Senior Bowl Notebook: Explosive Options Aplenty for Colts

With the week of Senior Bowl practices now complete, Jake Arthur and Shaad McGinnis empty their notebooks.

SI Editorial | Feb 3, 2024

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Indianapolis Colts

For the fanbases and media currently covering 30 of the 32 teams in the NFL, the focus is now on the offseason.

Rather than worrying about the Super Bowl, all offseason-observing eyes on on the Senior Bowl. The draft truly does start in Mobile, Alabama.

With some of the best draft-eligible college football talent in the country descending upon Hancock Whitney Stadium, Horseshoe Huddle's Jake Arthur and Rashaad McGinnis were in attendance all week to take in practice. HH now brings you their most important notes from the week.

OFFENSE

QUARTERBACK

Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

This was a much more appealing group of quarterbacks than last year, but the performance was somewhat underwhelming. The main prospects, Oregon's Bo Nix, Washington's Michael Penix Jr., and South Carolina's Spencer Rattler were generally fine and didn't do much in either direction to boost or harm their draft stock. Joe Milton III of Tennessee is a player with great size, athleticism, and arm strength, but he didn't put much of that on display this week.

Penix was the star with the most to prove after an ugly performance in the National Championship. It was a bit of a mixed bag for the former IU Hoosier and Washington Huskie in Mobile. While he was clearly the best quarterback at the Senior Bowl and is a very smart quarterback who has enough arm talent to make a lot of big-time throws, he struggled a bit with consistent accuracy. He had issues early in the week (as expected when throwing to guys you've never played with before) but as the week went on, Penix settled in and had his best day on the third and final day. On Thursday, he put the ball in the end zone twice during shallow red zone drills, being the only quarterback to do so at all.

Some of the most noteworthy performances belonged to "the little guys," Tulane's Michael Pratt and South Alabama's Carter Bradley. The latter performed in his home stadium at Hancock Whitney on the South Alabama campus, and he also coincidentally is the son of Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley Bradley.

Both players threw the ball with confidence and threw a variety of routes. Pratt was also credited with the most "explosive efforts" among all quarterbacks, according to Zebra Technologies, which measures "the count of high accelerations and high decelerations a player achieves in a practice/game."

RUNNING BACK

There were a handful of running backs who stood out throughout the week, including USC's Marshawn Lloyd, Kentucky's Ray Davis, Marshall's Rasheen Ali, and New Hampshire's Dylan Laube.

The best running back of the week was Lloyd, who has great vision and is a very patient runner. What surprised people most was his receiving ability, as he showed very soft hands and looked like a natural pass-catcher, which is something he hadn’t shown in college. The same can be said for Davis, who made several highlight-worthy receptions throughout the week.

Unfortunately for Ali, who had a really solid week showing three-down abilities, he suffered a biceps injury that will require surgery and likely keep him out of all pre-draft workouts. He could, however, be ready for the regular season. The Marshall running back was the biggest surprise at the position, especially early on Day 1 when he made several "wow" plays, showing burst and quick feet. He appears to be a good route runner out of the backfield who can be an asset in the passing game.

WIDE RECEIVER

Michigan receiver Roman Wilson was flat-out unguardable through the first two days, so much so that he left Mobile early and didn't practice on Day 3. Wilson's route running was smooth and fluid, particularly the way he transitioned in and out of his breaks without losing speed was excellent. He repeatedly won reps against every cornerback he was matched up with and was the only guy to truly win one-on-one against Toledo corner Quinyon Mitchell (more on him later).

Ricky Pearsall was Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson’s favorite target at Florida, and the receiver had an amazing week in Mobile. He showed reliable hands and quick-winning route running. Pearsall got open immediately on Days 1 and 2 so often that he also didn’t participate on Day 3. While there are still concerns over his long speed and ability to play outside, Pearsall will be a plus player almost immediately from the slot.

Jha’Quan Jackson is a small wide receiver (5'9", 190) from Tulane who was probably the biggest sleeper the whole week. He is so explosive, and while he can separate quickly, he also has the long speed to run away from guys. Jackson is also a great return specialist who offers a lot of help on special teams as well. Jackson showed reliable hands as well and really raised his stock with his performance this week.

Florida State's Johnny Wilson is one the most polarizing guys in the entire draft class. Measuring in at an official 6’6", 237, he worked out at both receiver and tight end. Wilson was really impressive working as a tight end, dominating almost every matchup that he had against linebackers and safeties. The size advantage and soft hands he displayed proved to be too much for his defenders. While the transition to a full-time tight end will be tough due to what will be asked of him from a blocking standpoint, his tape has shown him to be a willing blocker in space against defensive backs

Georgia's Ladd McConkey, USC's Brenden Rice, Louisville's Jamari Thrash, Southeast Missouri's Ryan Flournoy, and Western Kentucky's Malachi Corley are all fellow receivers who had strong weeks.

TIGHT END

This was a relatively pedestrian week from the tight ends. However, if you're looking for standouts then you have to start with Penn State's Theo Johnson, who seemed to be the only tight end to consistently get separation and show sure hands in the passing game as well as some juice as a blocker. Kansas State's Ben Sinnott also had some nice moments, although his ability to secure the pass was a bit inconsistent.

