Reese’s Senior Bowl North Team Defensive Notes

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is now in the books as NFL Draft talent evaluators will now go back to their draft boards with a better understanding of this year’s draft class. After 3 long days of practice and the conclusion of the game let’s take a look at some of the North’s defensive players who caught my eye for better or worse.

1. Miles Killebrew (Southern Utah) Safety

The first thing that catches your eye with Killebrew is he lays the broomstick. This guy is hard hitter that will prevent people from coming over the middle on this guy. The concerning part is the small school element especially at the safety position where the game’s top safeties all come from power five schools. Killebrew could have an impact in sub packages which will keep him on the field on all three downs.

2. Tyler Matakevich (Temple) Linebacker

He is not the fastest linebacker, he isn’t the strongest linebacker, but what I do know is he always finds his way to the football. Matekevich seemed to make virtually every tackle during the game showing his rare instincts. The problem for him at the next level will be in coverage. One play I can recall was his inability to cover Alabama’s Kenyan Drake out of the backfield on a checkdown route. Again his 40 time will prove crucial to his stock.

3. Matt Ioannidis (Temple) Defensive Tackle

One of the biggest themes to the week of practice at the Reese’s Senior Bowl was the dominant defensive line play. Ioannidis was one of the players who earned a bit of money this week. Realistically there are 5 defensive tackles from the North team alone that could find themselves picked in the top two rounds. While a number of defensive tackles stood out Ioannidis surprised me as a player who did not stand down from the higher-level competition. He reminds me of Tyrone Crawford of the Dallas Cowboys.

4. Adolphus Washington (Ohio State) Defensive Tackle

Surprise its defensive tackle. Sheldon Day, Vernon Butler, and Austin Johnson were the others who also had great weeks. With Washington the question I had on him was his motor often times taking plays off. The question might have been answered after having a disruptive week of practice and dominant Reese’s Senior Bowl game performance. Look for a number of defensive tackles to be picked early and often this year.