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Senior Bowl observations: Wednesday afternoon report
January 29, 2025
Second day! same as the first! Or something like that. Certainly, anyone who hoped to get a better feel for Jalen Milroe and/or Jaxson Dart, ostensibly QBs 3 and 4 in this year’s draft class, in this afternoon’s practice than they did yesterday. Neither threw the ball more than a half dozen times against pressure and neither looked all that comfortable when they did. Milroe, for example, bounced his first throw 10 yards in front of his receiver in 11-on-11 play, held the ball too long on his second which was ultimately intercepted, and then underthrew his third, but ended up with a nice gain downfield when TCU WR Jack Bech was able to come back on the ball and outjump the DB for the catch. What one saw from Milroe was that he can throw darts when he’s able to set his feet, but loses accuracy and velocity when he’s forced off script. Dart, for his part, airmailed his first throw on a routine dump off into the flat and while he did complete a number of other underneath possession receptions, but never attempted anything down field. That said, we want to caution about reading too much into what happens at the Senior Bowl. Just for reference, for example, we went back and reviewed several reviews from last year’s Senior Bowl in which both Bo Nix and Michael Penix’s performances were panned. Same for Josh Allen back in 2018.
Speaking of TCU’s Bech he had a really good practice session as in addition to make several receptions including the one noted above, he was also more than willing to get his nose a little dirty helping out with run blocking; and as a bigger receiver, he proved to also be pretty effective. At the same time, Kentucky’s Max Hairston continued to distance himself from the rest of the corners on the American team, although both Upton Stout of Western Kentucky and UCF’s Mac McWilliams likely earned at least a second look from pro scouts. Same for safeties Dante Trader of Maryland and Syracuse’s Justin Barron with their physical play.
Interesting, the one major difference between the National and American practices today was the fact that whereas the defensive line was able to pretty much dominate in the morning session whereas the opposite was the case this afternoon, although it wasn’t quite a shutout. DEs Kyle Kennard of South Carolina and LSU’s Sa’vion Jones were both able to get some consistent outside pressure, while Mississippi’s Jared Ivey, a 285-pound tweener was able to get upfield when he kicked inside. Kentucky’s Deone Walker also had a better day today than he did yesterday when he struggled to keep his pads down; Walker was particularly impressive in the team drills during which he was almost impossible to move off the line of scrimmage, but was also quick enough to jump into a gap and make a play in the backfield on a couple of reps.
Meanwhile, as we did this morning with Marshall ER Mike Green, we focused a lot this afternoon on Texas A&M DE Shemar Stewart who is about as hot as anyone in this year’s draft class these days. Stewart, at a lean 6-6, 290, certainly looks the part and has a long, quick first step; indeed, he just blew by LSU OT Emory Jones, who otherwise had a very good day today, for a strip sack; however, otherwise he showed very little in the way of a polished set of pass rush moves and on most plays didn’t do much other than bull rush which may explain the low number of sacks in his career (just 4.5 in three years and never more than 1.5 in any one season.)
The other thing that was kind of interesting about today’s practice for the American team was that the offensive linemen leading that group weren’t necessarily big name prospects including Jacksonville State C/G Clay Webb, C/G Jackson Slater of Sacramento State, LSU OT Miles Frasier and Cs Jacob Bayer of Arkansas State and North Carolina’s Willie Lampkin. In fact, if there was an OL of the Day award we think it probably should have gone toone of those last two guys. Who knows if and where he is ultimately drafted, but UNC’s Lampkin is arguably the most unusual prospect in Mobile this week in that he’s barely a tad over 5-10 and 270 pounds, but at least today played much bigger.
January 29, 2025
Second day! same as the first! Or something like that. Certainly, anyone who hoped to get a better feel for Jalen Milroe and/or Jaxson Dart, ostensibly QBs 3 and 4 in this year’s draft class, in this afternoon’s practice than they did yesterday. Neither threw the ball more than a half dozen times against pressure and neither looked all that comfortable when they did. Milroe, for example, bounced his first throw 10 yards in front of his receiver in 11-on-11 play, held the ball too long on his second which was ultimately intercepted, and then underthrew his third, but ended up with a nice gain downfield when TCU WR Jack Bech was able to come back on the ball and outjump the DB for the catch. What one saw from Milroe was that he can throw darts when he’s able to set his feet, but loses accuracy and velocity when he’s forced off script. Dart, for his part, airmailed his first throw on a routine dump off into the flat and while he did complete a number of other underneath possession receptions, but never attempted anything down field. That said, we want to caution about reading too much into what happens at the Senior Bowl. Just for reference, for example, we went back and reviewed several reviews from last year’s Senior Bowl in which both Bo Nix and Michael Penix’s performances were panned. Same for Josh Allen back in 2018.
Speaking of TCU’s Bech he had a really good practice session as in addition to make several receptions including the one noted above, he was also more than willing to get his nose a little dirty helping out with run blocking; and as a bigger receiver, he proved to also be pretty effective. At the same time, Kentucky’s Max Hairston continued to distance himself from the rest of the corners on the American team, although both Upton Stout of Western Kentucky and UCF’s Mac McWilliams likely earned at least a second look from pro scouts. Same for safeties Dante Trader of Maryland and Syracuse’s Justin Barron with their physical play.
Interesting, the one major difference between the National and American practices today was the fact that whereas the defensive line was able to pretty much dominate in the morning session whereas the opposite was the case this afternoon, although it wasn’t quite a shutout. DEs Kyle Kennard of South Carolina and LSU’s Sa’vion Jones were both able to get some consistent outside pressure, while Mississippi’s Jared Ivey, a 285-pound tweener was able to get upfield when he kicked inside. Kentucky’s Deone Walker also had a better day today than he did yesterday when he struggled to keep his pads down; Walker was particularly impressive in the team drills during which he was almost impossible to move off the line of scrimmage, but was also quick enough to jump into a gap and make a play in the backfield on a couple of reps.
Meanwhile, as we did this morning with Marshall ER Mike Green, we focused a lot this afternoon on Texas A&M DE Shemar Stewart who is about as hot as anyone in this year’s draft class these days. Stewart, at a lean 6-6, 290, certainly looks the part and has a long, quick first step; indeed, he just blew by LSU OT Emory Jones, who otherwise had a very good day today, for a strip sack; however, otherwise he showed very little in the way of a polished set of pass rush moves and on most plays didn’t do much other than bull rush which may explain the low number of sacks in his career (just 4.5 in three years and never more than 1.5 in any one season.)
The other thing that was kind of interesting about today’s practice for the American team was that the offensive linemen leading that group weren’t necessarily big name prospects including Jacksonville State C/G Clay Webb, C/G Jackson Slater of Sacramento State, LSU OT Miles Frasier and Cs Jacob Bayer of Arkansas State and North Carolina’s Willie Lampkin. In fact, if there was an OL of the Day award we think it probably should have gone toone of those last two guys. Who knows if and where he is ultimately drafted, but UNC’s Lampkin is arguably the most unusual prospect in Mobile this week in that he’s barely a tad over 5-10 and 270 pounds, but at least today played much bigger.
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