Five things to watch this weekend

- DeAngelo Hall and Brian Orakpo will both represent the Redskins at the Pro Bowl on Sunday night. Linebacker London Fletcher also will join them. (Photo: Associated Press)
Savor this coming Saturday and Sunday, football fans. It’s the next to last weekend of televised football action for about six months.
Saturday features the Under Armour Senior Bowl down in Mobile, Ala. It will air at 4 p.m. on the NFL Network. If you don’t get the NFL Network, find a friend that does, or roll on down to your favorite sports themed watering hole.
The Pro Bowl will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on Fox, and while it does little for some football fans, hey, at least it’s football. After that, it’s the Super Bowl, and given the uncertainty involving the status of the still unresolved CBA for the coming year, who knows when you’ll get to watch football after that?
Here are five things to watch in this weekend.
1.) Jake Locker
The highly scrutinized University of Washington quarterback is looking to put on a show as he auditions for his future and hopes to convince NFL officials that he is worth a high draft pick. Like a lot of NFL coaches and executives, Mike Shanahan reportedly had been high on Locker following his junior season, but his stock took a hit after a down senior year. Can the passer come out and dispel some of the concerns about his skills?
2.) Von Miller
The Texas A&M DE/OLB sounds as if he is going to be a stud, and the Redskins could definitely use his skills as they try to give Brian Orakpo some pass-rushing help. Big, fast, strong and physical, Miller appears to have what it takes to make the switch to full-time linebacker whether it’s in the 3-4 or the 4-3. He could fall into the Redskins’ laps at No. 10 overall. You've been reading about his progress all week, now's your chance to see for yourself.
3.) Phil Taylor
The Baylor nose tackle has really helped his stock this week at Senior Bowl practices, and while there’s a chance that he could be there for the Redskins to take at the 41st spot, it’s now starting to sound as if he could go late first round to early second round. A dominant performance by him on Saturday will go a long way toward showing officials and fans how much of an impact player he could be. Of course there are plenty of other prospects to keep an eye on as well, such as Georgia guard Clint Boling, Baylor guard Danny Watkins, who is an under-the-radar player that has done well this week, and for a local prospect, keep an eye on Virginia Tech cornerback Rashad Carmichael.
4.) Pro Bowl Redskins
DeAngelo Hall will start at cornerback for the NFC squad, meanwhile Brian Orakpo and London Fletcher will get into the game as reserves at outside linebacker and middle linebacker, respectively. It’s the third Pro Bowl appearance for Hall, and the second consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl for both Orakpo and Fletcher.
5.) Other sports
So the Senior Bowl’s not an option, and you don’t care about the Pro Bowl? ESPN will air the Winter X Games almost all day long on Sunday with skiing, snowmobiling and snowboarding being the feature events. And for some NBA action, Kevin Durant and the Thunder take on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat at 1 p.m., and the Celtics and Lakers clash at 3:30 pm.
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