Practices for Saturday’s Panini Senior Bowl are in the books, and there are plenty of risers to discuss. Who made the most of their opportunity in Mobile? Let’s take a look at a group headlined by an unheralded small-school WR and a potential first-round selection.
Tyren Montgomery, WR, John Carroll
If the definition of a “riser” is a player who had the largest net gain of prestige and grade standing in a single week, then no prospect rose more at the Shrine Bowl than Tyren Montgomery, a wide receiver from Division III school John Carroll.
Montgomery came into the Senior Bowl as a relative unknown outside of his Division III circle, and he left with more than one NFL Draft analyst pondering Top 100 potential after getting off to a dominant start on Days 1 and 2.
A former walk-on basketball player at LSU, who didn’t play football until 2022, Montgomery could’ve fooled everyone into thinking he’d been playing for ten years in Mobile. Dotted across the first two days were reps of him off-setting defenders with wicked crossovers and diamond releases or cutting absurdly acute angles and rapidly decelerating at stems.
Montgomery’s top highlights came against top competition, too. He elevated for a high-flying boundary grab against Thaddeus Dixon on Day 1, and he beat premier playmaker Chris Johnson at the catch in a 1-on-1 on Day 2, using smooth body control and sharp timing.
Montgomery’s final day was a bit rockier. He didn’t separate as cleanly, had a bad drop early on, and at times appeared imbalanced. But he made such a strong impression on the first two days that it won’t matter much. At his best, he was the best WR in Mobile, and this is likely just the start of his 2026 NFL Draft ascent.
Caleb Banks, DT, Florida
Caleb Banks was perhaps the only Senior Bowl prospect with previously established Round 1 standing. He wasn’t a consensus Round 1 prospect entering the event, of course. However, it seems likely to change, especially after his performance on Days 2 and 3.
At 6’6″ and 330 pounds, Banks simply has an inhuman brand of burst and quickness, and overwhelming power capacity as a result. His physical tools alone make him near impossible to handle, and he proved his superiority directly in 1-on-1s.
With his quickness and constant leg action, Banks won with swims and rips after off-setting, and at one point tossed his man to the ground with an explosive throw-by, and he also flashed the ability to bowl through blockers with menacing raw power.
The Senior Bowl is a crucible of talent, and those who possess top-flight tools often show it through comparison and triumph. Banks’ talent is ready-made for Day 1 disruption, and the game-wrecker upside is too great for too many teams to pass on.
Max Iheanachor, OT, Arizona State
Max Iheanachor was one of the most heavily anticipated Senior Bowl prospects after a standout 2025 campaign that saw him fight admirably against likely first-round pick David Bailey, even as others couldn’t.
Iheanachor’s first practice was uneven; he gave up hip leverage at times in pass protection, falling for angle manipulations from rushers and failing to strike with precision or timing. But Iheanachor noted his failings and took corrective measures. The result? He was one of the best linemen the last two days.
At almost 6’6″ and 325 pounds, Iheanachor was clearly the best pound-for-pound athlete in the entire OL group, and it translated down the stretch. With his light feet and nimble lateral mobility, he was able to effortlessly match and oscillate to initial rush angles, and Iheanachor’s anchor and strike timing drastically improved later in the week.
For a lineman who never played high school football, Iheanachor’s pass set is surprisingly clean and balanced, and he flashed the ability to generate movement in the run game with his explosion and length. Round 1 capital could very well be on the table for Iheanachor.
Dametrious Crownover, OT, Texas A&M
Entering the Senior Bowl, Dametrious Crownover was a fringe Top 100 prospect on my board, with clearly compelling tools but sometimes inconsistent execution. Crownover’s Senior Bowl showing reaffirmed the merit of his hyper-elite physical foundation and provided glimpses of exciting technical prowess.
At 6’7″, 331 pounds, Crownover blots out the sun when he lines up on the right side, and with that size comes hyper-elite power capacity and raw strength. All of this, however, we already knew. What Crownover showed beyond that was explosive athleticism off the line, and glimpses of high-level synergy and latch strength on engagement.
The most eye-catching rep of Crownover’s was against Romello Height; Crownover stayed balanced in his pass set while matching Height’s speed, and when he extended and latched, he erased Height’s momentum instantly.
In team drills, Crownover was a bit less consistent and proved susceptible to double-teams at times, but he’s still a ready-made road grader in the run game, with the pass set, leverage acquisition, and domineering skill set to pose a challenge on the right side.
Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech
Jacob Rodriguez won the Nagurski, Butkus, Lombardi, and Bednarik Awards in 2025, while also emerging as a consensus All-American and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. And yet, there were questions in the scouting community about his size-adjusted athleticism and upside at 6’1″, 233 pounds.
It’s safe to say Rodriguez quelled those concerns at the Senior Bowl. Just like he was in college, Rodriguez was one of the best players in the field day in and day out, with a particular affinity for coverage.
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Rodriguez logged four interceptions and six pass breakups in 2025, and that same pass defense production was all over his Senior Bowl tape. Rodriguez has the short-area quickness and fluidity to effortlessly match RBs and TEs on over-the-top stems. He’s incredibly quick to fire downhill on breaks or upfield to cover wheels, and is proactive as a playmaker.
If Rodriguez’s elite coverage play wasn’t enough, he also produced verified speed on the chase in lateral pursuit, and his quick reaction and processing ensured he was always around the ball.
Mike Washington Jr., RB, Arkansas
Mike Washington Jr. was the best running back in Mobile. That was clear to some capacity very early on, but Washington only built on his momentum throughout the week and put together quality reps in both phases of the game, while also displaying a high-level physical tools pallet at 6’0 1/2″ and 228 pounds.
Early on, Washington enamored onlookers with his size-defying foot speed and vertical explosion, as well as his sharp vision, processing, and stem IQ. He secured the highest speed among all players through two days, with a max pace of over 21 MPH, and on Day 3, he decisively beat Owen Heinecke on a sudden, explosive wheel route.
Washington has the size, quickness, hip fluidity, and vision of a true volume back, and his pass-game production in Mobile was just as enticing. He entered the event as a Top 5 RB on my board, but even that may now be too low.
Zion Young, EDGE, Missouri
In an EDGE class that’s somewhat unsettled past the top prospects, Zion Young did what he needed to do to potentially shift the pecking order in Mobile. At 6’5″, 262 pounds, Young has all of the desired physical qualities: Explosiveness, length, power, and flexibility. And at the Senior Bowl, those tools translated into consistent disruption.
Young made a strong first impression on Day 1 with his unyielding motor and vast pass-rush bag, and he stacked new highlights on Days 2 and 3. Wednesday saw him bowl through heavy-set lineman JC Davis with a terrifying bull-rush, and on Thursday, he unveiled a smooth euro-club-rip while apexing and cornering in team drills.
A DWI charge back in December bears noting for Young, who NFL teams will need to vet off the field before they make any decisions. But as a pass rusher, it’s impossible to ignore Young’s complete physical profile and recent development, and Top 50 capital may now be on the table.
Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma
The defensive line group was very visibly stacked in Mobile this year, but few defensive tackles were more consistently disruptive than Oklahoma’s Gracen Halton. Halton entered the week as a prospect without much consensus standing, but Top 100 buzz will now be the commonality for him.
At 6’2 1/2″, 296 pounds, Halton is built like the typical sawed-off interior lineman, with compact mass and decent proportions. That build grants him good natural leverage, but what truly elevates his game is his explosive athleticism, his contact leg action, and his ability to stack violent counters.
In 1-on-1s, Halton won with countless combinations, stacking club-rips and arm-over-rips on demand, while using his explosiveness and lateral twitch to offset and gain swift angle advantages. In team drills, he focused more on impacting the line with power, but was still able to disrupt and shoot up gaps with rips and swims as a pass rusher.
Halton endeared himself to teams and evaluators seeking a hyper-disruptive 3-tech in Mobile. While he’s likely a better fit for odd and hybrid-front teams that employ nose tackles, his voracity and relentless disruption can play well in any scheme.
Kyle Louis, LB, Pittsburgh
At 5’11 3/4″ and 224 pounds, the biggest question is where Kyle Louis plays at the NFL level. He’s small for a linebacker and perhaps not well-versed enough in deep zone management to play safety. But as a sub-package LB with pursuit and coverage chops, Louis made himself a lot of headway at the Senior Bowl.
Louis was one of the most consistently disruptive coverage LBs in Mobile, alongside only Rodriguez. Louis’ explosive closing speed and smooth hip fluidity enabled him to respond to almost anyone at breaks, and he proved incredibly proactive at the catch point.
Louis was more easily directed in the run game when crashing downhill into blocks, but even there, he flashed promise. In particular, on Day 2, Louis had a rep in which he quickly recognized the outside zone concept, soared downhill to get ahead of blockers, knifed through the moving gap, and made the tackle for loss.
