2017 Senior Bowl

[jerrym]

Two Canadians will be playing in the Senior Bowl: Jordan Herdman and Justin Senior.

Justin Senior will begin his off-season audition for NFL employment against pretty stiff competition.
The six-foot-five, 310-pound Mississippi State offensive tackle will participate in the Senior Bowl next week in Mobile, Ala. Senior had originally committed to playing in the East-West Shrine Game, which goes Saturday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., before accepting an invitation last week to the Senior Bowl, the annual showcase event for American college football's top seniors.
"The East-West Shrine game is a great bowl," Senior said in a telephone interview. "If I could play in both I would but the Senior Bowl gave me more of an opportunity to train longer and it has a bit more notoriety so I decided to go there."
Senior and the other invitees arrive in Mobile on Monday and begin practising the following day. Senior will play for the South squad, which will be coached by the Cleveland Browns' staff, while the Chicago Bears coaches will handle the North team.

The NFL Network and ESPN will both broadcast daily practices with the NFL Network carrying the Jan. 28 game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Senior, a native Jamaican who grew up in Montreal, was a three-year starter at Mississippi State. He received the 2016 Kent Hull Trophy as the state of Mississippi's top offensive lineman and was named a first-team Southeastern Conference all-star by Pro Football Focus.
Senior was also the CFL scouting bureau's top-ranked prospect for this year's draft. But any team taking Senior will likely have to wait because the 22-year-old is projected as a fifth-round NFL selection and could improve his stock with solid off-season performances.
In 2014, McGill tackle Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff was the top-ranked CFL prospect but went in the sixth round, 200th overall, of the NFL draft to Kansas City. The six-foot-five, 321-pound Duvernay-Tardif is now the Chiefs' starting right guard.
"I've been dreaming about (an NFL career) basically my whole life," Senior said. "But there's still plenty of work to do . . . it's just that kind of sport."
Senior isn't afraid of a little hard work. He's spent a lot of time at Mississippi State learning the nuances of offensive-line play in the four-down game while continually having to perform well for a high-profile school playing in a premier conference.
"Always learning something new is a lot more fun," he said. "I'm constantly striving to improve in every part of my game.
"I don't really think I'm at the level where I could start saying I'm an expert in anything."
Senior has a definite goal in mind at the Senior Bowl and isn't fazed by the prospect of being under a microscope before pro scouts, GMs and coaches.
"I just want to dominate at the Senior Bowl," he said. "I definitely want to put on my best performance, play my best football and I want them to be impressed.
"This is what you play football for, these games. It's an honour."
The Bulldogs' program gained much national notoriety this season thanks to former quarterback Dak Prescott. The 2016 fourth-round pick led the NFL's Dallas Cowboys to a 13-3 regular-season record as a rookie before last weekend's 34-31 playoff loss to Green Bay.
"What Dak is doing is great, he's a great player," Senior said of his former teammate. "But we have a lot of dudes (in NFL) right now who are also good players.
"That definitely creates a lot of expectation. But whether or not there was that tradition, the pressure to perform is always there."
Despite owning an impressive football resume, Senior wants to show this off-season he's ready to become a pro.
"I'd like to show my ability and effort to always learn and get better," he said. "I can bend well and I can run.
"I can't say I'm the most powerful because I played with people like Gabe Jackson (former Bulldogs offensive lineman now an Oakland Raiders starter). But I'm always chasing it, I'll always try to be as powerful as him."
The Senior Bowl kicks off what will be a busy off-season. A solid performance there could earn Senior a spot at next month's NFL combine to again perform for and meet with league brass.
Mississippi State's pro day is March 10, another opportunity for its seniors to impress NFL officials. And there's also the grind of daily workouts, which for Senior begin each morning at 7 a.m. and involve both on-field and classroom sessions, leading up to the draft April 27-29.
"It will be a long process," Senior said. "But I think I'm prepared."

http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/...t-senior-bowl/

[jerrym]

Here are the top ten players in practice this week for the Senior Bowl by Dene Brugler.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/n...practice-week/

[jerrym]

As often happens with teams that have not played together for very long, there was a lot of mistakes in the 2017 Senior Bowl.

The South had four turnovers, but still came out on top because the North couldn’t find the end zone until the final minutes of the game. ...

The South Team led by the Cleveland Browns’ coaching staff earned a victory in the Senior Bowl, 16-15, with a strong defensive showing that kept the North Team out of the end zone until the final minutes.

While Toledo running back Kareem Hunt managed to rack up 118 yards on 15 rushes for the North, the passing offense led by quarterbacks Nate Peterman of Pittsburgh and C.J. Beathard of Iowa didn’t do much.
Peterman finished the game with 16 completions on 23 attempts and threw a touchdown with 1:51 left in the game, but a two-point conversion attempt to take the lead was intercepted. Prior to that, the only points for the North came from Arizona State kicker Zane Gonzalez, who connected on three field goals.
Even though the North didn’t add many points early, one of the most impressive performances in the first half came from East Carolina wide receiver Zay Jones, even though he finished the first two quarters with only one reception for 14 yards.
He was among the top performers of the week and continued his strong play Saturday with a touchdown reception that was overturned due to a penalty and a tremendous catch in the back of the end zone that was ruled incomplete. ...

Even with the East Carolina receiver’s impressive receptions nullified, he finished with six receptions for 68 yards and caught the late touchdown from Peterman that nearly gave the North the win.
Texas A&M’s Josh Reynolds also had a big day in the box score, hauling in six receptions for 96 yards. Among his receptions was a 39-yard touchdown catch down the right sideline from California quarterback Davis Webb.

Ultimately, though, it was a sloppy game for offense with four turnovers by the South offense. Taking advantage of those opportunities was Saint Francis defensive back Lorenzo Jerome who hauled in two interceptions and forced a fumble.
It was the culmination of a very impressive January for Jerome, who also caught two interceptions in the NFLPA Bowl last weekend.

http://www.sbnation.com/2017/1/28/14...lorenzo-jerome