Trio of Penn State’s finest named mid-season All-Americans by Senior Bowl

The Senior Bowl highlighted these three Penn State standouts as midseason All-Americans.

Three of Penn State’s top players are spending their off week receiving some national attention for their performances on the field. The Reese’s Senior Bowl announced its midseason All-Americans this week, and it included three Penn State football players; tight end [autotag]Tyler Warren[/autotag], running back [autotag]Nicholas Singleton[/autotag], and safety [autotag]Jaylen Reed[/autotag].

Singleton has rushed for a team-high 434 yards and has scored three rushing touchdowns this season. He has also added 113 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns to his stat sheet so far this season. He also pulled off those numbers in five games after missing the home game against UCLA two weeks ago. Singleton is second on the team in total yards from scrimmage with 547 yards and leads the team with six all-purpose touchdowns.

The only player with more yards from scrimmage this season for Penn State has been Warren, who has 551 total yards from scrimmage. Warren leads the Nittany Lions with 513 receiving yards after a massive day catching the football in an overtime win at USC last weekend. Warren accounted for 224 receiving yards against the Trojans, which is the second-most in a single game in program history, and he tied the FBS record for most receptions in a single game by a tight end (17).

Reed is Penn State’s leading tackler so far this season with 39 total tackles, with 20 solo tackles, and 19 assists. Reed also has 1.5 sacks and one interception. Reed has also forced a fumble and recovered a fumble this season.

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Penn State is off this week but will return to action in Week 9 with a road game at Wisconsin. That game has been designated for a primetime matchup on NBC.

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Senior Bowl Director praises work done by Vikings DC Brian Flores

The Minnesota Vikings season was in a tailspin following the injury of J.J. McCarthy, but the coaching staff wouldn’t listen to it.

The Minnesota Vikings season was in a tailspin following the injury of J.J. McCarthy, but the coaching staff wouldn’t listen to it. The outside noise has never been a thing for Vikings and Kevin O’Connell, especially Brian Flores.

Flores’s defense has been playing with some special intensity through two weeks of the NFL season, and people notice it.

Jim Nagy, the Director of the NFL’s Senior Bowl, pointed out that what Flores has accomplished after losing two of the team’s top two cornerbacks in impressive.

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What he is doing is getting noticed by the NFL and the front offices of teams. Brian Flores had his chance as an NFL head coach, but many expect that he was given a less-than-fair chance at the job.

If he were to get another chance, and he likely will, odds are it would be to take a team’s defense over the top. He has done very well with the pieces the Vikings have despite missing key players.

It should be interesting to see how well the team looks against the Texans offense on Sunday.

Ten UCLA players named to 2024 Senior Bowl watch list

Lots of players made the list.

The 2024 College Football season is set to kick off this weekend. Before the season gets going, all the watch lists are sent out. The latest was the 2025 Reese’ Senior Bowl.

The Senior Bowl game will take place on February 1st in Mobile Alabama. This will be the 12th year of the event. It is known as the college football all-star game for senior athletes. Many NFL scouts and media members have been at the Senior Bowl season after season.

UCLA saw ten of their seniors make the watch list for the 2024 season. Those two players are:

  • Josh Carlin, Offensive Lineman
  • Logan Loya, Wide Receiver
  • Kain Medrano, Linebacker
  • Oluwafemi Oladejo, Linebacker
  • Bryce Pierre, Tight End
  • Gary Smith III, Defensive Lineman
  • J. Michael Sturdivant, Wide Receiver
  • Jay Toia, Defensive Lineman
  • Joseph Vaughn, Linebacker
  • Keanu Williams, Defensive Lineman

UCLA will start the season at 4:30 pm PST on August 31st against Hawaii. The first-ever Big Ten game for the Bruins will take place on September 14th, 2024 – also at 4:30 pm PST.

You can find an official listing of all players on the Senior Bowl list here:

Utah Utes leads Big 12 with 13 on Senior Bowl watch list

The Utah Utes, who are favorites to win the Big 12, have the most players on the watch list for the 2025 Senior Bowl with 13.

The 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl watch list was released earlier this week. The senior bowl is one of the best games on the schedule and shows off the best of the best in college football. The game is held in February, just weeks before the NFL Draft.

The Big 12 was represented well, with the Utah Utes leading the way. That makes sense, with Kyle Whittingham and his Utes as the favorites to win the conference title in 2024. Tight end Brant Kuithe, along with receiver Mycah Pittman anchor the way for the Utes. Utah has 13 players on the list.

