The Senior Bowl, college football’s top all-star game, is fast approaching on Jan. 25. Each year, two rosters of 53 players are assembled for a week of practice culminating in a game. For college football players trying to catch the eye of the NFL, the Senior Bowl is the top showcase with hundreds of personnel members and coaches in attendance.
2013 Senior Bowl North and South roster projections
They may not have asked for help, but at this point in the college football season, here is how the Senior Bowl rosters should look.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Again this year, the Senior Bowl released its watch list, which is a good starting point. Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage has also been traveling around the country to take in the top players first hand. But in an effort to give the Senior Bowl a hand that they didn’t ask for, he’s an early roster projection.
Find some methodology notes after the rosters.
ROSTER PROJECTION:
NORTH:
QB:
Derek Carr, Fresno State
David Fales, San Jose State
Bryn Renner, North Carolina
RB:
Carlos Hyde, Ohio State
Charles Sims, West Virginia
James White, Wisconsin
WR:
Jared Abbrederis, Wisconsin
Corey Brown, Ohio State
Jeremy Gallon, Michigan
Robert Herron, Wyoming
Jalen Saunders, Oklahoma
Devin Street, Pittsburgh
TE:
Ted Bolser, Indiana
C.J. Fiedorwicz, Iowa
Marcel Jensen, Fresno State
OL:
Austen Bujnoch, Cincinnati
James Hurst, North Carolina
Danny Kistler, Montana
Antwan Lowery, Rutgers
Spencer Long, Nebraska
Tyler Larsen, Utah State
Taylor Lewan, Michigan
Zack Martin, Notre Dame
Jack Mewhort, Ohio State
DL:
DeAndre Coleman, California
James Gayle, Virginia Tech
Ra'Shede Hageman, Minnesota
DaQuan Jones, Penn State
Louis Nix, Notre Dame
Trevor Reilly, Utah
Ed Stinson, Alabama
Larry Webster, Bloomsburg
LB:
Denicos Allen, Michigan State
Chris Borland, Wisconsin
Max Bullough, Michigan State
Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky
Khalil Mack, Buffalo
Yawin Smallwood, Connecticut
DB:
C.J. Barnett, Ohio State
Tre Boston, North Carolina
Deone Bucannon, Washington State
Aaron Colvin, Oklahoma
Darqueze Dennard, Michigan State
Antone Exum, Virginia Tech
Kyle Fuller, Virginia Tech
Jerry "BooBoo" Gates, Bowling Green
Justin Gilbert, Oklahoma State
Jimmie Ward, Northern Illinois
Specialists:
Drew Basil, Ohio State (K)
Cody Webster, Purdue (P)
SOUTH:
QB:
A.J. McCarron, Alabama
Zach Mettenberger, LSU
Aaron Murray, Georgia
RB:
Timothy Flanders, Sam Houston State
Marion Grice, Arizona State
LaDarius Perkins, Mississippi State
WR:
Jeremy Butler, Tennessee-Martin
Mike Davis, Texas
Cody Hoffman, BYU
Jordan Matthews, Vanderbilt
Tevin Reese, Baylor
Eric Ward, Texas Tech
TE:
Chris Coyle, Arizona State
Joe Don Duncan, Dixie State
Arthur Lynch, Georgia
OL:
Matt Hall, Belhaven
Seantrel Henderson, Miami
Gabe Ikard, Oklahoma
Gabe Jackson, Mississippi State
Ju'Wuan James, Tennessee
Anthony Steen, Alabama
Morgan Moses, Virginia
Cyril Richardson, Baylor
Brandon Thomas, Clemson
DL:
Ryan Carrethers, Arkansas State
Kerry Hyder, Texas Tech
Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas
Cassius Marsh, UCLA
Daniel McCullers, Tennessee
Chaz Sutton, South Carolina
Will Sutton, Arizona State
George Uko, Southern California
LB:
Jeremiah Attaochu, Georgia Tech
Morgan Breslin, Southern California
Christian Jones, Florida State
C.J. Mosley, Alabama
Shayne Skov, Stanford
Kyle Van Noy, BYU
DB:
Carrington Byndom, Texas
Ahmad Dixon, Baylor
Deshazor Everett, Texas A&M
Andre Hal, Vanderbilt
Lamarcus Joyner, Florida State
Kenny Ladler, Vanderbilt
Craig Loston, LSU
Hakeem Smith, Louisville
Jason Verrett, TCU
Nickoe Whitley, Mississippi State
Specialists:
Cody Mandell, Alabama (P)
Cairo Santos, Tulane (K)
Skipping the Senior Bowl: Last year only a few of the top senior prospects decided not to play in the Senior Bowl. With that in mind, Texas A&M offensive tackle Jake Matthews and UCLA outside linebacker Anthony Barr were left off the rosters.
Tajh Boyd of Clemson was also left off. Each side gets three quarterbacks. For the South, that's going to be hard. Savage said over the weekend that Georgia's Aaron Murray basically earned an invitation. Zach Mettenberger of LSU seems to be playing himself into a spot as well. It's also hard to see A.J. McCarron of Alabama getting passed over.
Strange geography: The Senior Bowl's sense of geography is a little wacky. The teams are designated North and South. There is some convenience to where a player gets placed. It's sort of like the Dallas Cowboys being in the NFC East. Last year, BYU players were on the South roster, so they are again in this projection. Texas was in the North a year ago, but in the South in 2011. With that in mind, I put Southern California players on the South. TJ McDonald lined up for the North last year.
Small schoolers: Every year, the Senior Bowl brings a handful of small-school prospects from non-FBS schools. One name to know among the small schoolers picked is Matt Hall of Belhaven. The Ole Miss transfer is listed at 6-foot-10, 325 pounds. NFL teams will eagerly want to see what a player of his length can do against top competition.
Who is Larry Webster of Bloomsburg and why should he get a Senior Bowl invite? The answers: Size, production and upside. Webster is the son of the all-time Dolphins great of the same name. The younger Webster played center for the Bloomsburg basketball and switched to football last season. He’s raw and has uncanny length at 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds. He has eight sacks already this season and had 12.5 last season.
Fun fact: Virginia Tech hasn't had a player in the Senior Bowl since 2011 (cornerback Rashad Carmichael). Defensive end James Gayle should get an invite, as should defensive backs Antone Exum and Kyle Fuller.
Virginia Tech is one of five teams with three players in this projection. Alabama leads the way with five players. Ohio State has four.
Who’s missing?: I don’t know anything about college long snappers. Other than successfully snapping the ball, I don’t know how you evaluate long snappers. Thus, I didn’t pick one. Each roster will have one long snapper.
The big names missing out are Dri Archer of Kent State, Adrian Hubbard of Alabama, Telvin Smith of Florida State, A.J. Johnson of Tennessee and Trent Murphy of Stanford. Archer was cut because he missed Kent State's games against better opponents. All of those linebackers of the South were victims of the numbers game. Six linebackers get picked every year, with just three typically playing the outside. The linebackers should be hardest to choose this year and full of the most talent.
Who else did I overlook? Let me know in the comments.
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