Biggest Winners/Losers from the 2023 Senior Bowl
Practices have officially wrapped up in Mobile, Alabama, the site of the Reese’s Senior Bowl. The players will have an off-day Friday then the National/American Game on Saturday. With three days of practice under our belt, we should hand out some winners’ and losers’ grades on the prospects. If you want to read about the practices, click the link to Trey’s author page where he has all three days for both teams. Marc and I are in Mobile all week, so we have had a close eye on everything going on.
Winners
Tyjae Spears
My biggest winner from this week here at the Senior Bowl is Tyjae Spears. During my research of these players coming into the week, he is a guy I did not hear about and watched very little tape on. Boy was that a mistake.
This dude is electric. He has got burst out of the backfield, great knees and always seems to make a big play. His game speed live is something to watch. Listening to him speak yesterday at the media breakfast he seems like a stand-up dude. Sign me up.
Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson put on a clinic during the Senior Bowl this week. He came out of the gates hot during day one of practices and never took his foot off the gas. His ability to always find the ball and secure the grab was the first thing I noticed. Great routes, good feet. The quarterback play this week was not awesome, but he made the most of it.
Jayden Reed
Another huge winner in this receiver group. Reed ran extremely well, and also showed better-than-expected hands and precise route running. Got more love than Wilson did this week. He has the juice you are looking for from a slot receiver. His top-end speed makes him very intriguing.
OL Players
I am going to leave the in-depth analysis to Marc for the offensive line, but I will quickly list some notes on guys who I thought had a great week.
Cody Mauch: I think I am back around on Mauch. I was leaning out after day one but really seemed to settle in.
Emil Ekiyor Jr.: Marc said he showed out the last two days, and I would agree. From what I saw, he played a lot of center and looked really sharp there. Potentially a new home?
O’Cyrus Torrence: Sign me up. I want him on my team. I NEED him on my team. Complete people mover.
*Dawand Jones would have made this list but he only participated in one day of practices.*
Marte Mapu
The Senior Bowl was a fantastic showing for Marte Mapu. The former safety converted linebacker from Sacramento State turned heads all week, especially on days two and three. He runs downhill constantly, a more than willing tackler in the box but also showed sideline-to-sideline speed in pass coverage. A name to keep an eye on.
Keion White
Speed for days. A name that was talked about a lot this week in Mobile. I had written his name down quite a bit through the first two days, not as much on the third.
Bryce Baringer
Yes, we scout punters here too. Baringer was hitting NUKES all week. I lost count of how many punts he had going well over 60 yards in the air. Talk of the town after the first day, specifically.
Honorable Mentions: Will McDonald, Ivan Pace Jr., Daiyan Henley, Kyu Blu Kelly, Derick Hall, Byron Young (Tennessee), Darius Rush, Cam Jones
Losers
Chase Brown
At one point, I had messaged slack and said that he was tanking his draft stock. Nail on the head. This dude cannot catch whatsoever. Fumble machine as well. He may have racked up a lot of yards while at Illinois, but that’s about it. No one can come away from this week of practices at the Senior Bowl and be confident in his abilities.
Andre Carter
I was already pretty out on Carter before the week started, but this week solidified my stance on it. I am out for sure. Zero consistency. One nice play would be followed by two bad ones. Zero speed, no power, no thank you.
Tyson Bagent
Good Lord, does this kid stink. Trey said that McShay thought he had a stellar day one. What on earth was he watching? His ONLY redeeming quality is that he has *some* zip on his ball. Zero accuracy. Dropped multiple snaps, threw ducks all week. Completely undraftable.
Average Performances
Christopher Smith
Trey thinks I am being too hard on Chris Smith out of Georgia. I saw a lot of good but a fair amount of bad, which is disappointing because he was a player I was super high on coming into the week. He is a zone-type player, so my knocks on him coming from when he was playing man might not be totally justified. I just expected a lot more. Here is a play in man where he played it pretty well, just got beat by a great route and throw.
Kenny McIntosh
These Georgia boys didn’t really step up this week. McIntosh had a chance to really break out in a running back group that wasn’t stellar. Instead, he squabbled that chance and fell into the middle of the pack. Good hands out of the backfield but that was his biggest strength, which we already knew.
There is still one last chance for these players to showcase their talents in Mobile. The National/American game is this Saturday, and I am sure most if not all of these players will be cycled in and out during it. Marc and I will be at the game as well, so be sure to keep an eye out on the socials for live updates.
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