Second on the list out of the Big 12 is a tie between the Arizona Wildcats, UCF Knights, and Colorado Buffaloes. Those three teams all sit with 11 players.

At the bottom of the list is the BYU Cougars. The Cougars have just two players on the list. They are just below Iowa State and Baylor, who have four.

You can find the entire list of players invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl 2025 at their official website.

13 Penn State players appear on Senior Bowl watch list for 2024

A large number of Penn State players are on this year’s Senior Bowl watch list.

Penn State has historically been productive when it comes to manufacturing talent for the next level in the NFL, and this year’s roster is not short on potential NFL talent. One of the highlights of the draft cycle is the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, which invites the nation’s top seniors to participate in one of the premier scouting events outside of the annual NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. An invite to the Senior Bowl is cherished and must be earned, and is a sign of the respect the NFL draft and scouting community holds for a player. It is a great tryout in front of the NFL world and can dramatically impact a player’s draft stock.

The Senior Bowl released its watch list of players for the upcoming season, and Penn State was well represented with players that could eventually be invited to participate in the top senior all-star game leading up to the NFL draft.

The full list of Penn State players appearing on the watch list includes:

  • [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag], QB
  • [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag], RB
  • [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag], DL
  • [autotag]Dani Dennis-Sutton[/autotag], DL
  • [autotag]Julian Fleming[/autotag], WR
  • [autotag]Kobe King[/autotag], LB
  • [autotag]JB Nelson[/autotag], OL
  • [autotag]Jaylen Reed[/autotag], DB
  • [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag], RB
  • [autotag]Tyler Warren[/autotag], TE
  • [autotag]Kevin Winston Jr.[/autotag], DB
  • [autotag]Sal Wormley[/autotag], OL
  • [autotag]Nolan Rucci[/autotag], OL

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19 Alabama players named to 2025 Senior Bowl watch list

Alabama has been represented well at the Senior Bowl over the years.

A list that was announced on Wednesday morning, a total of 19 Alabama Crimson Tide football players have been named to the 2025 Senior Bowl watch list.

Spanning across both sides of the ball, those names, as well as positions, were as follows:

  • Offense – QB Jalen Milroe, RB Jam Miller, TE CJ Dippre, TE Robbie Ouzts, OG Tyler Booker, OG Jaeden Roberts, OC Parker Brailsford
  • Defense – DT Tim Smith, DT Jaheim Oatis, DT Tim Keenan III, DT Damon Payne Jr., OLB Que Robinson, LB Deontae Lawson, LB Jihaad Campbell, S Malachi Moore, S Keon Sabb, CB Domani Jackson
  • Special Teams – K Graham Nicholson, P James Burnip

The Senior Bowl is held annually in Mobile, Alabama, and features many of the nation’s top NFL draft eligible players. Over the years, Alabama has been well represented at the Senior Bowl, and that appears to once again be the case at the event in 2025.

Of these 19 names, how many will end up attending the Senior Bowl in 2025? Time will ultimately tell.

Former NFL scout says Georgia has ‘the best offensive line in college football’

Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy thinks that Georgia has the top offensive line in college football and will win a national title

Former NFL draft scout and Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy really likes what the Georgia Bulldogs are returning for the 2024 college football season. In fact, Nagy thinks Georgia will win another national championship this season.

“The more I watch Georgia’s tape, the more I think they’re winning another national title this year,” said Jim Nagy.  “It always starts up front and they’ve got the best offensive line in college football.”

Georgia returns four of five starters from last season along the offensive line. Georgia lost starting center Sedrick Van Pran to the 2024 NFL draft and are planning to replace him with Jared Wilson. Additionally, Georgia returns offensive guard Micah Morris, who gives Georgia an excellent depth option and shares snaps with guard Dylan Fairchild.

Georgia is expecting to see some improvements from redshirt sophomore left tackle Earnest Greene. Greene missed his first season in Athens due to injury, but is coming off a healthy offseason and started all 14 games last season. Georgia also returns right guard Tate Ratledge, who is expected to be a preseason All-American. At right tackle, the veteran Xavier Truss brings a great combination of experience and versatility.

WATCH: ‘Hard Knocks’ preview reveals when Panthers, Giants began Brian Burns trade talks

A preview from this offseason’s Hard Knocks revealed the moment when the Panthers and Giants started trade talks on Brian Burns.

