The SEC is the conference of football, and it goes without saying that there are well over a dozen 2023 NFL Draft prospects representing the SEC at the 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl. Which players present hail from the southeast, and who are the top names to watch in that group?
SEC NFL Draft Prospects at the 2023 Shrine Bowl
Arkansas C Ricky Stromberg
You don’t always hear Ricky Stromberg’s name among the top interior offensive linemen. But especially with Sedrick Van Pran returning, Stromberg has a chance to go higher than expected, as one of the quality center options on the board. He lacks an over-arching elite trait, but he’s strong, well-leveraged, smart, and flexible anchoring the A-gaps.
Florida EDGE Brenton Cox Jr.
The Shrine Bowl represents an important checkpoint for Brenton Cox Jr. He’ll not only have to prove himself against top competition, but he’ll also have to speak on his dismissal from the Florida football program.
MORE: Top EDGE Defenders at the 2023 Shrine Bowl Include Habakkuk Baldonado and Brenton Cox Jr.
If Cox can do that in interviews, he has the talent to win the week. Especially as a pass rusher in 1-on-1s, he has the burst, power, twitch, and violent hands to dominate.
Florida S Trey Dean III
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of experience Trey Dean III accrues during Shrine Bowl week. Dean has ideal size, explosiveness, and physicality for a safety. But as a former cornerback, he also has the off-man technique, fluidity, and short-area flexibility to match receivers and blanket them in coverage. He’s a potential NFL chess piece to watch in Las Vegas.
Arkansas WR Jadon Haselwood
After transferring from Oklahoma, Jadon Haselwood put up career numbers with the Razorbacks in 2022, logging 59 catches for 702 yards. Haselwood has a long, wiry frame at 6’3″, 213 pounds, and is incredibly physical in all phases. That ability to simply outmuscle DBs is something he’ll rely on in 1-on-1s, but separating consistently will be key.
LSU CB Mekhi Garner
The 2023 NFL Draft cornerback class is stacked to the brim with well-sized athletes, who bring both length and explosiveness when matching receivers. LSU’s Mekhi Garner is one of those players.
At 6’2″, 217 pounds, Garner brings rare mass for the position and carries it very well. His physicality both before and after stems is a defining feature of his game.
Tennessee LB Jeremy Banks
He’s a former RB, and Jeremy Banks both looks and plays like it. He’s a hair over 6’0″, but a supremely compact athlete at 230 pounds. He’s explosive, twitchy, and very instinctive in the box, with the red-hot motor to fly through gaps and disrupt plays early.
Banks is still a bit raw as a linebacker, but he has the tools and the disposition to win over scouts as a developmental player.
Other SEC 2023 NFL Draft Prospects To Watch at the Shrine Bowl
- OT Dalton Wagner, Arkansas
- WR Justin Shorter, Florida
- LB Amari Burney, Florida
- EDGE Robert Beal Jr., Georgia
- WR Kearis Jackson, Georgia
- CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse, LSU
- S AJ Finley, Ole Miss
- OT Mason Brooks, Ole Miss
- G Jerome Carvin, Tennessee
- TE Princeton Fant, Tennessee
- LB Anfernee Orji, Vanderbilt