In a tribute to the legendary Henry Aaron, the players at the 71st Senior Bowl in Aaron’s hometown of Mobile, Ala. will have two decals — one honoring Aaron, who died Friday at the age of 86, and another representing their hometown area code.
The National and American teams had a light workout on Monday and will start practice on Tuesday. The All-Star game, which kicks off the draft season, is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama. The game will be televised by NFL Network.
Each of the 136 players participating in the game had to all have three negative COVID-19 tests before practicing. Practices will be closed to the general public, and most Senior Bowl-associated fan events have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance will be limited to 6,200.
With a number of other all-star games and the upcoming scouting combine cancelled, the Senior Bowl has taken on more importance this season.
“It’s been a challenging year for sure, but when we kick off on the 30th, it’s going to be really rewarding,” said Jim Nagy, the Senior Bowl’s executive director. “I will say this — we were not going to move forward with this year’s game if we didn’t know we could do it safely for the players and the NFL personnel coming to town…The only way to pull this event off was to create a strict bubble.”
The Senior Bowl may be only chance for NFL teams to have face-to-face meetings with prospects.
Six former Georgia Bulldogs — defensive back D.J. Daniel, defensive back Mark Webb, defensive lineman Malik Herring, linebacker Monty Rice, offensive lineman Ben Cleveland and tight end Tre McKitty — will play on the National team.
Credit: UGA Sports
Credit: UGA Sports
“Some teams are looking for big, strong dudes that can play square inside and not get their edges worked and move people off the ball‚” said Nagy in an interview with the BBC’s Rob Slaton. “Ben Cleveland fits that.”
Also, seven players from Alabama’s national championship team will participate in the game.
The Alabama group is led by Heisman Trophy winner wide receiver Devonta Smith. Running back Najee Harris, who will be heavily scouted by the Falcons, quarterback Mac Jones, offensive linemen Alex Leatherwood, Deonte Brown and Landon Dickerson and long-snapper Thomas Fletcher will all participate.
Smith and Dickerson won’t play because of injuries. Harris may also not play.
Jones is one of seven quarterbacks along with Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman, who transferred to Georgia, but opted out of the 2020 season. The other quarterbacks are Florida’s Kyle Trask, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, Arkansas’ Feleipe Franks and Notre Dame’s Ian Book.
The Miami Dolphins will coach the National team and the Carolina Panthers will coach the American team.
The Senior Bowl invited a larger number of players this year. Normally, about 110 players are invited. But because of the pandemic and the NFL-style COVID-19 testing, they will not be able to bring in replacement players.
Here are the top five rated players in the Senior Bowl by profootballfocus.com:
Credit: Curtis Compton / curtis.compton@ajc.com
Credit: Curtis Compton / curtis.compton@ajc.com
Devonta Smith, WR, Alabama: He will spend the week with the Dolphins, who hold the No. 3 overall pick and could reunite him with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. He will not play because of his hand injury. He’s 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds. He became the third Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama, joining Derrick Henry (2015) and Mark Ingram (2009). He holds the SEC and Alabama career record for receiving touchdowns (46), passing the previous mark of 31 held by Amari Cooper (2012-14) and Chris Doering of Florida (1992-95). He also is the career receiving yards leader (3,965) for Alabama and the SEC.
Kadarius Toney, WR, Florida: He’s 6-foot and 193 pounds. Led the Gators with new career highs in catches (62), receiving yards (831) and all-purpose yards (1,228). He started all 10 games and finished ranked ninth in the SEC with an average of 122.8 all-purpose yards per game. He was one of six SEC players with 11 total touchdowns in 2020 and was just one of three FBS players with a rushing, receiving and punt return touchdown. Nagy compared him to San Francisco wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who was selected in the second round of the 2019 draft after playing in the Senior Bowl.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Carlos Basham Jr., Edge, Wake Forest: He’s 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds. He had at least one sack in 13 of his last 16 games played including one in all five games in 2020. He was named preseason second-team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation. He had 112 quarterback pressures over his sophomore and junior seasons.
Mac Jones, QB, Alabama: He’s the top quarterback in the group at the Senior Bowl. He will enter the game rated behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, BYU’s Zach Wilson and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. Jones can make a push in the game and state his cased that he’s a first-round quarterback. “(Fields, Wilson and Lance) are kind of jockeying for position behind Trevor Lawrence,” Nagy said. “(He’s) got a chance to jump those three guys. They don’t have the opportunity to be here in Mobile. Just the familiarity of working with a staff like the Panthers who have the eighth pick and just being down here in front of all 32 teams (should benefit Jones).”
Alex Leatherwood, OT, Alabama: He’s 6-6 and 313 pounds. Some teams project him as a guard, but he will play left tackle in the Senior Bowl. He helped to anchor an offensive line that won the 2020 Joe Moore Award, as the nation’s top offensive line. He became Alabama’s fifth Outland Trophy winner and the fourth since 2008. He was unanimous first team All-American and was named first-team All-SEC by the Associated Press and the SEC coaches.
Falcons’ 2021 draft position
1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. New York Jets
3. Miami Dolphins (via Houston)
4. Falcons
5. Cincinnati Bengals
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