Some trades just don’t happen overnight.

The newest season of HBO’s and NFL Films’ Hard Knocks is set to debut tonight, with the New York Giants front and center. Among the events documented from Big Blue’s 2024 offseason was the very beginning of trade talks on now-former Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Brian Burns, which was previewed in small clip starring general managers Joe Schoen and Dan Morgan from the Senior Bowl in February . . .

Well, the Panthers never ended up getting any first-round picks in exchange for Burns. The two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher would, of course, be traded about five weeks later for a 2024 second-rounder (39th overall), a swap of 2024 fifth-rounders (No. 166 for No. 141) and a 2025 fifth-rounder.

Morgan commented on the timing of the deal during the NFL’s Annual League Meeting at the end of March.

“You know, those are always difficult conversations and, and decisions that you have to make from the seat that I’m in,” he said. “We love Brian. The player he is, the person he is, but sometimes you’ve got to make tough decisions, and the salary cap along with draft capital that we got, we felt like it was, you know, time to pull the trigger and make a move.

“We felt like the timing was right. And yeah, those are always tough decisions, but we had to make it, and we feel OK about it.”

And while they didn’t get a first for Burns, Morgan and the Panthers did use that 39th selection rather nicely—as they sold it off to the Los Angeles Rams for Picks No. 52 and 155 as well as a 2025 second.

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Former Saints trainer Dean Kleinschmidt recognized by Pro Football Hall of Fame

Former New Orleans Saints athletic trainer Dean Kleinschmidt was recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame with its 2024 Award of Excellence:

Here’s some well-deserved recognition for longtime New Orleans Saints athletic trainer Dean Kleinschmidt. The Pro Football Hall of Fame honored him Thursday with its 2024 Award of Excellence for his efforts in treating athletes and helping to cultivate the game. He’s spent his years away from the NFL working with the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

“I’ve enjoyed 43 years in the NFL,” Kleinschmidt told Mobile Bay Magazine’s Breck Pappas. “But I’ve really loved 50 years in Mobile.”

Kleinschmidt was with the Saints from 1969 to 2000, having worked with a host of future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees: Rickey Jackson, Willie Roaf, Sam Mills, and many other great players, establishing some long-lasting friendships. At times early in his career he was tasked with watching Archie Manning’s sons Peyton, Eli, and Cooper while their father received treatment or worked out at the team practice facility.

“We’re in that business of trying to speed healing,” Kleinschmidt said in back in 1998, per the Herald Times’ Mike Wright. “We do everything we can to get these guys ready, within safety limits, to play on the next deadline, which is noon the following Sunday.”

He continued to work in the NFL after leaving the Saints, most notably joining the Detroit Lions as their coordinator of athletic medicine. Kleinschmidt retired from the NFL in 2015 and has since been enshrined at the Saints’ team Hall of Fame as well as the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. Now the Pro Football Hall of Fame is making room for him, too.

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Packers draft NFL-high 8 players from the Senior Bowl

The Packers dipped deep into the talent pool at the Senior Bowl during the 2024 NFL draft.

No team in the NFL selected more players from the Senior Bowl in the 2024 NFL draft than the Green Bay Packers, who took eight players from the annual pre-draft event.

A ninth player, linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper, was invited to the Senior Bowl but couldn’t attend due to injury. A 10th player, long snapper Peter Bowden, was signed by the Packers as an undrafted free agent.

Even if we only count the nine, the Packers have drafted or signed 47 players from the Senior Bowl since Brian Gutekunst took over as general manager in 2018.

Gutekunst said the Packers don’t set out to take players from the Senior Bowl, but the event is hugely valuable in the evaluation process.

“Not by design, but I will say that Jim Nagy and his staff do such an amazing job of access and allowing us to scout those guys that go there. And it’s a such a really positive experience for the players. Not only the competition on the field, seeing really good players go against really good players in drills, but our ability to talk to them, interview them and be around them in that competitive environment, there’s really not a much better evaluation phase for us.”

Here’s Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy, a former Packers scout, breaking down the picks for the Packers from the event:

On Jordan Morgan: “Slam-dunk left tackle athlete jumps off tape. Has sweet feet, reactive mirror skills, & recovery quicks to compensate for lack of ideal length. Simply glides in pass pro. Functions easily laterally and at second-level. Should be even better next fall another year removed from ACL injury.”

