All-Senior Bowl standouts: Naming first and second-team performers
After three days of practice at the Reese's Senior Bowl, here are NFL Draft prospects who made the biggest statement in Mobile, Alabama
We are now through the 2025 NFL Draft all-star game circuit, with just the actual Reese’s Senior Bowl game to be played.
I was at the East-West Shrine Bowl and was able to cover all four practices live in Denton, Texas. However, I was not able to make the trip over to Mobile, Alabama for the Reese’s Senior Bowl. It’s a great thing that the practice tape is available virtually as I consumed all six practices between the two teams.
It was a star-studded affair with a ton of players to choose from. However, taking it a bit deeper here, let’s talk about the cream of the crop. Just as I did for the week at the Shrine Bowl, I’ve named my first-team and second-team All-Senior Bowl standouts.
Who made the most money this week in Mobile? Let’s talk about it.
QB: Tyler Shough, Louisville
The quarterback play in Mobile has been a bit rough, but Louisville’s Tyler Shough was the best. He was the most decisive passer in 7-on-7 and team drills. He has a flexible arm to throw from a multitude of arm angles and has plenty of juice in his arm. His health has been an issue, but it’s easy to see why Shough (however long ago it was) was a four-star recruit.
RB: LeQuint Allen, Syracuse
There was not a more natural pass catcher out of the backfield in drills than Syracuse’s LeQuint Allen. This shouldn’t be shocking for a back who caught 64 passes this season for the Orange. He has some real burst and patient vision out of the backfield. Don’t take my word for it, take it from former 2,000-yard rusher Chris Johnson.
WR: Maryland’s Tai Felton and Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel
In a wide receiver group where everyone wanted to dance around off the line of scrimmage, Maryland’s Tai Felton and Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel wasted no time getting in and out of breaks. Noel especially blew me away with his ability to cut a rug at the top of his routes.
Felton leveraged his routes extremely well, leaning pressure into the defensive back before nudging away suddenly at the top of his routes. He had a dominant week.
TE: Elijah Arroyo, Miami
In one of the most fun tight end classes in recent memory, Miami’s Elijah Arroyo is demanding his name be included in the conversation. He may not have overwhelming explosiveness, but he is a refined and savvy route runner who is working over the top and separating from defensive backs with consistency. It’s time to turn on his tape and have some fun.
OT: NC State’s Anthony Belton and Oregon’s Josh Conerly Jr.
Josh Conerly Jr. had the viral rep where Mike Green went through his chest, but he had an otherwise strong week. There were a few oversetting issues to correct, but he remains an elite athlete with elite length. Conerly is getting better at using that length to keep pass rushers out of his frame as he has the potential to be the first offensive tackle off the board in April.
Belton will have some more questions to answer, specifically why his tape at North Carolina State did not look like this. He has elite size and the length to match, and he has the requisite foot speed to hang with speed off the edge. While this will force many to go back to his tape, as it should, why doesn’t it look like his Senior Bowl body of work?
OG: NDSU’s Grey Zabel and LSU’s Miles Frazier
The best player in Mobile, Alabama may have just been North Dakota State’s Grey Zabel. He put on a show both in one-on-ones and in team settings. Playing along the interior after a career at left tackle for the Bison, Zabel could not be displaced. He played with firm hands and a stellar anchor to win just about every rep.
LSU’s Miles Frazier is a bit of a pleasant surprise. While his week was a bit up and down, the highs that Frazier put out there were extremely high quality. And he was doing it from both guard and right tackle throughout the week.
OC: Jonah Monheim, USC
Another player whose tape is up and down after he moved to center at USC (he played left tackle with 30-inch arms before that) is Jonah Monheim. However, he put out some quality tape during three days of practice at the Senior Bowl, most impressively anchoring well and getting underneath interior pass rushers. Perhaps experience at center is what Monheim needs more than anything else.
EDGE: Marshall’s Mike Green and Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart
This one is a no-brainer, and both players tapped out of practice a day early after showing all they needed to show through two days. Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart and Marshall’s Mike Green put on a show. It’s why both will be first round picks in about three months from now.
Stewart put on his freakish explosiveness and flexibility at 281 pounds on full display, while Green put his full toolbelt of pass rush planning to work. A dominant showing from these two.
