If its January … And all the bowls – but one – are done, a young football player’s fancy naturally turns to the post-season all-star games. In fact, the Senior Bowl, the gold standard for the star games will be played one month today in Mobile as we speak. And while the Senior Bowl roster is still far from complete, they have announced commitments from a number of top prospects including three leading QBs Bo Nix of Oregon, Joe Milton of Tennessee, Spencer Rattler of South Carolina and Tulane’s Michael Pratt. The Senior Bowl should also feature a really tantalizing group of OTs with Robert Morgan of Arizona, Washington’s Troy Fantanu and Tailese Fuaga of Oregon State already committed. The top prospect to have committed to date, though, is UCLA DE Laiatu Latu, who has top 10 potential. Meanwhile, other Senior Bowl commits include WRs Johnny Wilson of Florida State and North Carolina’s Tez Walker, Kansas State OG Cooper Beebe, Georgia C Sedric Van Pran, Penn State DE Adisa Isaac, Texas NT T’Vondre Sweat and Missouri CB Kris Abrams-Draine. The Senior Bowl is also a venue where several somewhat unheralded prospects from smaller programs get a chance to test themselves against the ‘big boys’ and this year’s crop of commits include Western Michigan DE Marshawn Freeland, New Hampshire RB Dylan Laube and OLB Jalyx Hunt from tiny Houston Christian. Of course, it should be noted that just because a player has committed to play in the Senior Bowl does not mean they’ll actually show up in Mobile as some always drop out because of injury or on the advice of their agent.
Meanwhile, the East-West Shrine game will be played on Thursday evening February 1st in Frisco, Texas. Players who have committed to the Shrine game include QBs Devin Leary of Kentucky, Kedon Slovis of BYU, and Western Kentucky’s Austin Reed; RBs Rasheen Ali of Marshall and South Dakota State’s Isaiah Davis; Virginia WR Malik Washington; Boston College OG Christian Mahogany; Arkansas C Beaux Limmer; Clemson DE Xavier Thomas; Texas A&M LB Edge Cooper; CB Beanie Bishop of West Virginia; and Air Force S Trey Taylor. Unfortunately, the NFLPA game will not be played this year ending its run. The all-star game schedule actually kicks off with the Hula Bowl on January 13th in Orlando, although they have yet to announce their roster, while the HBCU Legacy Bowl will be played in New Orleans on February 24th.