On Javon Bullard: “Interchangeable FS/SS skill-set w/ nickel flex. Instinctive & competitive. Good eyes and trigger to make plays. Excelled during team periods in Mobile & helped himself with 4.47 time at Combine. Strapped together physically & more physical than measurables might suggest. Long-term building block in secondary.”

On MarShawn Lloyd: “Thought he was top RB in draft. He and Josh Jacobs give Pack one of best 1-2 RB rotations in NFL. Hard to handle in space. Elusive, explosive, & fun lateral cutter. Compact hard-to-wrap body type to bounce off contact. Way more dangerous in pass game than stats suggest. True 3-down back with high-end starter talent.”

On Evan Williams: “Many teams we’ve spoken with were targeting him early Day 3 where Pack took him. Falls into “good football player” bucket. Good centerfield skill-set. Fun tape loaded with cool range plays. Boosted stock with excellent Senior Bowl game performance. Gives coaches sub-downs options. Could see him at FS w/ Bullard moving to nickel in packages.”

On Kitan Oladapo: “Different than Bullard & Williams. Big, good-looking SS prospect who we could see Pack trying as dime-LB. Will be immediate factor in kicking game and good developmental depth piece behind X. McKinney.”

On Travis Glover: “Huge expansive human that scouting staff did nice job on. Was the only in-week addition to Senior Bowl and acquitted himself very well. Wasn’t overwhelmed by jump in level-of-comp. More than held his own in 1-on-1 drills. Long reach makes him hard to get around in pass pro. Pack has chance to hit on solid swing-OT in Year 2-3 window.”

On Michael Pratt: “Perhaps biggest surprise fall in entire draft. Most teams we spoke with had 3rd/4th grades. Elevated Tulane program. Plays QB position well. Accurate touch thrower, athletic enough to escape, & extremely tough. Had higher grade on Pratt than Clifford year ago. Solid No. 2 floor and wouldn’t shock us if he eventually became starter in right situation. Might be old-school Ron Wolf flip-for-higher-pick in a few years.”

On Kalen King: “Was in many way-too-early first round mocks this time last year. We thought ’22 tape was Day 2 level. Got tested early/often opposite Joey Porter Jr. as sophomore and responded but ’23 tape wasn’t same. Good athlete on tape but below average Combine testing didn’t help. Could be a steal if Pack coaching staff can help him regain confidence he played with two years ago.”

Drafted or signed from Senior Bowl

2018 (8)

CB Isaac Yiadom (signed)
OL Cole Madison (drafted)
WR Allen Lazard (signed)
QB Kurt Benkert (signed)
P J.K. Scott (drafted)
WR J’Mon Moore (drafted)
CB Chandon Sullivan (signed)
LB Oren Burks (drafted)

2019 (9)

CB Corey Ballentine (signed)
S Darnell Savage (drafted)
RB Dexter Williams (drafted)
S Jonathan Abram (signed)
RB Ryquell Armstead (signed)
OT Andre Dillard (signed)
WR Travis Fulgham (signed)
OL Elgton Jenkins (drafted)
DL Kingsley Keke (drafted)

2020 (3)

QB Jordan Love (drafted)
TE Josiah Deguara (drafted)
LS Steven Wirtel (signed)

2021 (5)

S Christian Uphoff (signed)
RB Kylin Hill (drafted)
OL Royce Newman (drafted)
CB Robert Rochell (signed)
WR Amari Rodgers (drafted)

2022 (7)

WR Romeo Doubs (drafted)
WR Bo Melton (signed)
WR Christian Watson (drafted)
S Tariq Carpenter (drafted)
OLB Kingsley Enagbare (drafted)
OL Lecitus Smith (signed)
DL Devonte Wyatt (drafted)

2023 (6)

DL Karl Brooks (drafted)
WR Grant DuBose (drafted)
WR Jayden Reed (drafted)
TE Luke Musgrave (drafted)
K Jack Podlesny (signed)
WR Dontayvion Wicks (drafted)

2024 (9)

OL Jordan Morgan (drafted)
S Javon Bullard (drafted)
RB MarShawn Lloyd (drafted)
S Evan Williams (drafted)
S Kitan Oladapo (drafted)
OL Travis Glover (drafted)
QB Michael Pratt (drafted)
CB Kalen King (drafted)
LS Peter Bowden (signed)