DT: VT’s Aeneas Peebles and Toledo’s Darius Alexander
This was a fun group of interior pass rushers, but Virginia Tech’s Aeneas Peebles and Toledo’s Darius Alexander stood out the most. Peebles is an electric gap shooter who was constantly acting as a gnat in 11-on-11 drills, too slippery for interior blockers to get their hands attached to. Alexander was not only heavy-handed and nuanced from the interior, but they kept kicking him out wider and he kept winning, even off the edge.
LB: Oregon’s Jeffrey Bassa and Georgia’s Smael Mondon
Linebackers are hard to evaluate at all-star events because, well, there is no tackling. So you are stuck looking at 11-on-11s and deciding for yourself how the player’s trigger looked and if they took the right angle to the ball carrier. You can find some nice 7-on-7 reps as well with linebackers rotating out, finding backside overs, and carrying the seam.
The two linebackers who popped the most this week in this regard were Oregon’s Jeffrey Bassa and Georgia’s Smael Mondon. It’s not a surprise that two of the most athletic linebackers in the class rose to the occasion in this setting, but their tape each shows a raw linebacker.
However, the tools are there to mold, as both players will test off the charts at the combine.
CB: WKU’s Upton Stout, UCF’s Mac McWilliams, and Louisville’s Quincy Riley
What a fun, dominant group of cornerbacks at the Reese’s Senior Bowl this year. It was difficult to choose just three. However, Louisville’s Quincy Riley was not a tough addition to the list. He was fluid, sharp, and dominant the whole week. He might not have lost a rep over the last two days of practice.
Western Kentucky’s Upton Stout was one of my favorite players throughout the week as well, putting on a show in one-on-ones despite standing at just 5-foot-8. UCF’s Mac McWilliams rounds out the list here, showing great eyes to stay glued to the hip and awesome ability to play through the hands at the catchpoint.
S: Hunter Wohler, Wisconsin
I felt bad for Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler on Day 2. He was in about as good of coverage on opposing tight ends in off-man that you could ask him to be in, but the tight ends kept making unreal tight window grabs on him. That turned around on his last rep when he was able to punch the ball out after a perfectly timed trigger on Clemson tight end Jake Briningstool.
Day 3 proved to be just as strong for Wohler in one-on-ones. Again, I want to see my safeties tackle and that’s not something we are going to get in this setting. Wohler’s tape does that talking in that regard, however, with 58 stop tackles over the last two seasons for the Badgers.
First Team All-Senior Bowl:
QB: Tyler Shough, Louisville
RB: LeQuint Allen, Syracuse
WR: Jaylin Noel, Iowa State
WR: Tai Felton, Maryland
TE: Elijah Arroyo, Miami
OT: Anthony Belton, North Carolina State
OT: Josh Conerly, Oregon
OG: Grey Zabel, North Dakota State
OG: Miles Frazier, LSU
OC: Jonah Monheim, USC
EDGE: Shemar Stewart, Texas A&M
EDGE: Mike Green, Marshall
DT: Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech
DT: Darius Alexander, Toledo
LB: Jeffrey Bassa, Oregon
LB: Smael Mondon, Georgia
CB: Upton Stout, Western Kentucky
CB: Quincy Riley, Louisville
CB: Mac McWilliams, UCF
S: Hunter Wohler, Wisconsin
Second Team All-Senior Bowl:
QB: Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
RB: Damien Martinez, Miami
WR: Jack Bech, TCU
WR: Jalen Royals, Utah State
TE: Mason Taylor, LSU
OT: Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota
OT: Marcus Mbow, Purdue
OG: Jalen Rivers, Miami
OG: Emery Jones, LSU
OC: Willie Lampkin, North Carolina
EDGE: Jared Ivey, Ole Miss
EDGE: David Walker, Central Arkansas
DT: Walter Nolen, Ole Miss
DT: Jamaree Caldwell, Oregon
LB: Karene Reid, Utah
LB: Jack Kiser, Notre Dame
CB: Azareye’h Thomas, Florida State
CB: Bilhal Kone, Western Kentucky
CB: Jacob Parrish, Kansas State
S: Dan Jackson, Georgia
Several draft sites have noted how dominant Shemar Stewart was no one has addressed why his college stats were nothing special. Thought?