There are four Utah ties participating in Senior Bowl practices this week and the all-star game on Saturday.
These Beehive State players will be competing in front of NFL personnel as they prepare for April’s NFL draft.
It’s also an especially important week for every player at the Senior Bowl.
While there is still the NFL Scouting Combine and team pro days in the coming months, the Senior Bowl has a good track record of getting players drafted.
Last year, 82% of the players who participated in the Senior Bowl were selected in the NFL draft, according to the organization. That amounted to 106 Senior Bowl players taken in the 2022 NFL draft, or 40% of the entire draft class (with 262 total drafted), and 45 in the first three rounds.
The 2023 Senior Bowl game will be played Saturday at 12:30 p.m. MST and televised on NFL Network.
What Utah ties are at the Senior Bowl?
BYU has three former Cougars at the Senior Bowl, while a former Utah high school standout is also in Mobile, Alabama:
National Team
- Blake Freeland, OT, BYU and Herriman High.
- Jaren Hall, QB, BYU and Maple Mountain High.
- Puka Nacua, WR, BYU and Orem High.
American Team
- Cameron Latu, TE, Olympus High.
Note: Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid, Utah offensive tackle Braeden Daniels and former East High defensive tackle Siaki Ika originally accepted invitations to the Senior Bowl, but they do not appear on the game’s rosters released last week.
What others are saying about Utah ties at the Senior Bowl
Hall has been mentioned by several national outlets as someone to watch during Senior Bowl week in a quarterback group where the majority are expected to be later-round draft picks.
“Is there one you’d bang the table for? I don’t know,” one NFC scout told NFL.com’s Eric Edholm of the Senior Bowl’s QB group. “I don’t think you have a clear-cut starter projection right now, but that could change.”
Edholm discussed what stands out about Hall.
“Hall has some similarities to Russell Wilson, with his shorter, stockier build and deep-ball ability. The BYU product isn’t quite the innovator or scrambler that Wilson was coming out of Wisconsin, but he will be among the most highly touted passers in attendance,” Edholm wrote.
“... One scout I spoke with believes Hall has the best chance to emerge from the group, but he also worries about the QB’s age (he’ll be a 25-year-old rookie) and upside.”
Detroit Lions senior writer Tim Twentyman said it was a tough opening day of Senior Bowl practices for the quarterbacks on Tuesday.
“The quarterback play at the Senior Bowl usually starts out shaky and gets better as the week progresses, but it was pretty inconsistent across the board from the signal callers on Tuesday,” he wrote.
Pro Football Network’s Cam Mellor said Nacua “stole the show” during Tuesday’s practices.
“Nacua looked effortless and smooth in his routes during one-on-one drills, arguably the most important for wide receivers and defensive backs in the early going,” Mellor wrote. “On his first rep, Nacua flexed his route-running muscles with a quick drag route over the middle that saw him lose his defender with at least five yards of separation.
“... Overall, Nacua’s play in all facets was as impressive as you’d expect from a player who flashed brilliance every time he touched the ball at BYU.”
The Senior Bowl released measurements for each of the Utah ties at the game: