The Oklahoma Sooners come into 2021 with a veteran group on both sides of the football. That’s part of the reason experts are so high on the Sooners’ chances at a seventh-straight Big 12 Championship and contention for the national championship.
Many in that group of veterans will likely be off to the NFL next season, though some will be more highly sought after than others. The NFL draft process can often put more weight on younger players, often leaving seniors to scrap for their spot among a draft class elite.
Whether it’s a late breakout or competition at the top of the depth chart that prevented them from seeing the field, senior draft prospects can sometimes get dinged depending on the situation.
For those seniors, however, there’s one extra opportunity to make an impression for NFL coaches and front office personnel, and that’s at the Reese’s Mobile Senior Bowl.
At the Senior Bowl, players get put through a week of practice with NFL coaching staffs with scouts, coaches, and general managers in attendance. They go through individual and team drills in the lead-up to the Senior Bowl on the weekend. Though the Senior Bowl isn’t the only thing NFL teams take into account, it can often confirm how they feel about certain players for front offices.
It’s an opportunity for an under-the-radar player or a player with questionable technique or character to get in front of teams and allay any concerns.
In 2021, Tre Brown, Rhamondre Stevenson, Creed Humphrey, Tre Norwood, and Adrian Ealy were in attendance at the Senior Bowl. In 2020, Neville Gallimore and Jalen Hurts took part. In 2018, Baker Mayfield surprised everyone when he participated in the evaluation process.
For 2022, the Oklahoma Sooners have eight players named to the Senior Bowl’s watch list. Not every player will make the final rosters for the week in Mobile, but several will and they’ll benefit greatly from the process.
Let’s take a look at the eight players that could represent the Oklahoma Sooners at the 2022 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.