MORSE: Senior Bowl Recap

Senior Bowl Recap

First, we must note who didn’t participate in the game. All week, we heard these names mentioned as players who dominated the practices. They must have determined they did enough in the practices before the scouts, and the risk of getting hurt in a game was not worth taking. The following players didn’t play:

Derrick Moore EDGE Michigan

Jacob Rodriguez LB Texas Tech

Lee Hunter DT Texas Tech

TJ Parker EDGE Clemson

Tanner Koziol TE Houston

Dan Villari, TE, Syracuse

JC Davis, OT, Illinois

Tyreak Sapp, EDGE, Florida

Gabe Jacas, EDGE, Illinois

Daylen Everette, CB, Georgia

Davison Igbinosun, CB, Ohio State

Malik Muhammed, CB, Texas

Jalen Stroman, S, Notre Dame

Kaytron Allen, RB, Penn State

Nick Singleton, RB, Penn State (broke foot in Thursday practice)

Romello Brinson, WR, SMU

Caleb Brunson, WR, Texas Tech

Reggie Virgil, WR, Texas Tech

Vinnie Anthony II, WR, Wisconsin

Nate Boerkircher, TE, Texas A&M

Kage Casey, OT, Boise State

Jalen Farmer, IOL, Kentucky

Dano Dennis-Sutton, EDGE, Penn State

Romello Height, EDGE, Texas Tech

Deven Eastern, DL, Minnesota

Zane Durant, DL, Penn State

Jeffrey M’Ba, DL, SMU

Darrell Jackson Jr., DL, Florida State

Only three players that are projected by NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah to go in the 1^st round practiced this week. Parker and Hunter didn’t play in the game. Gennings Dunker RT Iowa is the only player projected to go in the 1^st round that actually played.

From my observation, the Players of the game were:

QB Garrett Nussmeir, LSU – The conditions were brutal with 30-degree temps falling much lower with a strong 30 MPH wind. His run on a Run Pass Option in the 1st quarter was a thing of beauty. He read the DE (Max Llewellyn) crashing down on the back and kept the ball and ran it into the End Zone. He was 5/8 for 57 yards. He was credited with an INT, but that was clearly TE John Michael Gyllenborg’s fault, with the ball slipping right through his hands and into S Deshon Singleton’s hands.

Malachi Fields, WR, Notre Dame – The big (6’4”) receiver was dominant during the game.

American Runningbacks – Kaelon Black, Indiana, Jadyn Ott, Oklahoma (TD), and Mike Washington, Arkansas, all ran well. The O line was dominant in the 1^st Quarter, especially behind OT Max Iheanachor. Black had 8 carries for 45 yards and a 5.8 YPC.

Max Iheanachor, OT, Arizona State – he dominated practices and showed up huge in this game. He threw key blocks on Nussmeier’s and Ott’s TDs. He also had at least three pancake blocks. He plays nastily, and he has made himself a lot of money this week. I had him on my initial Mock Draft as a 4^th Round pick (130). In my next Mock Draft, I have the Patriots taking him at the end of the 2^nd round (64). Daniel Jeremiah claimed that Iheanachor is pushing to get into the 1^st Round.

Bryce Boettcher, LB, Oregon – he had a great game with 12 Tackles and a pass breakup. He played a lot with Rodriguez and Louis opting out. Boettcher is ranked as a late-round pick only because he has an option to play baseball. In 2024, Boettcher had a breakout season where he batted .276 with 12 home runs, 35 RBI, and 15 stolen bases, earning a collegiate Gold Glove. After the season, he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 13th round of the 2024 MLB draft. He has not played in the minor leagues yet.

Ndame Tucker, EDGE, Western Michigan – I can’t believe he was selected as Defensive Player of the Game. He had 2 Sacks, 3 Tackles for Loss, and a Forced Fumble. He is a player the Patriots might be interested in on Day 3 if they don’t go for an Edge player early in the draft.

Vincent Anthony, EDGE, Duke – He had a heck of a game with a Sack and 2 Fumble Recoveries.

Zion Young, EDGE, Missouri – He had a good game as well and was selected as the 2026 Senior Bowl Most Outstanding Player of the game.

Quintayvious Hutchins, EDGE, Boston College – He came into the game as an unknown player. The scouts know who he is now! For the game, he had 3 Tackles for Loss, including stuffing QB Cole Payton at the goal line on a 2-point conversion try. The 6’1”, 244-pound played on the EDGE for BC, but his lack of size means he won’t be there in the Pros. He had 4.65 speed and should move to OLB.

These are the 2026 Senior Bowl Practice Players of the Week. These are voted on by the players they went up against in each of the 3 Practice sessions.

National		American
Diego Pavia Vanderbilt	QB	Garrett Nussmeir LSU
Seth McGowan Kentucky	RB	Mike Washington Arkansas
Jordan Hudson SMU	WR	Malachi Fields Notre Dame
Justin Joly NC State	TE	Tanner Koziol Houston
Gennings Dunker Iowa	OT	Max Iheanchor Arizona State
TJ Parker Clemson	DL/EDGE	Caleb Banks Florida
Kyle Louis	LB	Owen Heinecke Oklahoma
Rivers Duke	CB	Davison Igbinosun Ohio State
Zakee Wheatley	S	Bud Clark TCU

A player who had a difficult time in the game was OT, Jude Bowry, BC. He played at Right Tackle and was a turnstile all day. Some players, like the Patriots’ Caeden Wallace, can’t make the switch to the opposite side. Bowry played left Tackle at BC. Daniel Jeremiah, the NFL Network Draft analyst, said that Bowry should be moved inside to guard. I had those same thoughts weeks ago when I had Bowry as a Patriots pick in a mock. I was thinking of moving him to Left Guard.

Dartmouth College Delby Lemieux was an Ivy League star at OT. He received an invite to the Senior Bowl and learned to play Center. The 6’5”, 305-pound lineman from Hanover, Massachusetts, played Center and Guard, and he threw the big block that sprung Kejon Owens for a National team TD.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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