Notes from Day 2 at the 2021 Senior Bowl

Day two at the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl presented new challenges, great personal news for this writer, and more standout performances.

The future of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is always being worked on, and even as the team itself prepares for a chance to win Super Bowl LV, some of these names could land on their NFL Draft radar in just a few short months.

Lets take a look now at day two of practices at the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

NATIONAL TEAM

Taking the practice field first was the National Team coached up by the Miami Dolphins coaching staff. As you can see in the tweet, I had my eyes specifically trained on a couple of defenders and offensive lineman Dillon Radunz from North Dakota State University.

On the first day with NFL officials present, Benjamin St-Juste got flagged multiple times. However, from a competitions standpoint you appreciate seeing the Minnesota cornerback trying to use his physical tools against his opponents.

It’s important to remember the one on one drills are especially advantageous for offensive players, so it’s not uncommon for a defender to do something that might be called an infraction when trying to defend an entire field by themselves.

What we did see from St-Juste that you want to take away though was solid ability hindering receiver releases, ball skills, and body control when getting airborne.

Radunz followed up an impressive day one with a just as impressive day two. Again he played as a left tackle and left guard, and again he looked strong in every team rep.

He may not be a day one prospect when it’s all said and done, but he’s a guy who will certainly have scouts heading back to the film room to see if there’s more than they knew about this prospect heading into Mobile.

More Rakeem Nunez-Roches than anything, I’m not sure if Odighizuwa’s draft stock will match where the Buccaneers end up targeting another defensive lineman in the NFL Draft, but his scheme versatility is going to attract him to someone, and should give him a solid chance at being an impact player for whichever franchise decides to take the UCLA product.

AMERICAN TEAM

In full disclosure, I missed the American Team practice led by the Carolina Panthers’ coaching staff due to a conference call regarding some earth-shaking news pertaining to the Locked On Podcast Network - under which I am credentialed here in Mobile this week.

While the future of the Locked On Bucs Podcast was being set into overdrive, our friends at Whole Nine Sports were still on ground at the Senior Bowl practice, and here are some of the best tweets from the second practice session of the day.

Mac Jones is a name known to most football fans due to his National Championship success with Alabama, and the fact he played at Alabama.

Perhaps lesser known is Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill. Hill flashed a wide variety of talents on day one, and from looking at this video, he continued to do so on day two.

I don’t think anyone will leave the Senior Bowl saying Jamie Newman (Wake Forest) is a pro ready quarterback, but they will say he’s a developmental guy with tons of upside. He showed out on day one and looked like the best quarterback in Alabama while doing so.

On day two, he showed a little more mobility and hitting a moving target on the run is something modern quarterbacks have to be able to do.

Day one material? Not likely. But if you have a team with a known talent at quarterback and a year or two to mold and mentor young Newman before throwing him into the fire, he could be a good risk to take.