NFL Analysis
9/27/24
8 min read
2025 NFL Draft: Prospects To Watch in College Football Week 5
For the second year, our Reese’s Senior Bowl scouting team will be on more than 10 college campuses nationwide every week during the 2024 CFB season.
Follow @JimNagy_SB on Twitter all day Saturday to see up-close field-level videos on the following players (and many more!):
Colorado at UCF—3:30 pm ET, FOX
Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders
Measurements: (6012v, 198v, 32 3/8 arm, 9 ½ hand)
This will be the Reese’s Senior Bowl’s first live look of the season at Sanders. Rolled through tape of CU’s miraculous comeback over Baylor from last Saturday night, highlighted by Sanders’ Hail Mary to force overtime, and it was littered with a bunch of rewind-worthy pro throws.
Unlike many highly drafted quarterbacks who benefit from great supporting casts in college and then struggle as rookies with a weaker roster, Sanders is already accustomed to escaping and buying second chances, which are two of many things he does at a high level.
Simply put, Sanders’ ability to extend plays and throw accurately on the move makes him extremely difficult to defend. With Sanders’ go-to guy, two-way Heisman candidate Travis Hunter, and UCF playmakers WR Kobe Hudson and RB R.J. Harvey, there will be plenty of early-round skill talent on the field in Orlando on Saturday night.
Louisville at Notre Dame—3:30 pm ET, Peacock
Notre Dame CB Benjamin Morrison
Measurements: (6000v, 186v, 30 5/8 arm, 9 ½ hand)
Last year’s Senior Bowl featured four Fighting Irish defenders, including eventual fifth-round CB Cam Hart (L.A. Chargers), and it was easy to notice Morrison playing opposite Hart on tape a year ago. Opponents tended to go away from Morrison last year after his breakout six interceptionfreshman season, but he was still able to get three interceptions and break up another 10 passes.
Aside from the obvious ball production, NFL scouts will like Morrison’s outside/inside versatility. As a six-footer, he has the size to matchup on the perimeter, which he did last year helping the Irish hold Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. to only 32 receiving yards, and he also possesses the change-of-direction skills to match people in the slot.
All underclassmen are eligible to play in the Senior Bowl this year, and Morrison is one of the highest-graded juniors on our board after the first four weeks of the season.
Illinois at Penn State—7:30 pm ET, NBC
Penn State TE Tyler Warren
Measurements: (6056v, 255v, 32 arm, 9 3/8 hand)
We had an invite ready to send to Warren a year ago before he decided to return to school, and he’s an even better player on tape this fall. Warren fits the big-bodied Y profile that all NFL teams are looking for, and he’s more athletic than he’s given credit for. Credit new OC Andy Kotelnicki for finding creative ways to get Warren involved in the offense, as he did last week against Kent State using Warren, a former high school quarterback, as a wildcat QB.
Warren has some of the best ball-tracking skills and hands in this year’s tight end class and he's also one of the few guys who can lineup attached and get people blocked. On last spring’s edition of “Hard Knocks”, the New York Giants’ scouting staff was open about how much the Senior Bowl helped Warren’s former teammate Theo Johnson. We think Warren himself could benefit similarly from a strong week in Mobile.
Tusculum at Lenoir-Rhyne—1 pm ET, FloSports
Lenoir-Rhyne DT Andre Jefferson
Measurements: (6012v, 286v, 33 1/8 arm, 9 1/8 hand)
We found one of our game’s best most recent success stories four years ago at this D-II school, current New England Patriots star safety Kyle Dugger, and we’ll be back in Hickory, NC on Saturday to checkout Lenoir-Rhyne’s standout DT Andre Jefferson.
We’ve received multiple “heads up” phone calls from NFL scouts the past two falls about Jefferson, who projects as a three-technique based on his lack of size. Based on the limited tape we’ve seen so far, Jefferson can win with good get-off quickness, and he uses his disproportionately long arms well to separate from blocks.
Live exposures are always critical with smaller-school prospects, so we are excited to get our eyes on Jefferson on Saturday afternoon.
Iowa State at Houston—7 pm ET, FS1
Iowa State CB Darien Porter
Measurements: (6026v, 192v, no arm or hand measurements)
Of all the cornerbacks in this year’s draft class, Porter might be the most “arrow-up” of all of them. Last year, Porter played behind T.J. Tampa, who was a good football player on tape but fell to the late fourth round due to running poor 40 times at the Big 12 Combine, but speed will not be an issue for the former converted wideout and first-year starter.
Porter’s speed is obvious on tape, and it’s also documented going back to his high school track days, as he was the first person in the state of Iowa to run a sub-47-second 400-meter dash. Moreover, our partners at Telemetry Sports have Porter’s top in-game speed at 21.8 mph, which should put him in the 4.3 range next spring.
Porter also blocked the fourth punt of his career last week against Arkansas State and you can’t do that without have serious acceleration off the edge. Former Cyclones pass rusher Will McDonald parlayed a huge Senior Bowl week into being the No. 15 overall pick in the draft (New York Jets) two years ago and if Porter gets the invite this year we think he could make a similar ascension through the pre-draft process.
Sacramento State at Northern Arizona—4 pm ET, ESPN+
Sac State OG Jackson Slater
Measurements: (6030v, 313v, 32 ¾ arm, 10 hand)
One small-school name that’s generating some late-round buzz among West Coast scouts right now is Sac State’s Slater. The four-year starter and All-Big Sky honoree has NFL measurables, and he certainly looks the part, as we can attest after meeting him and OL guru Duke Manyweather’s OL Masterminds event this summer.
Slater has repped almost exclusively at left guard over his career so it will be important for him to show some center versatility during the pre-draft process. While he’s not the most explosive guy off the ball, Slater is a good short puller, and he has enough mobility to get people blocked at the second level.
Like most sub-FBS prospects, there is a developmental element to Slater but we do think he has the tools to play at the next level.
Georgia at Alabama—7:30 pm ET, ABC
Alabama LB Deontae Lawson
Measurements: (6022v, 227v, 32 5/8 arm, 9 1/8 hand)
We’ve been watching Lawson, a Mobile native, since his high school days and he’s consistently improved each year. Lawson, now in his second year as a starter in the middle of the Tide’s defense, has made a nice jump from last year’s tape.
The staff raves about his overall leadership and football intelligence, which is why he’s the designated “green dot” player (coach-to-player helmet communication) and main communicator on defense. He’s made a nice jump on tape from last season. The biggest area of improvement our staff has seen has come on run-downs, where he has played downhill more aggressively the first month of this season.
Staffers tell us that Lawson packed on 12-14 pounds of good weight this offseason (currently playing around 240 lbs) and the difference has been notable when it comes to getting off blocks. A big key for Alabama this week will be handling Georgia’s tight end duo of Oscar Delp and Ben Yurocek and Lawson will be greatly responsible for that assignment.
Georgia OLB Jalon Walker
Measurements: (no verified measurements available)
Stats lie all the time. That’s a fact. And there’s not a greater example of that in this year’s draft class than Georgia do-everything hybrid. On paper, Walker only has 10 total tackles in four games but that does not do any justice to how good he’s been on tape.
The former four-star true junior ranks among the nation’s leaders in pass rush win percentage with an eye-popping 29.4 percent and his ability to effect the quarterback from multiple alignments will set him apart from most guys in this year’s EDGE class.
Walker was recruited as an off-the-ball linebacker but he has developed into more of a chess piece defender who can impact the game in so many ways that don’t show up on the stat sheet. It’s still early in the season but few draft eligible defensive prospects have helped themselves the first month of the season like Walker has.
