Following the college bowl season, NFL Draft hopefuls will participate in pro workouts, private workouts and various bowl games where it is the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Game or the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. Three Longhorns have accepted invites to the Senior Bowl while defensive end Malcolm Roach accepted an opportunity to play and be a captain of the NFL PA Bowl.
Welcome to #Pasadena | The #NFLPABowl would like to welcome @TexasFootball DL Malcolm Roach (@Officialmalcr32).
A versatile DT/DE, Roach’s ability to play with both power and finesse caught our eye early, and he’s one of only six team captains! #HookEm #MakeYourMarkinLA pic.twitter.com/jtCSzlCkWW
— The Collegiate Bowl (@NFLPABowl) December 5, 2019
Early on in his collegiate career, Roach played some as a defensive end/linebacker hybrid in his freshman season. That year he earned honorable mention as Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. Over the last three seasons in Austin, Roach has been solid tackler but doesn’t have the huge sack numbers that you would expect from a defensive end. In terms of numbers, they don’t exactly mean much when talking about projections to the NFL.
Roach will be looking to impress in the game that can hopefully lead to an opportunity at the NFL level. Given the way that he plays, Malcolm Roach projects more as a defensive tackle at the next level. He has the strength to deal with interior offensive linemen with enough quickness to cause issues. He will be looking to parlay a good performance in this game much like previous alumni in Chicago Bears running back Tarik Cohen and New Orleans Saints returner Deonte Harris.