2024 NFL Draft

2024 Senior Bowl roster reveal: What you need to know

Published: Jan 09, 2024 at 11:00 PM

Eric Edholm

Lead Draft Writer

Senior Bowl invitee Bo Nix finished third in the 2023 Heisman Trophy voting and ranked second in the country with 4,508 passing yards in his final season with Oregon. (AP Photo / Ross D. Franklin)

The Reese's Senior Bowl on Tuesday revealed 120-plus players who have accepted invitations to participate in the 2024 installment of the annual all-star game.

Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy joined NFL Network's Bucky Brooks, Daniel Jeremiah and Rhett Lewis on the Move The Sticks Senior Bowl Roster Reveal show to unveil this year's participants.

Draft-eligible underclassmen will be able to participate in the Senior Bowl for the first time this year. Previously, fourth-year juniors who had completed their degree prior to Senior Bowl week were allowed to be invited. But now, the game is open to underclassmen who previously were not eligible to play.

Practices will be held from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 (with live coverage beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on NFL Network and NFL+) at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. The game will be held on Saturday, Feb. 3 (1 p.m. ET on NFL Network and NFL+).

The Senior Bowl is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

Here are five things to know about this year's participants, along with the player roster as of Tuesday, Jan. 9:

1) Quarterbacks have a chance to impress.

The 2023 Senior Bowl class of quarterbacks was a respectable group, featuring a fourth-round pick (Jake Haener) and two fifth-round picks (Clayton Tune and Jaren Hall), not to mention undrafted Tyson Bagent, who ended up starting four games as a rookie for the Chicago Bears.

At initial glance, the 2024 class appears a bit stronger on paper.

Oregon's Bo Nix is one of the headliners of the group. The former Auburn QB had some terrific moments in the SEC but has completely remade his game and become a more complete passer with the Ducks, so it will be interesting seeing him return to the state of Alabama as a more advanced prospect.

South Carolina's Spencer Rattler doesn't come with the same buzz he generated early in his college career, but that doesn't mean there isn't intrigue in the dual-threat passer. Tennessee's Joe Milton III is a bigger-bodied athlete with some similar traits. He's raw in some respects, but there is high upside.

Tulane's Michael Pratt might be the wild-card QB of the week. He improved with each season as a passer and raised the Green Wave program immensely. Notre Dame's Sam Hartman has thrown for 101 TDs his past three seasons combined, both with the Irish and at Wake Forest before that.

Right now, there are five quarterbacks committed to the Senior Bowl, so will we see at least one more added to the roster? LSU's Jayden Daniels and Washington's Michael Penix Jr. are two big uncommitted names to watch, with Nagy previously hinting we could see Penix in Mobile. That was prior to Washington's national-championship loss to Michigan on Monday, when Penix took some hard hits from the Wolverines.

2) Showdown brewing between quality groups of receivers and DBs.

The 2023 Senior Bowl provided showcase settings for a few wide receivers who ended up making their mark as NFL rookies, including Puka Nacua (although an injury cut short his week), Rashee Rice, Jayden Reed and Michael Wilson. But a few 2023 DB prospects also did well for themselves, including CBs JuJu Brents, Tyrique Stevenson and Jakorian Bennett, as well as S Sydney Brown.

The one-on-one matchups between the DBs and the pass-catchers are often a fan-favorite portion of the week's practices, and NFL scouts take notice of the battles, too. This year's group of talent should provide some fireworks.

My personal choice for Senior Bowl WR1 heading into the week would be South Carolina's Xavier Legette. He has an NFL-ready frame but was often overlooked amid the Gamecocks' tough season. He's far from the only wideout who could put on a show in practices and the game, though. Some of the other receivers to watch include Georgia's Ladd McConkey, USC's Brenden Rice, Florida State's Johnny Wilson, Western Kentucky Malachi Corley and Florida's Ricky Pearsall.

McConkey is tough and savvy, able to navigate secondaries and find soft spots as a consistent producer. I expect Rice to attract a crowd all week -- after all, he's Jerry Rice's son. Brenden Rice didn't put up massive numbers at Colorado, but he became one of Caleb Williams' top targets at USC the past two seasons, catching 16 TDs.

Listed at 6-foot-6 and 237 pounds, Wilson is a unicorn and could be tried as a receiver-tight end hybrid. How well he separates and blocks could more clearly reveal his future NFL position. Corley has a thick, RB-like build and a bag full of tricks in his arsenal. Pearsall is an acrobatic, big-play artist who could make some highlight plays during the week.

Standing in the receivers' way will be a quality lot of defensive backs. There are some top-100 prospects at cornerback, but this also is quietly one of the better-looking safety groups I've seen in recent years.

The safety position is bolstered by five talented underclassmen: Georgia's Javon Bullard, Miami's Kamren Kinchens, Washington State's Jaden Hicks and the Utah duo of Sione Vaki and Cole Bishop. Bullard and Kinchens might be the highest rated coming in, but keep an eye on a few others, including Maryland's Beau Brade and Oregon State's Kitan Oladapo.

