Tide’s Smith passes, other notes from Senior Bowl weigh-in

January 26, 2021

Tide’s Smith passes, other notes from Senior Bowl weigh-in … The press was not invited to attend the player weigh-ins at the Senior Bowl in Mobile earlier because of concerns related to the pandemic. As a result, most observations had to be made from afar. And the most interesting tidbit out of today’s weigh-in session was the fact that Alabama WR DeVonta Smith, this year’s Heisman trophy winner who also appears to be the highest rated prospect at this week’s Senior Bowl declined to get measured. Instead, he claims he’ll be measured and weighed at Alabama’s pro day later this year. In fact, long-time Senior Bowl attendees couldn’t recall a previous instance in which a prospect chose not to get measured and weighed. It is also interesting from Smith’s perspective in that the only real knock on his game is that he’s a tad on the spindly size, especially through the legs. as such, there will likely be some speculation that Smith is somewhat lighter than the 175 listed in the UA program. For the record, though, Smith did register good sized hands for a receiver at around 9.5 inches, although he also has somewhat short arms at 31.5″.

In fact, it appeared short arms was something of a theme at today’s measurement session. Among the top WRs other than Smith, Kadarius Toney of Florida, a top 20 prospect in his own right, had just 30.5 inch arms, while Clemson’s Amari Rodgers, a bigger receiver with the later second-day potential, had barely 30-inch arms, although both also had decent sized hands in the 9.5-inch range. Meanwhile, Central Florida CB Aaron Robinson, arguably the top-rated corner in Mobile this week, also measured in with just 30-inch arms. In fact, maybe the most impressive ‘receiver’ at today’s weigh-in may have been Boston College TE Hunter Long, a 6-5, 255-pounder with almost 34″ arms.

Same story to a degree among the DEs and edge rushers. It’s not a total disqualifier but NFL teams usually like their DE ER prospects to have arms in at least the 33-34 inch range to give them an edge keeping big offensive linemen off their pads. However, a number of reasonably highly rated DE/ERs including Wake Forest’s Carlos Basham, Patrick Jones of Pitt, Miami’s Quincy Roche, Jonathan Cooper of Ohio State, and Daelin Hayes of Notre Dame all registered arm lengths in the 32 inch range earlier today.

At the same time, a number of DE/OLB/ERs did manage to pass the proverbial eye test today. Ade Ogundeji of Notre Dame, for example, measured in at 6-4.5, 255 with 35-inch plus arms, while Osa Odighizuwa impressed at 6-2, 280 with 34-inch plus arms and huge, almost 11-inch mitts. Underrated Houston DE Payton Turner also looked great in shorts measuring at 6-5, 270 with 35-inch arms and 10-plus inch hands. Oregon State OLB Rashed Hamilcar also looked impressive at 6-3, 255 with 34-inch arms as did rangy Charles Snowden of Virginia who measured in at 6-6 with 34-inch arms although he could add a little weight at just 232 pounds. Same for Jordan Smith of UAB, another really long OLB at 6-6, 255 with 33.5″ arms.

However, the guy who maybe stole the show today was relatively unheralded Florida State DE/LB Janarius Robinson, who was never super productive with the ‘Noles, but who certainly looked the part today measuring in at 6-5, 266 with almost 36-inch arms and 11-inch hands. Meanwhile, Texas DT Ta’quon Graham also looked the part at 6-3, 290 with 35-inch arms and 10.5-inch hands, while Florida State DT Marvin Wilson, a one-time top ten prospect who has slipped badly this year, may have stopped the bleeding for a while as he also looked the part at 6-3.5, 320 with 33-inch arms and 10-inch hands.

Big group of offensive linemen in Mobile this week and for the most part the top guys were able to check off the required boxes. Alex Leatherwood of Alabama, for example, measured in at a legit 6-5, 312 with 34.5’ arms. There had been some concerns that Leatherwood might actually be closer to 6-4 which might have lowered his potential value at OT. Tennessee G/T Trey Smith, who likely will kick inside at the next level, also looked the part measuring in at 6-5, 331 with 34″ arms and 10″ hands. And everyone wanted to find out a little bit more about East Carolina OT D’anta Smith, who was a little light in the caboose at ‘just’ 295 pounds, but had the most impressive length of any of the OL tested today as he checked in with 35-plus inch arms and 10″ hands. On the other hand, pro scouts were probably a little disappointed that OTs Adrian Ealy of Oklahoma and Iowa’s Alaric Jackson only measured 32.5″ in the arms. Same for another former Sooner C Creed Humphrey whose arms were under 32-inches.