2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl: National Team Day 1 Winners, Losers
For the second year in a row, Vendetta Sports Media has boots on the ground in Mobile, Ala., at the Reese’s Senior Bowl. It is a one-man operation here in Mobile, and I will do my best to bring you as much information as I can from the sidelines of Hancock Whitney Stadium. Trey will be releasing his notes immediately following each practice, which you can find today’s National team notes here.
The Senior Bowl opened up with the National side first. All eyes were on this side as it was LOADED with talent all over the place, as you can tell my how many winners I am going to list. There is a lot to talk about with this group and I’ll do my best to bring the information to you.
Winner: The Receiver Group
We are going to break this down by the three major winners out of this loaded receiver group on the National side:
The leading guy for me was North Carolina’s Devontez Walker. I was fairly high on Walker going into the Senior Bowl, and watching him live confirmed my beliefs that he is going to be a difference-maker at the next level. He had nice, crisp routes all day and made some really nice contested catches. I am going to link two videos below of him going against, and winning, two routes against DB’s that I like quite a bit.
Next up out of the receivers is Malachi Corley out of Western Michigan, who’s another one of my guys that I had penciled in on my list of guys to watch, and I was not disappointed. He showed physicality at the line of scrimmage, good release with solid footwork off the line, and did a great job creating separation. He is a menace at the line and that will translate well to the next level.
Lastly, I want to mention Roman Wilson. I have to admit, while I wasn’t necessarily *down* on Wilson coming into Senior Bowl week, I also did not have him very high on my list. However, he showed a lot today. In the video below, he showed off impressive speed to burn past his man down the middle of the field. The footwork was there, fluid hips to sink low into cuts. Wilson proved some doubters wrong today in Mobile.
Loser: Laiatu Latu
Maybe it is a bit of an overreaction, but I don’t see it … at least not live in person. I watched UCLA’s Laiatu Latu get stood up on more than one occasion, even thrown to the ground (video below), in the one-on-ones, but I will say he did have two “wow” moments, beating BYU’s Kingsley Suamatia soundly in a rep (also below). It just feels like all he wants to do is rush the passer and nothing else. The motor didn’t feel like it was always on, and that is going to have to be fixed over the next two days.
Winner: Rasheen Ali
Did I just find a new crush? Marshall’s Rasheen Ali did a really great job today, leading the group of running backs today at the Senior Bowl. I think he could have a similar rise like Tyjae Spears did last year. Every time Ali touched the ball, it felt like something was about to happen. He broke open a couple of runs through the middle for massive gains, which was great to see. Great knees to get low, change of direction is where you want it and the vision displayed below has to get you excited. Ali gets a star.
Loser: Kalen King
I bet whoever had Penn State’s Kalen King as their CB1 going into the year is kicking themselves right about now. One of the bigger losers of the day, I would say, and it got really bad late. He was matched up twice against North Carolina’s Tez Walker and Walker burned him twice. The press just isn’t aggressive enough and I am not sure he has the acceleration to catch up if he gets burned deep off the line.
Winner: Teams Needing OL Help
Boy, did the OL show up today … I won’t go into as much detail as I did with the receivers, but there are four names I have multiple pluses next to. Suamatia, mentioned above, put on a clinic today, as well as Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga. These two were constantly winning matchups against their EDGE. Inside, I loved what I saw from Florida’s Kingsley Eguakun. Eguakun might not have a similar hype train as O’Cyrus Torrence had at last year’s Senior Bowl, but he is going to move up the boards for sure. Great feet, a fantastic ass (pause) and never feels like he’s too upright.
I am saying it now, don’t be shocked if Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson gets taken in the first round. I thought he was near exceptional today. More on him to come for sure.
Loser: QB Evaluators
I mentioned it in my American Team post, which you can find here, but the QBs weren’t allowed to really push the ball down the field here either. Did both coaching staffs come to an agreement to just not highlight the cannons they have on display at the Senior Bowl? We started the day similar to how we ended, just a lot of out routes and screens. I really hope over the next two days we see the reigns get loosened and these guys can let it rip here at the Senior Bowl.
Honorable Mention:
The left side of my body got COOKED today. Pencil me as a loser today for not remembering to bring sunscreen. Rookie mistake.
I was in line for almost an hour just to get my credentials this morning at the stadium. One window open the majority of the time. Get up to the window, they don’t have roster sheets printed. Do with that information as you will, but we will file this situation under loser as well.
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