Every college football player’s goal is to help their team win a national championship, but they also hope to be lucky enough for NFL Draft selections.
The Reese’s Senior Bowl, seen largely as a post-college football season All-Star Game, is a great way for NFL Draft hopefuls to showcase their talents in front of NFL scouts.
Despite UNC losing football standouts Drake Maye, Devontez Walker and Cedric Gray to the 2024 NFL Draft, there are several more Tar Heels on the current roster who are 2025 NFL Draft prospects.
Those Tar Heels – Marcus Allen, Power Echols, Desmond Evans, Omarion Hampton, Max Johnson, J.J. Jones, Willie Lampkin, Bryson Nesbit and Kaimon Rucker – are being recognized with nominations to the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List.
Hampton is amongst the country’s best running backs, leading the ACC and finishing fifth nationally with 1,504 rushing yards last season. Rucker is one of college football’s top edge rushers, as he led North Carolina with 15 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in 2023.
Senior Bowl watch list for these 9️⃣#CarolinaFootball 🏈 #UNCommon pic.twitter.com/bxihvodm32
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) August 21, 2024
Nesbit is amongst the country’s best tight ends, combining for over 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns the past two years. Jones is poised to take over UNC’s top wide receiver spot – he led UNC with 711 receiving yards last season.
Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson is battling for the Tar Heels’s starting quarterback spot with Conner Harrell. If Johnson starts, he’ll be protected by the likes of All-ACC lineman Willie Lampkin.
Finishing up with defense, Echols will form a deadly duo with Rucker by returning 102 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. Evans is coming off a 33-tackle, five tackles for loss and 3-sack season that many expect out of a 5-star recruit, while Marcus Allen will arguably lead the secondary after his sophomore season with 49 tackles, an interception and a North Carolina-best eight pass breakups.
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