Senior Bowl standouts on Day 1: The offense
MOBILE, Alabama — Day one in every of Reese’s Senior Bowl observe is formally within the books!
We’ve watched these gamers all through the season, and we’ve dug into the movie, however now we get to see these gamers in individual and up in opposition to among the finest expertise within the nation.
As they are saying, “The Draft Begins in Cellular.”
So, let’s dive in and see which offensive prospects impressed us on the primary day of observe and who’s making their inventory rise earlier than the NFL Draft.
Tyson Bagent, QB, Shepard College
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Out of the seven quarterbacks invited to the senior bowl this yr, Tyson Bagent was the one one throwing with one thing to show.
He stayed poised within the pocket, delivered darts in site visitors whereas beneath strain and positioned his passes extremely effectively.
Within the 2022 season, Bagent had 4,580 passing yards with 41 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He was awarded the 2022 AP Division II All-American Second Workforce, 2022 PSAC East Offensive Participant of the 12 months, and 2022 AFCA Division II Coaches’ All-American First Workforce.
Tyjae Spears, RB, Tulane
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Tyjae Spears performs like he’s shot out of a cannon each time he touches the ball. At present, he was the most effective operating backs on the sphere. He was taking clear handoffs, not hesitating when discovering his lanes up the center, and he caught display passes within the open discipline with a fluid movement.
Spears is a five-foot-9, 204-pound again who ended his 2022 season with 1,581 speeding yards, 19 touchdowns, 6.9 yards per carry. Over his final 5 video games of the season, he rushed for over 100+ yards in 4 of them.
Nathaniel “Tank” Dell, WR, Houston
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Top-of-the-line receivers of the day was Tank Dell. Together with his pace burst popping out of his launch and sudden lateral actions all through his routes, defenders weren’t coming near him. He didn’t permit a single contested catch due to the stop-and-go pace popping out of his breaks.
Dell defines explosiveness!
The one draw back is his dimension. As he stands at five-foot-8, his dimension may very well be a problem on the subsequent stage. Some say he’s the following Tutu Atwell, however he appears to have higher expertise.
Dell ended the 2022 season with 1,398 receiving yards, 17 touchdowns and had six video games of 100+ receiving yards. Regardless of his small stature, anticipate his inventory to rise within the coming days.
Puka Nacua, WR, BYU
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Certainly one of my favourite receivers of the day was Puka Nacua. All all through the day he was making contested catches look simple, but in addition displaying actually good effort when passes have been inaccurate.
Within the second clip under, Nacua makes a sideline catch look simple. On a comeback route with a defender is closing-in, Nacua is ready to get each ft in whereas falling out of bounds.
Regardless of if the move was a brief route in site visitors, a mesh route over the center, or a sideline move, Nacua was securing it.
Nacua had a down yr in 2022 from 2021, going from 805 to 625 receiving yards. Together with his six-foot-2 body and stable arms, anticipate groups to maneuver him up the draft board if he continues to point out out over the following couple days.
Brayden Willis, TE/FB, Oklahoma
There weren’t many tight ends who actually blew anybody away on day one, however Willis confirmed some nice catching throughout the one-on-ones and lead blocking on some run performs.
Within the clip under, the defender was enjoying nice blanket protection, but Willis was nonetheless in a position to pull it in.
Then on the most effective runs of the day by Spears, Willis was the one main the best way for him.
Within the 2022 season, Willis had 456 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns on solely 35 receptions. In 2021 he was an Tutorial All-Large 12 second workforce nominee and was one in every of three 2022 recipients of program’s coveted Don Key Award (excellence on and off the sphere).