OFFENSIVE LINE

This was all about the top guys "standing on business." Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson was the best of the best and called the week early, leaving after Day 2.

Guys like Powers-Johnson, Oregon State tackle Taliese Fuaga, Oklahoma tackle Tyler Guyton, and Houston tackle Patrick Paul all showed spurts of dominance as run and pass blockers, and solidified themselves as high draft picks.

A couple of other standouts were UConn's Christian Haynes and Maryland's Delmar Glaze, who showed their position versatility. Haynes was able to play all three interior positions while Glaze performed at a high level from left tackle and left guard.

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DEFENSE

DEFENSIVE LINE

The unquestioned top defensive lineman in Mobile, UCLA's Laiatu Latu cemented himself among the best edge rushers in the draft from Day 1. From a technical standpoint, he was way ahead of his peers with initial moves and counters and built off those to successfully win a rep. Latu was so dominant in 11-on-11s that they started sending chip help and double teams to help slow him down.

Adisa Isaac, the pass-rushing specialist out of Penn State, had an awesome week in Mobile. He showed a great burst in 11-on-11s, beating his opponents multiple times. The 6’4", 250-pound edge used his length to establish contact and showed some impressive bend to get to the quarterback. While he may be an issue in the run game, he has a frame that looks like he can comfortably put on weight and not have it affect the way he plays.

T’Vondre Sweat, the massive defensive tackle out of Texas, showed exactly why he is generating first-round buzz in NFL circles. The aggression and power that he plays with is physically imposing. He has very violent hands and is strong at the point of attack.

Missouri's Darius Robinson measured in at an impressive 6'5" and 286 pounds, with 34-3/4" arms, and he put athleticism and violence on display all week.

Florida State defensive tackle Braden Fiske had a terrific week generating pressure on the backfield with sacks in consecutive days to start the week. At the end of Day 3 when the teams were just messing around near the end of practice, he showed off a bevy of athletic skills. He also became the first player in Senior Bowl history to switch teams on the day of the game, due to a lack of healthy players on the National Team.

Kansas edge defender Austin Booker is another player with a productive week, posting sacks on the first two days each.

LINEBACKER

Cal's Jackson Sirmon has been in the right place at the right time this week, coming down with 2 interceptions. On one, he dove for a tipped pass, but on the other, he showed strong hands to pluck a Milton pass out of the air in front of the end zone.

Miami's James Williams converted from safety to linebacker this week and has done a nice job. He's tied with the most explosive efforts among all linebackers with 77, and has shown the ability to come downhill into the backfield despite formerly playing in the secondary. During the game, he recovered from a bad facemask penalty to notch two great solo tackles, one was a tackle for loss when he tripped up Hartman on a scramble, and he tracked down Laube on punt return later for a minimal gain.

NC State's Payton Wilson has shown off his terrific range and movement skills, even hitting the top speed on the week among linebackers at 20.03 MPH. He's opened some eyes this week with his constant presence around the ball.

UNC's Cedric Gray also had a few nice moments in run support.

CORNERBACK

The most dominant performance from any cornerback belongs to Toledo's Quinyon Mitchell. His ability to mirror receivers in and out of breaks was repeatedly on display throughout the week. He very rarely lost a rep and spent the majority of the week on the hip of the receiver closest to him. Mitchell came to Mobile and solidified himself as a first-round pick.

While Notre Dame's Cam Hart had an up-and-down performance when it came to 1-on-1s, he was stellar in team drills, but always competitive nonetheless. Hart is a specific fit for the Colts with his size, standing 6’2", 204 with over 32-inch arms. He is the perfect type of corner for defensive coordinator Gus Bradley’s scheme and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Colts took a long look at him throughout the draft process.

Max Melton out of Rutgers impressed right away, stripping the ball from Lloyd on the first day and recovering the fumble. He had the second-most explosive efforts (115) among all defensive backs on the week.

Auburn's DJ James was very competitive throughout the week and consistently attacked the ball. Washington State's Chau Smith-Wade led all players in Mobile in explosive efforts with 131.

SAFETY

Miami's Kamren Kinchens is one of the most fascinating players in the entire class. The rangy, ball-hawking safety raised his stock by showing the ability to not only guard running backs and tight ends but also wide receivers. He has deep safety, slot, and box safety versatility, and put all three on display this week. There was clear separation between Kinchens and the rest of the safeties.

Oregon safety Evan Williams was voted on by his teammates as the National Team Safety of the Week, and he carried that over to the game on Saturday where he undercut a receiver's route and made an interception in the end zone. He nearly had another interception shortly after but wasn't able to bring it down. He earned some draft stock this week.

The Georgia duo of Javon Bullard and Tykee Smith both had nice moments particularly when it came to displaying their closing speed on balls in the air or nearby pass-catchers. Bullard included a pair of pass breakups as well.

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Published Feb 3, 2024

SI EDITORIAL