 4-3 or an outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. He may take some time to develop into a linebacker if he lands in a 3-4 system, but I think he'll eventually be fine in that spot.

The guy is just a pure playmaker as he finished the 2011 season with 10 sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and two touchdowns. If he keeps playing well this week he'll solidify his status as a mid first-round pick.