WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Rookie linebacker Stephone Anthony didn’t just look good during the New Orleans Saints' first padded practice on Saturday. He sounded good.

"The thing you gotta love about him is you heard him out there. He hits," Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said of the first-round draft pick, who lined up with the starting defense for the second day in a row.

"He hits people, he knocks people backwards," Ryan said. "And we are in that business when he's playing middle linebacker."

Anthony has been with the starters while veteran Dannell Ellerbe is nursing an injury -- and he's been taking full advantage. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder from Clemson particularly stood out during a 9-on-7 run drill, repeatedly popping running backs near the line of scrimmage.

Coaches have praised Anthony for both his play on the field and his ability to call the signals as the Mike linebacker and "quarterback" of the defense.

"I think he's done a phenomenal job catching on," Ryan said. "He's being coached by Joe [Vitt], so you know he's being coached hard and coached well. And it shows. This guy's not flinching out there. He's in front of the huddle, he's not flinching, he's not taking a step back."

Technically, Anthony is competing for the starting Mike job with veteran David Hawthorne. But Hawthorne spent the past three years as the Saints' starting Will linebacker and slid back over when Ellerbe went out with an undisclosed injury.

So Anthony could earn a starting job by beating out either one of those guys.

Meanwhile, the Saints' other first-round draft pick, right tackle Andrus Peat, had a rougher go of things Saturday -- particularly in the 1-on-1 pass rush drills.

Peat was badly beaten by outside linebacker Anthony Spencer on his first snap, which led the coaches to make him line up and do it again vs. end Cameron Jordan. Peat held up a little better that time -- but not much. He also had his hands full with outside linebacker Parys Haralson later in the drill.

In general, though, Saints coach Sean Payton said Peat is showing signs of improvement after offensive line coach Bret Ingalls said Peat was "behind the 8-ball a little bit in terms of conditioning" during OTAs and minicamp.

Peat (6-7, 316) missed most of the summer practices because he wasn't allowed to join the team until Stanford's academic year ended, per NFL rules.

"I thought he came back in pretty good shape. He’s still got some work to do. But for a big guy he moved around pretty well," said Payton, who said, "It was a big deal for us when we broke for the summer to make sure he was on a good plan."

"He got some reps today," Payton said. "There are some things that he struggled with and then came back and repeated and did better."

Without benefit of watching the film, it was hard to single out which players in the trenches stood out for better and worse during full-team drills Saturday. But a few things did stand out during those 1-on-1 pass-rush drills:

Left tackle Terron Armstead's athleticism was hard to miss as he held up well against Spencer and Kasim Edebali, then showed good recovery when Haralson made an inside move against him. Payton singled out Armstead as one who "did a real good job" in that drill.

I liked the aggressiveness and athleticism of rookie edge rusher Hau'oli Kikaha, though he mostly battled offensive tackles to a draw. Second-year speed rushers Edebali and Ronald Powell each stood out even more -- with Powell getting the best of right tackle Zach Strief once. ... I loved the clashes between center Max Unger and nose tackle John Jenkins. Jenkins showed a lot of power, but Unger held up well against it. ... End Akiem Hicks had the slight edge against guard Jahri Evans in a similar power struggle. Evans lost his balance and went to the ground once. ... Center Senio Kelemete got the best of rookie nose tackle Ashaad Mabry on back-to-back snaps.