I’ve been on the road for the last nine days watching some of the best college football players in the country between the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl, and I’ve put together an all-star team from each of the preeminent all-star games.
For full blurbs of every single player that participated in these events, check out the Diehard Draft Guide.
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ALLCITY ALL-SENIOR BOWL TEAM
QB: Garrett Nussmeier (LSU)
This was the easiest selection of the bunch, to be honest. Nussmeier wasn’t perfect, but he was the most consistent of the quarterback group in Mobile and also had some of the highest highs of the week as well, including a well-executed two-minute drill under the lights to end the week of practice. The medical evaluation will be big for his projection, but I do think he has the ability to go in the Top 100 picks, even after a lackluster senior season that saw him miss significant time.
RB: Mike Washington (Arkansas)
This is always a tough position to be in for an exercise like this. Part of me wanted to go with Indiana’s Kaelon Black; he looked explosive multiple times out in space and I wanted to give him extra credit for coming to the event just days after the National Title win. Putting the ball on the ground a couple of times, however, was not something I could easily brush under the rug. Oklahoma’s Jadyn Ott was phenomenal in pass protection drills but underwhelming as a pure runner.
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Washington combined a little bit of everything. He showed straight-line juice, and he made a couple of impressive lateral cuts. He caught some difficult passes and delivered some shots in 1-on-1s. He showed up in both phases throughout the week; that’s why he gets the nod for me here.
WR: Malachi Fields (Notre Dame), Reggie Virgil (Texas Tech), Josh Cameron (Baylor)
This was somewhat of a lackluster group, overall, but they certainly had their moments.
Fields had one of the best catches I’ve ever seen in over a decade-plus of coming to Mobile (check it out below) and was a consistent target underneath for Nussmeier through three practices.
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Virgil was extremely shifty all week long and has one of the best release packages here at the event. Pair that with his size and there’s a lot to like.
Cameron had a couple of really impressive grabs on the first day of practice and while he was relatively quiet since then, he was still a pretty tough cover because of his combination of size and speed.
TE: Nate Boerkircher (Texas A&M)
I was hoping to see more from NC State’s Justin Joly, but outside of drawing a handful of defensive penalties out in space, he couldn’t get anything going in the passing game. Boerkircher, however, did. The sixth-year senior had some impressive catches down the seam, ran good routes, and had some nice blocks as an in-line presence as well.
OT: Max Iheanachor (Arizona State), Dametrious Crownover (Texas A&M)
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It was a bit of a mixed bag for Iheanachor, but that was expected, as he’s still a raw and developing tackle with upside. That said, he showed what the best of him can look like, and a lot of people took notice. He wasn’t perfect, but I don’t think he needed to be in order to cement himself in the Top 50. Crownover wasn’t as much of a ‘wow’ athlete, but with his size, he’s quick enough to protect the corner and he got good movement in the run game during team drills as well.
G/C: Gennings Dunker (Iowa), Jeremiah Wright (Auburn), Jake Slaughter (Florida)
Dunker split his time between right guard and right tackle, and he had a good week overall.
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Wright spent his entire week at right guard, but I’ll say his highlights were the most impressive of maybe anyone in the trenches. He is so dang explosive for a guy his size, and when he lands those hands with full-extension? He’s tough to get by.
Slaughter was the best and most consistent center through the week and, honestly, exceeded my expectations.
EDGE: Derrick Moore (Michigan), TJ Parker (Clemson)
This was a really tough one to narrow down to just two. Gabe Jacas (Illinois) deserves mention; he brought intensity all week long. Romello Height (Texas Tech) supplied some outstanding flashes, as did Zion Young (Missouri).
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Moore had the viral clip of the week when he buried Miami’s Markel Bell on the opening day, but I was actually more impressed by his work in team drills. He was near-unblockable at times, especially in the run game. He was active all week. Side note, I give him credit for not just calling it a week after that viral clip on Tuesday, we’ve seen some do that in the past.
Parker didn’t take too many 1-on-1 reps, but he made his presence felt in team drills. Whether it was in the run game or the pass game, he was around the ball a lot. He squeezed down run lanes. He chased plays down from the backside. He harassed quarterbacks. He had a pretty good week.
DT: Lee Hunter (Texas Tech), Gracen Halton (Oklahoma)
It wasn’t always pretty for Hunter, but his light feet and balance at his size are really impressive. I wouldn’t say he dominated the whole week, but there were stretches where no one could block him.
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Halton was the same guy every day. He’s a ball full of furious energy, talking and bringing juice through the entire event. He looked good in 1-on-1 periods and also stood out in 11-on-11 as well.
LB: Kyle Louis (Pitt), Jacob Rodriguez (Texas Tech)
These guys were dynamos for the National Team defense, and I expect that to carry over into Saturday’s game. They’re built very differently, but both got their hands on a lot of footballs, were constantly impacting ball carriers, and made plays from sideline to sideline all week.
Louis is smaller and more of a dynamic athlete. He had multiple interceptions in one-on-one drills against running backs. If you’ve ever watched those drills, you know that’s a rare feat.
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Rodriguez is built a bit more traditionally, but he’s not lacking for athleticism and he also created turnovers.
CB: Davison Igbinosun (Ohio State), Chris Johnson (San Diego State), Colton Hood (Tennessee)
Flags were flying like oysters by the bay throughout the week, maybe a bit too much for my liking, so it was a bit tough to pick which corners had the best week. I’d put Igbinosun at the top, as he had some of the tightest coverage throughout and, despite his background as being penalty-prone, drew fewer flags than most.
Johnson is not as gifted as the Ohio State product, but he had a couple of really competitive reps where he recovered downfield and got the ball to the ground.
