The annual Senior Bowl week provided a platform for some of the nation’s best college football players to boost their NFL Draft stock. The events in Mobile, Ala., took place from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 this year, ending with a nationally televised showcase game.
The Senior Bowl has been successful in recent years when it comes to turning prospects into draftees. In the past three drafts, 292 Senior Bowl participants have been selected. That accounts for about 38 percent of all draftees during that span.
Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy has been in the role since June 2018. Prior to that, Nagy was on NFL scouting staffs for 18 years. During those years, Nagy was a part of six staffs that appeared in the Super Bowl, including four champions (Packers in Super Bowl XXXI, Patriots XXXVIII and XXXIX and Seahawks XLVIII).
Nagy praised the work that Michael Locksley has done as the head coach at Maryland when he joined Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 23. Three Terps earned trips to the Senior Bowl this year: cornerback Jakorian Bennett, offensive tackle Jaelyn Duncan and kicker Chad Ryland.
The 5-foot-11, 191-pound Ryland is coming off a great season for the Terps as a graduate transfer from Eastern Michigan. He made 19 of 23 field goals and 13 of 14 attempts inside of 50 yards.
“He’s one of those guys you can hear it,” Nagy said. “… When Chad puts his foot into it, there is a different sound than some of those other guys.”
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Bennett won MVP of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in December, the final game of his college career. He recorded four interceptions and 29 pass breakups throughout his career at Maryland. Bennett was also an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection in 2021 and 2022.
“The biggest thing with Jakorian is when he’s in position to make a play on the ball, he makes a play on the ball,” Nagy said. “It’s hard to teach guys how to finish and he’s got that instinctively. I think he’s probably going to be in that third-round area.”
The 6-foot-6, 320-pound Duncan made 39 starts throughout five seasons at Maryland, earning All-Big Ten honorable mention selections in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“If you’re looking at a pure last pass-protecting left tackle in this draft, there are only going to be a couple guys that might go higher than Jaelyn Duncan because it’s just hard to find guys that move their feet that easily,” Nagy said.
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens have a few positions of need this offseason, and fans have been pleading for pass-catching help for quite some time. Nagy talked about some of the receiver prospects this year who impressed him and other members of the Senior Bowl staff.
Michael Wilson, Stanford (6-foot-2, 209 pounds): “He is a high, high character guy, and that showed when he while he was in Mobile. He was one of my favorite guys we’ve had down here. A total pro.”
Jayden Reed, Michigan State (6-foot, 190 pounds): “He’s dynamic with the ball in his hands, really fast. All the GPS stuff came off really fast for Jayden, and he looks like a guy that’s going to start in the slot really early in his career.”
Dontayvion Wicks, Virginia (6-foot-2, 210 pounds): “He’s a really high-end athlete for a bigger receiver, and you saw that in a lot of the double move stuff. This guy can accelerate and decelerate.”
Nagy was then asked about cornerbacks who helped themselves during the week. He said that South Carolina’s Darius Rush (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) was the biggest mover. Nagy said that scouts often ask bigger corners such as Rush “if they can run or not,” and Rush “answered that, resoundingly.”
“He was the fastest guy at this year’s Senior Bowl, which puts him up with like Tariq Woolen last year, Terry McLaurin a couple years before that,” Nagy said.
Rush clocked in at 21.6 mph on the Zebra MotionWorks real-time player tracker, according to Nagy. Rush was voted Defensive Back of the Week by his team at the Senior Bowl.
Nagy also pointed out that this year’s cornerback class has a lot of other prospects who are big physically. Virginia’s Anthony Johnson, Kansas State’s Julius Brents and Miami’s Tyrique Stevenson were other names mentioned.
One more defensive back was highlighted by Nagy in Illinois safety Sydney Brown. Nagy believes his name has flown under the radar, but that may soon change.
“Sydney Brown’s a guy that I think is going to be a starting NFL safety,” Nagy said. “I think the narrative on Sydney was that he was more of a box safety coming into the year. And then he goes out and has six interceptions this year. And then you get him in Senior Bowl practices in a lot of man coverage stuff and he was really good, better than some of the corners. … I mean, he’s a guy that could come in and maybe play right away. He definitely helped himself as much as anyone on the defensive side of the ball during the week.”
For more from Nagy, listen to the full interview here:
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