SEC Football dominates 2021 Senior Bowl Top 250
The Senior Bowl Top 250 was released last week and is dominated by SEC football players. Who are the players to watch out for?
Since it’s inception in 1950, the Senior Bowl has been the premier all-star game on the college football calendar. As its importance in the NFL draft process increases each year, the August release of the Senior Bowl Top 250 signifies for many the start of “draft season”.
Under the stewardship of Jim Nagy, the Senior Bowl has become the must-attend event for anyone connected to the world of football. Scouts, coaches and general managers rub shoulders with media analysts as they all attempt to get a closer look at the next crop of talent destined for the NFL.
Last year alone, Senior Bowl alumni accounted for 10 first-round NFL draft picks and in the last two years, 93 players selected in the NFL draft had been featured in the Mobile, Ala., event.
It’s the ultimate proving ground.
The week of practice is as important as the game itself, with the ability to ascertain strengths and weaknesses of players in one on one situations, against the best of the best.
This has become increasingly important for players at the FCS level and below whose ability to perform at the Senior Bowl can raise their draft profile exponentially.
In recent years, players like Dayton’s Adam Trautman, St. John’s Ben Bartch, Kyle Dugger of Lenoir Rhyne and Jimmy Moreland from James Madison have parlayed their performance at the Senior Bowl into an NFL draft selection.
The 2021 Senior Bowl Top 250 release has 12 FCS or below players on it, with North Dakota State offensive tackle Dillon Radunz and Northern Iowa’s Spencer Brown having the best chance of being an early draft selection.
The full “small school” list comprises of Robert Rochell (Central Arkansas), Darion Dunn (McNeese State), Bryan Mills (North Carolina Central), David Moore (Grambling State), Drew Himmelman (Illinois State), Zerrick Cooper (Jacksonville State), Christian Uphoff (Illinois State), Trae Berry (Jacksonville State), Samori Toure (Montana) and Cade Johnson (South Dakota State).
Despite the high number of “small school” prospects, the Senior Bowl Top 250 is dominated by teams from the SEC.
Florida has seven players on the list. Despite losing an exceptional amount of talent to the NFL last spring, LSU has six representatives on the list and Mississippi State is another SEC program with significant representation, with six players in the initial Top 250.
Three SEC programs account for a larger share of the Senior Bowl Top 250 pie than the others.
Who are they?