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What I’m watching for from the B1G at the Senior Bowl

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

The Senior Bowl isn’t for everybody — looking at you, underclassmen — but for those who got to compete in Mobile, Ala. this week, it’s a prime opportunity to improve one’s NFL draft stock heading into the all-important pre-draft evaluation period.

This year, the B1G has 16 seniors who will try to do just that. Everything they do this week will be overanalyzed in an attempt to determine just how valuable they can be at the next level.

So what will I be watching for from the B1G come Saturday? A few things:

1. Can Tanner Lee be INT-free?

Can an apple not rot? Can water not boil over high heat? Can the sun not rise? All of these things are inevitable occurrences that we cannot prevent from happening over time. Lee throwing some brutal interceptions feels like one of those things. After all, there is a game to play this week. Surely the guy who threw a pick once every 27 passes is due for turnover or 2.

But early on at the Senior Bowl practices, it appeared that the former Nebraska quarterback tapped into the Peyton Manning Quarterback Camp version of himself:

https://twitter.com/AllbrightNFL/status/955933991085006849

He had scouts calling him a “natural pocket passer” and raving about his size and arm strength. The question for Lee is not how he looks in shorts. If that’s all NFL talent evaluators want to judge him by, then he’ll be drafted on Day 2.

The question is how Lee handles pressure in the pocket and if his decision-making can improve. It’s hard to simulate that with basic defenses, which bodes well for Lee. Perhaps that’s why he jumped at the opportunity to get to Mobile when Mason Rudolph was a late scratch.

Lee has a tremendous opportunity to dazzle the scouts who didn’t watch the 3-interception afternoons. For the sake of Lee’s draft stock, Saturday would be a pretty awful time for another one of those.

2. The B1G’s elite tight ends

For the last year, I’ve been saying that I thought Troy Fumagalli and Mike Gesicki were the best tight ends in America, as well as the best tight end prospects. In my opinion, they still are. They have a chance to prove that again on Saturday.

In an era in which steady pass-catching tight ends seem to be few and far between in the NFL, Fumagalli and Gesicki both fit that mold. Both can be counted on not just in the red zone, but all over the field to make plays. Each has an obvious weakness — Fumagalli isn’t a freak athlete and Gesicki’s blocking needs work — that will need to be addressed. Still, both Fumagalli and Gesicki should handle this process extremely well.

Interestingly enough, there are only 4 tight ends (including Fumagalli and Gesicki) from Power 5 schools at the Senior Bowl. Nobody has the résumés and proven skill sets against elite defenses like Fumagalli and Gesicki do. There will be plenty of opportunities to show that.

3. Marcus Allen potentially rising up draft boards again

After starting the 2017 season as a first-round prospect, Allen sort of faded from that discussion in the second half of the season. Part of that could be that Allen isn’t considered a ball hawk, which is evident by his 1 career interception. What Allen does do well is step up and make big-time tackles in the open field.

I mean, the dude can bring it.

A few monster hits like that during live action will make Allen’s presence felt in a hurry. He also knows how important it would be to force a turnover or 2 on Saturday.

After measuring in at 6-2, 215, size is working in Allen’s favor. He said during Senior Bowl week that his goal is to become a Kam Chancellor-type player.

If scouts are giving Allen those Chancellor comps by week’s end, he could sneak back into that first-round conversation.

4. Akrum Wadley looking dominant…or undersized

When Wadley was weighing the idea of leaving school early for the NFL last year, Kirk Ferentz publicly said that the Iowa tailback needed to get bigger for him to become an attractive next-level prospect.

Unfortunately for Wadley, he didn’t exactly prove his coach wrong by measuring in at 5-9, 188 pounds at the Senior Bowl. Wadley has always had a difficult time putting on weight, and getting that up in the next couple months will be a major hurdle. The problem is that if he doesn’t, he’s a mid-round guy at best (even Ameer Abdullah was 205 pounds).

It’s unfortunate because Wadley obviously has tremendous open-field ability. He can make people miss, he can catch passes out of the backfield and contrary to what his size suggests, he can run in between the tackles. In the NFL, 188-pound tailbacks don’t get the chance to do all of those things. Wadley can still boost his stock significantly on Saturday by making one of his signature jump cuts and busting loose for a big gain.

How will the week impact Wadley? That might depend on who you ask:

Isn’t #DraftTwitter great?

5. The fascinating evaluation of Kemoko Turay

For those of you who don’t know the story of the Rutgers edge rusher, here’s the Reader’s Digest version.

Two years after playing football for the first time (as a high school senior), Turay became an overnight, kick-blocking sensation as a redshirt freshman in Piscataway. For the next two seasons, however, Turay became an afterthought and all of those “breakout” expectations faded in part because of injuries. Then as a fifth-year senior in 2017, Turay got back to his redshirt freshman self and had arguably the best season of his up-and-down college career.

So now, Turay has a chance to build on that raw potential and make himself some money at the Senior Bowl. Based on some of the reports out of Mobile, Turay might’ve already done just that.

Turay has “late-round flier” written all over him. He’s going to handle the Senior Bowl and all of the other pre-draft opportunities well because as many pointed out, he’s extremely athletic and he’s a great interview. What will be interesting is seeing how much he can rise if he has a solid showing on Saturday.

Something tells me Turay’s wild football story is far from over.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.