2023 Senior Bowl: Trio of edge rushers among prospects with most to gain, Max Duggan’s draft stock could slide

With prospects in the Senior Bowl, there’s never any question about facing less than prime competition. The all-star event provides a tremendous opportunity for prospects to showcase their skills against the best senior talent entering the NFL Draft. Without fail, every year, a handful of players rise up the charts while others see their stock plummet because of what happens on the field during practice and the game held in Mobile, Alabama.

Who has the most to win this week? What about losing more? Let’s examine.

Most To GainKeion White, EDGE, Georgia Tech

White is a great defensive end with first round pass shots. But that’s just it — consistency wasn’t a staple of his game at Georgia Tech. In the Senior Bowl, one-on-one battles between defensive linemen and blockers are all the rage, and they usually favor the linebackers given how much space there is to operate. This event is primed for White to thrive and drop evaluators’ jaws by doing so given his thickness, power and talent for handwork.

Tyson Bagent, QB, Shepherd

This is a low quarterback class for the Senior Bowl. Period. That means Bagent, the quarterback from Division II Shepherd, has a great chance to catch some eyes from scouts and members of the media, more than one from a lower-level passer. At just under 6-3 and almost 220 pounds, Bagent is one of the bigger quarterbacks in Mobile this week.

Dylan Horton, EDGE, TCU

Horton managed a remarkable 48 pressures on just over 400 pass rushes in 2022, despite rushing primarily as an end in a three-man front in TCU’s famed 3-3-5 defense. There weren’t many opportunities from a wide stretch for the sleek, 6-foot-4, nearly 260-pound running back. In Mobile, Horton will be given more opportunities to rush the passer — even one-on-one — in a more classic sense. That opportunity alone makes Horton an easy pick here.

Andrei Iosivas, WR, Princeton

Each Ivy League Senior Bowl participant will receive the nod from me in this section each year. Iosivas is exactly the type of prospect that makes the Senior Bowl such a great event. We know he shocked Ivy League competition, as he had over 100 catches and 1,600 yards with 12 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Now let’s see how he stacks up against NFL talent from Power 5 conferences. At nearly 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds with serious vertical speed, Iosivas has NFL-caliber size and speed.

Andre Carter II, EDGE, Army

Carter was as unlockable as Aidan Hutchinson in 2021. There’s no doubt about that. Carter tallied 59 pressures on just 293 pass rushes, good for a ridiculous 20.1% pass rush rate. Then in 2022, defenses paid plenty of attention to him on the Army defensive line. Doubles and chips galore. Carter still generated a pressure 13.2% of the time. At 6-foot-6 and 252 pounds with vines for arms, there’s a lot to like from a physical standpoint with Carter. If he can collapse the pocket like he did in 2021, he’ll cement himself in the first round. He is so talented.

Evan Hull, RB, Northwestern

Hull hardly felt the spotlight in 2022 on a 1-11 Northwestern team after a struggling 3-9 campaign the year before. But if wins aren’t a quarterback stat, then they certainly aren’t a return stat. Hull is an absolute joy to watch on film. Unexpected, interlocking strides, exceptional vision, impressive contact poise and incredible comfort as a receiver — Hull’s game was tailor-made for the NFL in Evanston, Illinois. I look forward to watching him in action among the top-level talent at the Senior Bowl.

Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon State

Musgrave flies, explodes and explodes on the football field. Use whatever similar words you want. And he’s not one of those long receivers masquerading as a tight end. At over 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, he has serious NFL tight end size. He’s featured in this part of the article because the Oregon State star played in just two games in 2022 due to a knee injury, from which he’s apparently fully recovered because he’s participated — and demonstrated the speed of his fiery — during the first two days of mobile practice.

Most to lose Jammie Robinson, DB, Florida State

Robinson played a unique role, safety back at Florida State and looked extremely quick on the football throughout his career with the Seminoles. At under 5-foot-11 and 194 pounds, he’s actually on the small side for the safety spot, especially if he’s going to roam the box as a nickel linebacker or strong safety. Robinson will have to be very dynamic during teamwork and the game itself to provide some proof to scouts and GMs that he can live in the box at the next level.

Max Duggan, QB, TCU

Duggan had an outstanding season at TCU; we all know that. He threw long balls on target all season and was arguably the toughest quarterback in college football in the open field or even in the pocket. He took a lot of hits and kept getting up. He won’t necessarily be able to show his trademark toughness in the Senior Bowl, and at 6-foot-1 and 204 pounds, the TCU icon doesn’t have the body typically thought to take that kind of NFL beating.

Elijah Higgins, WR, Stanford

The Senior Bowl favors exceptional small, fast-moving route steps, especially in one-on-one drills on the receiver’s backside. Of course, during the practice week, there is no hitting on the ground. At 6-foot-3 and nearly 230 pounds, Higgins’ biggest selling point as a prospect is his big running frame and the contact poise he displays after the catch. This is not really an event of its kind in the recipient’s country.