This will be my ninth year attending the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. The event has grown from the scouting community’s best-kept secret to a slickly marketed football convention. Practice sessions and team interviews here often represent the first time many coaches and draft decision-makers see most of the top-ranked seniors in person.

The crop of players brought in by Senior Bowl President Phil Savage and his staff once again impress. Last year, 14 Senior Bowl alums were drafted in the first round, and the second and third rounds prominently featured many more. Out of this year’s rosters, here are some I will be watching closely this week on the practice field and the weigh-in. 

Reggie Ragland, LB, Alabama--the heart of the Crimson Tide’s stellar defense, Ragland is one of my top 5 overall prospects in the draft entering Mobile. I love his power, his control as he closes to the point of attack, his instincts and quick reactions. Heck, I even love that he wears No. 19, my own old volleyball number.

This week is all about validation of skills. Some question his range, though I would ask how many current NFL inside backers make the quantity of plays Ragland did outside the tackle box. Some question how much he is a product of the great defensive line in front of him. And that’s where the drills during practices come into play for the man I hope my Detroit Lions take at No. 16 overall. If he proves he can run and change direction well enough, he probably won’t last that long in April.

Miles Killibrew, S, Southern Utah--last week at the Shrine Game I watched two of his Thunderbird teammates, CB Leshaun Sims and DE James Cowser. They both had positive weeks and proved they are draft-worthy commodities.

This week the hulking safety takes the stage, and he has an opportunity to turn heads. At the same time, the practice sessions at Ladd-Peebles Stadium aren’t always the best showcase for big hitters. His play before the potential hit opportunity will be critical. I’ll be watching how quickly and adeptly he diagnoses the play and reacts to the action. Is he anticipating? How about those pursuit angles? Any false steps or tightness in flowing from one direction to another? Those are questions asked about every safety prospect, but for such a big guy (listed at 6’3”, 230) like Killibrew, and in coming from the FCS level, they’re absolutely critical in his evaluation.

Carson Wentz, QB, North Dakota State--the buzz around Wentz is going through the roof…

 

Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network, who is probably the most dialed-in of the major media outlet draft guys, slotted Wentz No. 4 overall in his pre-Senior Bowl mock with the same line of thinking. Now it’s on Wentz to deliver the goods.

The biggest question I have is his footwork. While Wentz is a pretty good athlete with a decent ability to run, he tends to be flat-footed and stiff-legged in the pocket. This leads to him relying more on his arm and shoulder to unleash heat on the throws, and it also leads to suboptimal ball placement. It’s a coachable issue, but also a big one. This is a big step up in degree of difficulty from FCS defenses to college all-stars, and he’ll be throwing to unfamiliar wideouts while playing behind an unfamiliar group of linemen who won’t have cohesion. This is where Wentz can either shine and prove my friend prescient, or the 6’6” slinger slides back into the 30-40 overall draft range where he was widely viewed last month.

Adolphus Washington, DT, Ohio State--I’ve consistently been impressed with Washington, a player firmly in my top 25 overall based on his on-field accomplishments. He blew his chance to show off on a national stage against a very good Notre Dame offensive line by getting arrested for solicitation and subsequently suspended.

For Washington, the key is to prove to teams this was a one-off, isolated incident and not part of any larger character issues. Interviews will be critical. It will also be important to show he can win on his own volition and not as a result of Joey Bosa creating opportunity for him by sucking blockers away. I believe he can, but the validation would be rewarding. 

Graham Glasgow, OL, Michigan--Glasgow earned a call-up from the Shrine Game, thanks in part to a fantastic first two days of practice in St. Pete when several NFL GMs and high-ranking scouts were watching. Hopefully they stayed tuned in, because in Wednesday session he struggled more with the quick power of guys like Javon Hargrave and Tevin Coley. In the actual game, Glasgow didn’t play well either, though it was hard to notice with the quarterbacks behind him being so abysmal.

The guy we saw in St. Pete on Monday and Tuesday will do well in Mobile, too. He’s tall for an interior lineman at 6’6” but he kept his weight low and showed strong hand placement and shoulder torque while engaged. His agility is above average. The guy from Wednesday and from the game, the one who played too high and couldn’t sustain blocks or recover quickly enough when bested, will dampen any potential bump from the 6th-7th round status he appeared to hold in December. I watched every snap of Michigan football (7 times in person) over the last three years and Glasgow was that guy a lot more often than he was the buzz-worthy player from early last week. 

Vernon Butler, DT, Louisiana Tech--he was one of my favorite players to watch all season, a nasty, disruptive interior presence. Butler was consistently too quick for opposing guards and centers, and he uses his long, strong arms to win leverage battles and shed.

 

Despite frequently impressing in games I watched, there really wasn’t much production. Butler can assuage some of those fears by dominating in pass rush and team drills and by doing so with more than one move. A good showing likely propels him into a top-40 overall pick. He’s already ranked there on my big board, currently No. 37.

Jeff Driskel, QB, Louisiana Tech and Jacoby Brissett, QB, North Carolina State. These two once competed for the starting job at Florida before both washing out of the Gator program. And they are similar players, athletes who developed as passers after departing Gainesville.

Driskel’s emergence stunned many, including myself. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was some newly poised, confident impostor wearing a different uniform. There are still some warts but I’m captivated by his potential promise.

I’m less enamored with Brissett. He’s got the better arm and more consistent production, but I’m always troubled by how slowly he processes information. Many of his throws are slightly off-target and late to arrive because it takes him an extra count to feel the defense. That is a very difficult obstacle to overcome, and it’s frustrating because off the field he’s quite well-regarded for his intelligence.

Given how atrocious Florida’s QB play degenerated in 2015, it’s easy to wonder what might have been had either of these two stuck around. Now Gators fans can watch and see if either will make it to the NFL.

Shawn Oakman, DE, Baylor--the epitome of “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane”, the physical freak can prove me and a host of other doubters wrong by showing some semblance of being an actual, productive football player. At 6’9” and high-cut with loads of upper body muscle that every guy at the gym wishes he had, Oakman had major problems at Baylor in avoiding blocks and generating leverage. He also has such a long stride that he’s easily dodged by niftier players.

This is his last chance to put something positive out on the football field. He’s apt to break the Combine with his speed, power and deity-worthy physique. If he can win eve half his battles in the pit drill, chalk it up as a real success and pencil him into the top 50 of the draft. Really. 

Cody Whitehair, OG, Kansas State--it’s interesting Whitehair is listed at guard here, as he played left tackle for the Wildcats and did so at a very high level. I know many feel he’s not powerful enough on the edge, but whenever I ask how moving him inside to face stronger foes helps that issue, I get stammers and silence. He’s a first-round talent in my book as a tackle. But if he proves during South practices that he can handle his business at guard, I’m open to the move.