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After a short tier break, I’d then look at Hood. There were a number of reps where he was in solid position but just couldn’t locate and finish on the ball. However, you can’t make a play on the ball if you’re not in position to. So, for that, he gets the final nod from me.
S: Bud Clark (TCU), Skyler Thomas (Oregon State)
Clark was an Energizer Bunny out there as one of the engines of that feisty National Team defense. He played with a ton of fire, and he made some of the best plays on the ball that we saw all week. Thomas is a player that I did not know much about, but he’s a good-looking safety who had a couple of impressive reps in coverage as well.
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I want to give a shoutout to guys like Jalon Kilgore (South Carolina) and DeShon Singleton (Nebraska) as well, as they often got matched up against receivers in single coverage and didn’t blink, even though they gave up a number of catches in a tough spot.
ALLCITY ALL-SHRINE BOWL TEAM
QB: Mark Gronowski (Iowa)
This came down to Gronowski or Clemson’s Cade Klubnik. Both had pretty good weeks and, frankly, looked better up close than a couple of the quarterbacks in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. What gave Gronowski the edge for me was the overall command he showed throughout the week, engaging with coaches and teammates at every turn. It may seem like a little thing, but with it being that close between the two players, I give him the nod.
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His performance in the game – where he was named Offensive MVP – had no impact on this decision. HOWEVER, who doesn’t love a quarterback blocking for his ball carrier on a touchdown? Gronowski is really tough and competitive; you could see that in any game in his career, and this definitely represented that competitive fire that he has.
RB: Chip Trayanum (Toledo)
Trayanum looked the part up close, made plays in one-on-one periods in all three sessions, and was clearly the top pass protector in this group of running backs. Other guys were more explosive and had more chunk plays, but I thought Trayanum’s performance was the most well-rounded of anyone in attendance.
WR: Kaden Wetjen (Iowa), J. Michael Sturdivant (Florida), Noah Thomas (Georgia)
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Wetjen had one of the best weeks of any player at the Shrine Bowl, catching everything thrown his way and showing a bit more straight-line juice than I expected.
Sturdivant was steady as could be and made impressive grabs at all three levels of the field.
Thomas was one of the bigger receivers in attendance, didn’t have any glaring negatives through three practices and showed the ability to run routes better than most guys even remotely his size at the event.
TE: Lake McRee (USC)
McRee was really active as a pass catcher all week and he showed off his ability to win as a blocker on the perimeter as well. He caught basically everything thrown his way and looked pretty pro-ready.
OT: Aamil Wagner (Notre Dame), Nolan Rucci (Penn State)
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Both guys looked the part. Wagner showed off really good feet and has starting-caliber traits and is still young and developing. Rucci is a former five-star recruit, and I thought he showed flashes of why in Dallas. He’s a big kid who moves well at that size.
G/C: Brian Parker (Duke) | Febechi Nwaiwu (Oklahoma) | Caden Barnett (Wyoming)
I could almost break these three guys up into three separate categories.
Parker was the one with the most to gain, as he is a college tackle who showed that he had a level of competency at both center and guard, which he needs to do given his body type. He proved that in Dallas.
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Nwaiwu was arguably the most physically impressive, and he was also extremely involved with the quarterbacks in setting protections before the snap. He’s athletic and he has some power to him.
Barnett was the one I knew least about. He’s not as gifted as the other two, but he wants to just battle and scrap with you on every play. That’s a skillset that translates.
EDGE: Wesley Williams (Duke), Malachi Lawrence (UCF)
Again, I did not take the game into account for this team, but I did want to mention that my runner-up here was Wisconsin’s Mason Reiger, who had three sacks in the game and was named the Defensive MVP. I should note, however, that two of those sacks were set up by Williams. I thought the Duke product was disruptive all week and just came off like a future pro.
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Lawrence’s hands are really good and he gave some of those offensive tackles all they could handle all weekend long.
DT: Tyler Onyedim (Texas A&M), James Thompson (Illinois)
There were a few guys I could have selected here. Onyedim was one of the four or five best players on the field throughout the week at The Star, and his disruptive play showed up in both phases. He looked like he could be one of the first players drafted from the game.
Similarly, Thompson made numerous plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage, and he looked downright unblockable at times in 1-on-1 drills.
LB: Jaden Dugger (Louisiana), Eric Gentry (USC)
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Dugger is going to be a ‘riser’, because he has rare size and he’s going to test really well in a few weeks at the Combine. Pair that with what I saw at the Shrine Bowl? He could go on Day 2.
Gentry is a truly unique body type and would be an outlier if he were to hit in the league. I have my doubts about his staying power, but there’s no denying that he had one of the best weeks of practice of any defensive player.
CB: Avery Smith (Toledo), Ceyair Wright (Nebraska)
I would go as far as to say that this was the worst group of cornerbacks I’ve seen at a Shrine Bowl in my decade-plus attending the event. No one really grabbed me with their performances over the course of the week. Of the group, I thought Smith and Wright showed the most fire and competitiveness. Wright will apparently be playing in the Senior Bowl as a late injury replacement. Both players are a bit undersized and will get by with toughness and instincts at the position.
S: Cole Wisniewski (Texas Tech), Ahmad Moses (SMU)
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These two guys couldn’t be more different structurally. Wisniewski is a throwback strong safety body type; he’s tall, long and bulked up. He did a great job matching with tight ends all weekend long and he’s reliable in the run game as well.
Moses, on the other hand, is extremely short, but he makes up for it with play personality. He’s a tough, competitive safety with quickness to match players in a short area and enough range to make plays off the hash. He’s a fun player.
