By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MOBILE, Ala. - The first mock drafts of the winter are in, and two of the major ones have the Bengals selecting defensive players with their first-round pick.

Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN.com forecasts the Bengals taking Maryland defensive tackle Randy Starks at No. 17 overall. Starks is an underclassman who weighs 310 pounds and stands 6 feet 3. Draft Insiders' Digest ranks Starks 19th on its list of the top 50 prospects.

Pro Football Weekly has the Bengals taking Ohio State defensive end Will Smith, a 6-4, 250-pound star on the Buckeyes' tough defense. He is ranked No. 22 on Draft Insiders' prospects list.

IMPRESSIVE: The names of two Senior Bowl North team defensive linemen have come up frequently in positive terms this week: Dwan Edwards, a 6-3, 301-pound tackle out of Oregon State, and Darrell Campbell, a 6-4, 288-pound tackle out of Notre Dame.

ANOTHER BUCKEYE: Injuries have forced two defensive backs on coach Marvin Lewis' North team to go home, and Senior Bowl officials have brought in Ohio State cornerback-safety Will Allen as a replacement.

Iowa strong safety Bob Sanders has a foot injury that forced him to leave Mobile, and USC cornerback Will Poole also left after suffering what he said was an Achilles' tendon injury.

Allen gives the North team eight defensive backs heading into the game Saturday.

Lewis said of Allen's arrival, "You get the chance to get to know another young man."

CORNER THE MARKET: Next to linebackers, Lewis sees the most depth and talent in the draft in the defensive backfield.

"We have guys down here at the cornerback and safety positions who are very aggressive and are showing their wares out there," he said.

The defensive backs will be severely tested because no blitzing is allowed and quarterbacks will not face normal pressure. The game is designed to showcase quarterbacks and receivers in the pass game.

"It's a disadvantage for the defensive backs," Lewis said. "That's the hardest thing to evaluate on college tape because people ask their defensive backs to do different things. Down here we're finding out if they can be man-to-man corners and safeties in the NFL."

AND THIS: Bengals coaches conducted interviews with South team players Thursday night.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com