Penn State's Kalen King is the one underclassman among the corners. He has enticing upside and potentially could be the highest-drafted player of this group.

Other highly rated corners include Auburn's DJ James, Toledo's Quinyon Mitchell, TCU's Josh Newton, Michigan's Mike Sainristil (who had the game-sealing INT in the national championship game) and Missouri's Kris Abrams-Draine. There are some Day 2 prospects in that group, with a few who could make a Round 1 push.

3) Trenches should offer must-see battles.

The one-on-one battles between the offensive and defensive linemen in Mobile are an event within the event. The pass-rush drills during practice often attract some of the biggest crowds during the week, and this year should be no exception.

The crop of edge rushers and interior defenders looks like a very respectable one on the surface. If there's one name that stands out a bit, it's probably UCLA's Laiatu Latu. He's a power rusher with an outstanding knack for getting to the quarterback, even if he's not an elite athlete.

On the offensive side, there might not be one clear standout above the rest, but there's a crop of blockers who have a shot to be top-50 picks, including some potential first-rounders.

There are some massive OT prospects who have a chance to separate themselves in Mobile, including Oklahoma's Tyler Guyton, Oregon State's Taliese Fuaga, Arizona's Jordan Morgan and Houston's Patrick Paul. This might be one of the deepest groups of true tackles I've seen at the game in a few years.

Among the true interior blockers, two standouts include Kansas State OG Cooper Beebe and Oregon's Jackson Powers-Johnson. Also keep an eye on two guards, Texas A&M's Layden Robinson and UConn's Christian Haynes, and Georgia C Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. Beebe is a people-mover in the run game who has a lot of fans in the scouting community. Powers-Johnson has started games at center, guard and -- for real -- defensive tackle.

Speaking of the defenders, it's a solid group overall with good depth. Is there a clear-cut first-round pick heading into the week outside of Latu? That's debatable.

Edge rushers with the potential to rise during the week include Penn State's Adisa Isaac and Alabama's Christian Braswell. Both are explosive rushers with upside. They might be the two most toolsy rushers in Mobile.

Another fascinating power edge rusher is Missouri's Darius Robinson, who is coming off a big senior season. Listed by the Tigers at 6-5 and 296 pounds, will he stay on the outside or kick inside? We could see him at both spots in Mobile. Oregon's Brandon Dorlus and Alabama's Justin Eboigbe are two more multiple-technique D-linemen with upside.

The interior group might be a little deeper than normal, with Texas' massive DT T'Vondre Sweat a player to watch. Many other interior rushers include smaller gap shooters, such as Ohio State junior Michael Hall Jr., Clemson's Tyler Davis and Texas junior Byron Murphy II.

Although Murphy was somewhat overshadowed at Texas by the massive Sweat, it's worth noting that he didn't go completely unnoticed. Sweat won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year this season, and Murphy was the Big 12's Defensive Lineman of the Year.

4) Change is in the air.

With rule changes allowing draft-eligible underclassmen into three pre-draft all-star games, including the Senior Bowl, this year's roster takes on a bit of a different feel.

The initial list of participants includes 15 underclassmen. Nagy told NFL Media this fall that he and his staff would be targeting top-100 juniors while keeping the majority of the roster spots open for senior prospects. The first batch of draft-eligible underclassmen has been released, but there will be more announcements with the hard deadline to request special eligibility set for Jan. 15.

I mentioned the underclassmen group is heavy at safety, but there also standouts at linebacker and running back.

The LB group appears strong with three underclassmen prospects of note: Miami's James Williams, Kentucky's Trevin Wallace and Kansas' Austin Booker. Tennessee's Jaylen Wright, who averaged 7.4 yards per carry for the Vols this season, might be one of the higher-rated backs entering the week. But keep an eye on Marshall's Rasheen Ali, a patient runner who navigates tight spaces well.

5) Which unheralded running back will emerge?

There should be plenty of chances for two of the SEC's best running backs -- even if they're not quite household names yet -- to establish themselves at the Senior Bowl. Missouri's Cody Schrader and Kentucky's Ray Davis were two of the best stories in the SEC and in all of college football this season.

Schrader transferred from Division II Truman State before the 2022 season and was immediately a good player for the Tigers, but he became a star in 2023 for 11-win Mizzou, finishing eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting with 1,627 yards rushing and 14 TDs. If he can show consistent receiving ability during Senior Bowl week, it could greatly benefit Schrader.

Davis will turn 25 during his rookie season, but his talent and toughness will be highly regarded. He took the long road to success, spending time at Temple and Vanderbilt before joining the Wildcats. His past two seasons in the SEC (2,000-plus rush yards, 19 TDs; 62 receptions, 10 TD catches) showed he deserves a shot.

Another back I'll be keeping my eyes on is New Hampshire's Dylan Laube, who could make a name for himself in Mobile. Laube caught 68 passes this season and had 171 for his career (46 games). One of the wildest stat lines of the college football season came against Central Michigan, when Laube caught 12 passes for 295 yards and two TDs, ran for 30 yards and another score and returned a punt and kickoff in UNH's 45-42 loss.