One of the standouts for the South team Tuesday afternoon was Florida State tailback Lorenzo Booker, who displayed some shiftiness and speed on a slew of open-field runs during the afternoon practice. Booker’s efforts Tuesday after an often-flummoxing college career might have been surprising to some, but not to college teammate Buster Davis.

“The thing about it is, he was never given the opportunity to be that feature guy,” Davis said. “But you saw when he was that feature guy in that UCLA game (the Emerald Bowl). What happened?”

What happened was stunning to many observers, as Booker — who had season totals of 552 and 525 yards in his junior and senior years, respectively — rampaged through the Bruins for 208 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

“He looked like the best running back in the country and that’s what he is,” Davis said. “When he comes out for pro ball he’s going to be one of the best that comes out of this draft. He has that mindset. He wants to be the best. You saw that in the UCLA game. He’s going to be very special.

“As long as he gets that opportunity he’s always going to be a special player.”

Davis’ ebullient praise of his teammate aside, all here in Mobile are on the prowl to find the magic that will make them special. A few harnessed that during Wednesday’s practice:

DL Antonio Johnson, Mississippi State: During lineman drills, he faced off against Auburn’s Tim Duckworth and started inauspiciously, jumping before the snap. After he repositioned himself, he promptly schooled his former SEC rival, veering inside with a spin move that knocked Duckworth off balance and sent him flying away. The two lined up again seconds later, and Johnson got his right arm up to move past Duckworth, who responded by pushing him to the ground just after he’d worked his way around the outside.

LB Patrick Willis, Mississippi: Intercepted one pass and returned another that Miami safety Brandon Meriweather had procured; the former Hurricane pitched an alert Willis the football for a long return during seven-on-seven work.

WR Dwayne Bowe, LSU: Had the catch of the day with a leaping grab of a high toss near the sideline, Bowe got just enough of his fingers on the football in mid-air to tip it to himself as he landed with his right knee inbounds.

LB Rufus Alexander, Oklahoma: Seemed to be ubiquitous in nine-on-seven work from his outside linebacker slot, finding his way to the ballcarrier even when multiple offensive linemen blocked his path.

Good night from a chilly Mobile. Talk to you Wednesday.

A warm good afternoon to you from today’s between-practice pit stop, a Panera Bread with blessedly free wireless Internet access in western Mobile, about 15 minutes’ drive from Ladd-Peebles Stadium. We’re currently working on a story, some video and a photo gallery to be completed following the South team’s practice this afternoon and the early evening media session to follow.

For now, though, here’s a few notes on the doings from the North team session, which finished a couple of hours ago:

Purdue’s Anthony Spencer is listed as a defensive end and as a linebacker. He worked with the down linemen today and got the better of most of his one-on-one duels. In particular, he lined up at right defensive end opposite Penn State tackle Levi Brown and simply sprinted by him to the outside, barely giving the Nittany Lion a chance to react.

Tempers momentarily flared when everal offensive and defensive linemen, including Louisville’s Amobi Okoye, got into a little bit of a donnybrook at the morning practice shortly after a whistle was blown. West Virginia offensive lineman Dan Mozes also got into an ever-so-slight exchange of shoves with Ohio State defensive lineman David Patterson during the one-on-one work.

Texas Tech guard Manuel Ramriez held his own against Okoye and other defensive linemen; the 6-foot-4, 329-pounder showed good balance in his one-on-one duels and didn’t let a single defensive lineman blow by him in that portion of the practice session.

In the course of shooting video of the practice, I kept finding reasons to notice Brian Leonard, the former Rutgers back who is probably most noted for moving to fullback as a senior so Ray Rice could handle tailback duties during the Scarlet Knights’ magical run to a top-15 finish. Leonard worked at tailback Tuesday, but also showed his persistence as a blocker, particularly in a one-on-one drill where he wrestled Michigan linebacker David Harris to the ground after the defender sprinted into him.

That’s it for now … more later today.

Greetings from damp and chilly Mobile, Ala., where rain and a slight north breeze turned what might have been a pleasant 53-degree afternoon into a potentially illness-inducing experience that left players and observers shivering and sent me reaching for the Tylenol and zinc supplements upon my return to the hotel after a 90-minute practice session.

Such conditions, though, are a part of football, and perhaps no players possess a greater appreciation for a little meterological misery than linemen. And, to be certain, no players have to adapt more, since so much of their efforts are based around using footing to gain leverage.

That was the test Monday for the seventeen South team players that I watched in “The Pit,” the area of the practice field around which many coaches and scouts congregate to capture an up-close view of the linemen’s duels, foraging for nuances that television broadcasts and tape study cannot necessarily reveal.

On this day, persistence was rewarded, because even the finest footwork could still result in a slip-slide around the dampened grass. Thus, how well could a player maintain his leverage and balance — particularly when playing to stand his ground and not to drive forward, as the offensive linemen did throughout the drills?

The answer proved to be not well, as slippage proved to be the watchword of the day. But that proved to be revealing, particularly for linemen like N.C. State’s Tank Tyler and Clemson center Dustin Fry, who maintained their balance against each other.

Quite often, the 49ers coaches would pair the same two linemen against each other on back-to-back snaps, affording observers an opportunity to see how the vanquished would respond with a second opportunity. Some, like Fry, made the most of it; he responded after getting beaten by Tyler by holding his own against the 310-pound defensive tackle, even though Tyler managed to push him back a few yards in the process. The two grappled once again in another linemen session, and again, the same set of circumstances transpired; Tyler slammed into Fry, breaking into the backfield once, but getting held off on the second try.

So it went throughout the afternoon. One player beat another, and the vanquished foe bounced back, as happened with Texas right tackle Justin Blalock and Florida defensive lineman Ray McDonald.

There were times when the pattern broke as it did with Miami defensive end Kareem Brown who used the second chance to finish the task left undone in the first. N.C. State’s Leroy Harris slipped and held him out of the backfield on the first try, but couldn’t contain him on the second go-’round.

More from the first day of practice is in the notebook, which you can read by clicking here.

Later in the week, I’ll get into the details of our wacky journey here that didn’t finally end until 7 p.m. tonight when our bags with cameras, tapes, microphones, clothes and other necessary accoutrements finally arrived, some 35 hours after we made it to Denver International Airport for a Sunday morning flight.

For now, it’s time to sleep. Next practice is in eight hours, and the alarm clock bleats in five and a half. We’ll be there.