Senior Bowl Day 1 standouts highlighted by small school riser and explosive trench players
Day 1 of Senior Bowl practice was filled with some impressive performances.
The Senior Bowl is the start of the NFL Draft process, and day one is in the books.
It was a beautiful day in Mobile, Alabama, and we saw both the American and National teams hit the field for the first time. Each day of practice brings us more information about the class, and this event is arguably more important than in years past.
There are multiple players who stood out on Tuesday, and these are my biggest standouts.
Tyreak Sapp, EDGE, Florida
One of the best things about going to the Senior Bowl is watching one-on-ones in the trenches. It’s the one drill where you can see it translate 1:1 from the practice field to Sundays. The key with these reps is to see who improves from the first day to the last.
Sapp was a late addition to the roster, as he had accepted an invite to the Shrine Bowl before flipping last week. He didn’t have many reps in one-on-ones, but when he got out there, Sapp displayed his strong, explosive frame very well and made the most of his opportunities.
Tyren Montgomery, WR, John Carroll
One of the best parts about the Senior Bowl is its focus on bringing in talent from the lower levels. It will be harder to find those players now with the advent of the transfer portal, but they are still out there.
This year’s top small-school player is Tyren Montgomery of Division III John Carroll. You may have heard of the school before because they have 19 alumni employed by NFL teams, including New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
The best thing you can do to stand out in a significant way is make a big play, and Montgomery mossing a defender was the best play of the day. He has the skills and athleticism to play at the next level, and doing so here proves that.
Lee Hunter, DT, Texas Tech
There was one defensive tackle who really popped, and that was Texas Tech’s Lee Hunter. Playing on a dominant defensive line, he was often overlooked as the nose tackle, but not during Tuesday’s practice. He was borderline unblockable all day, whether in one-on-ones or team drills. If you want a nose tackle who is a serious disruptor, Hunter is your guy.
Kage Casey, OT, Boise State
This is not a great offensive line class, but teams will take them early on. Teams always need more offensive linemen, and there aren’t enough good ones available year in and year out. One player they will be looking at is Kage Casey, who is very intriguing.
At 6-5 and 309 pounds, he has the size to be a plus left tackle in the NFL, but he’s still relatively raw. That showed up in multiple ways on Tuesday. Casey got beaten a couple of times on the inside due to oversetting, but he made up for it by winning multiple times on the outside. He’s likely a Day 2 pick, but Casey proved how good he was.
NFL Draft
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The Senior Bowl is an important event in the NFL Draft process, but it needs to be viewed with context.
