2016 Senior Bowl Practice Recap – Offense

The most prestigious college all-star game takes place this Saturday (2:30 EST, NFL Network) in Mobile, Alabama. It is a platform for the college seniors from big schools to boost their stock and for small school players to prove they can produce against FBS talent. The game is more of a formality after a week of practice where teams are watching player’s every move, evaluating their performance in drills, and interviewing players of interest.

The Senior Bowl provides the opportunity for NFL coaches and scouts to meet potential draft prospects face to face and see how they perform in NFL-caliber drills and scrimmages. Every year there are a handful of prospects who boost their draft stock a few rounds and some whose stock plummets do to bad performance, effort level, or interviews.

Guard Ali Marpet from DIII Hobart is a great example from last year’s Senior Bowl. He started the week of practice as a cool story being the only DIII player ever to be invited to the Senior Bowl, then after a dominant week (and good combine) ended up as a 2nd round pick of the Tampa Bay Bucs and eventually their starting guard as a rookie.

I’ll be listed some players below who helped their draft stock like Marpet did last year. I’ve started with the offensive and special teams players with this post and will cover the defensive players in my next one.

Senior Bowl – Stock Up (Offense)

1.) QB Carson Wentz, North Dakota St – Was far and away the best QB at the Senior Bowl. Wentz has ideal size for a QB (6’6 | 235), showed impressive mobility, and the strongest arm of any QB in mobile. There was one day of practice with strong winds and bad weather, but Wentz’s throws were unaffected. He’s making a big leap from DII to the NFL, but Wentz proved this week that he has more physical upside than any QB in the draft and solidified his spot in the top ten overall.

2.) OT Jason Spriggs, Indiana – There were no questions about Spriggs’ footwork and technique, but he’s lean for an NFL tackle (6’7 | 305) and some scouts questioned his strength. Spriggs answered those questions all week against possibly the best collection of d-line prospects ever seen at the Senior Bowl. He consistently stoned some of the best bull-rushers in the draft while continuing to show quick feet and polished technique. Spriggs came into the Senior Bowl as a day 2 pick, but has a legitimate chance to sneak into the bottom of the first round now.

3.) G/C Graham Glasgow, Michigan – Was arguably the best o-lineman at the Shrine game last week which earned him a spot in the Senior Bowl. Glasgow was just as good this week, holding his own against an impressive collection of defensive lineman. Most of the interior o-linemen really struggled all week, but Glasgow was one of the only interior blockers to hold his own and even win a handful of battles. Glasgow and Bama DT Jarron Reed has some epic wars, at least one ending up with Reed on his backside. Coming into the week Glasgow was considered a day 3 pick, but he has played his way into the day 2 mix.