Senior Bowl practices set to start … The real work at the Senior Bowl gets underway later today with the first of three days of full-pad practices. The American team will practice at 12:30 PM ET this afternoon while the National team will go at 3 PM ET. And those that have been around for awhile know that the NFL puts a whole lot more stock in what happens during the practice sessions than during the actual game. Indeed, its legend at the Senior Bowl that NFL people can’t get out of Mobile any faster after the final practice on Thursday. Unfortunately, though, for those of us not in Mobile, the NFL Network’s coverage appears likely to be spotty at best. The network will have a Senior Bowl wrap up at 8 PM ET on Tuesday and Wednesday and 5 AM ET on Friday morning; they will also reportedly have live coverage on NFL+ but that is available only via subscription (and does not appear to be available in Canada.) We will also see later today whether any players have withdrawn from the Senior Bowl. So far we know that Texas Tech DE Tyree Wilson and Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon, who had originally been on the roster are no longer listed, while a couple of former Alabama players – S Jordan Battle and LB Henry To’oTo’o – have opted to withdraw.
Meanwhile, the East-West Shrine game practices wrap-up today in Las Vegas with that game scheduled for Thursday evening. Again, without any live coverage its hard to get a feel for how those sessions are going, but reports out of Vegas seem to indicate that UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson has had a strong week of practice as has Boston College WR Zay Flowers, the highest-rated player at the Shrine game. And one small-school player who has created quite a buzz is Stephen F Austin DE BJ Thompson, a rangy (6-5, 240) edge rusher who has been unblockable at times in Vegas. Minnesota CB Terrell Smith also shows up in most of the dispatches from the Shrine game.
