Georgia Southern is well-represented at the Senior Bowl.
Cornerback Lavelle Westbrooks, who played at Riverdale High, and running back Jerick McKinnon, who played at Sprayberry, are on the South squad and are set to face the North in the all-star game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Both players have impressed.
“What’s jumped out about those two guys is their competitive spirit,” Jacksonville coach Gus Bradley said.
Last season, Falcons cornerback Robert Alford, who played at Southeastern Louisiana, used a strong performance at the Senior Bowl to propel himself into the second round of the NFL draft. Westbrooks is trying to do the same thing.
“I’m just trying to get better and work on my craft and things like that,” Westbrooks said after Wednesday’s practice. “I just feel like I’m out here to display what I can do against the quote, unquote ‘big-time boys,’ so I’m just happy to be out here and competing.”
Westbrooks held his own in the one-on-one drills. He won most of his battles and lost a few. McKinnon had some good moments at practice, too.
“I think we both came out here with a chip on our shoulders,” Westbrooks said. “We just want to prove what we can do.”
Oklahoma cornerback Aaron Colvin suffered an injury and will not play in the game. With the lack of depth, Westbrooks is getting some additional work.
“Westbrook is a tough corner,” Bradley said. “We were down to three corners today, and I was a little bit concerned because they were taking so many reps. I said, ‘let’s slow this down’ and he said, ‘No, no. Let’s keep going.’ He has that kind of spirit, which is awesome that he’ll come to work every day, work hard and wants to get better.”
McKinnon finished his career with 3,899 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns at Georgia Southern and had six games of at least 100 rushing yards in 2013. He displayed his speed during practice.
“McKinnon had a nice long run down the sideline in seven-on-seven,” Bradley said. “That was cool.”
Westbrooks earned first-team all-region honors as a junior and second team as a senior, while serving as a team captain. He also placed second in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump at the Region 4-AAAAA track meet.
When the football recruiters didn’t bang on his door, his high school coach Nick Davis, steered him to Georgia Southern.
“My coach went to Georgia Southern,” Westbrooks said. “Then when I went down there and learned about all of the traditions, I fell in love with it.”
By the time Westbrooks was through, he had started 41 games and had his mettle tested.
“The thing about playing cornerback is that you can’t always have that perfect game,” Westbrooks said. “You want to strive to have it, but when you don’t, you have to continue to fight and compete.”
Westbrooks sees the competition here as a step up from the Southern Conference receivers he faced.
“It’s definitely been an eye opener and things like that, but it has been a great experience going against top-notch receivers each time that I took a rep,” Westbrooks said. “It is a great experience.”
McKinnon was three-year starter and four-year letter-winner at Sprayberry. He was selected first-team All-State by the Georgia Sports Writers Association as an athlete. He passed for more than 1,500 yards and rushed for more than 1,300 yards as a senior and was named the Cobb County Touchdown Club’s quarterback of the year.
“I’ve been trying to get better every day, work on my overall game and focus on film and running-back specific drills,” McKinnon said. “The regimen has been different — two training sessions a day, weights and working on speed.”
McKinnnon was the hero of Georgia Southern’s 26-20 victory over Florida on Nov. 23. He started at slotback and scored the winning touchdown to give the Eagles a 26-20 lead with 2:57 left in the game.
Despite stories such as Alford’s climb, some NFL teams still have a scouting bias against small-school prospects.
“Sometimes, teams will say, he played at a different level and against different competition, but they played against Florida and did pretty well,” Bradley said. “They came in here, and they just have stepped it up. It’s been good. It’s been really good to see how they’ve attacked this week.”