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Some teams won’t even consider Louis because of his size, but the one that takes a chance on him will get an athletic, rangy, and heady player with excellent field coverage and pass-down appeal.
Cyrus Allen, WR, Cincinnati
Cyrus Allen wasn’t talked about much before his Senior Bowl showing. That won’t be the case anymore. Allen was a solid performer all week, but particularly turned things on for Day 3’s practice, dominating defenders both as a separator and a catch-point artist.
Allen’s highlight was a steely late-hands catch in the corner of the end zone, where Allen expertly played timing and positioning to nullify Ephesians Prysock’s length. That play drew eyes, but just as impressive was Allen’s separation. Each day, he won at least once with his twitched-up athleticism, sink and explosion, retraction ability, and bend.
At just 180 pounds, Alen can experience lapses against physicality, but his separation profile proved near-impossible to combat in Mobile, and he’s proven he can work the catch point, too. Once a late-round sleeper, he should be trending toward mid-round territory.
Seth McGowan, RB, Kentucky
Seth McGowan came into the Senior Bowl as an RB without much buzz at all. He’ll leave as a trendy Day 3 sleeper for draft analysts across the landscape, and he’ll have his fans in the NFL as well.
At 5’11 5/8″ and 215 pounds, McGowan passes the eye test with flying colors. He’s fast, fleet-footed, and fluid in his hips, with excellent tempo freedom, corrective athleticism, and speed through creases. And when he has to process instinctively in congested areas, he’s shown he can sense out gaps and flow to space with urgent, energetic strides.
McGowan produced as a runner on all three days, and he consistently displayed his receiving upside as well. On Days 1 and 2, he separated with angle and dug routes out of the backfield, and on Day 3, he made a high-difficulty catch in the back of the end zone in 1-on-1s, tracking the ball over his shoulder with a defender on his heels.
It’s been a long time since McGowan was dismissed from Oklahoma after his freshman season, but the Kentucky RB has evolved since then. He’s matured, he’s focused only on business, and his business is to make plays with his dynamism in Mobile, much like it will be in the pros.
Kevin Coleman Jr., WR, Missouri
Full disclosure: I’ve been bullish on Kevin Coleman Jr. for a while; he was my 66th overall player heading into the Senior Bowl, when a lot of other boards had him well outside the Top 100. His production at the Senior Bowl wasn’t at all surprising, and it’s a premonition of what’s to come for the Missouri product.
Despite suffering from poor QB play in 2025, Coleman logged a strong 81.6 PFSN WR Impact grade. And per TruMedia, he registered a quality 2.55 yards per route run figure, a catch rate over expectation of 13.11%, and a measly 2.5% drop rate. Simply put: He separates, and he catches the ball, both at a high level. We saw that in Mobile.
While other WRs were more flashy, Coleman was the most consistent WR at the Senior Bowl, in ways that are fully translatable on Sundays. He beat DBs in press with lightning-fast feet and lateral displacement, he stemmed up defenders working off the line and capitalized on missteps, and he used late hands and composure to control the catch point, despite his lack of size.
Coleman will remain in my Top 75, and his Senior Bowl showing was just validation of that standing. He profiles as a dynamic hybrid slot at the next level, with incredible inherent separation ability, and by extension, availability for his QB.
Matthew Hibner, TE, SMU
A lot of tight ends made quality one-off plays in Mobile, but there’s an argument to make that no TE was more consistent at getting open and making catches in compromising situations than SMU’s Matthew Hibner.
Hibner was a late addition to the Senior Bowl roster after going for 31 catches for 436 yards and four touchdowns in his final season. The 6’5″, 252-pound TE wasn’t one of the most well-known names heading in, but he forced evaluators to respect and heed his film with his day-over-day consistency.
At his size, Hibner clearly passes the desired athletic threshold. He’s fleet-footed, fluid in his hips, and malleable on breaks, with the sink and shin angles to propel out of transitions and gain separation through zones. His best play was an explosive seam-splicing display on Thursday, where he used his hand-eye coordination to snare a pass over the middle.
As if Hibner’s receiving utility wasn’t enough, he also had an excellent block as a sixth blocker in pass protection during team drills on Wednesday. His early-down and in-line blocking still stands to improve, but as a receiver, Hibner might be one of the most fluid and most polished in the class.
Deven Eastern, DT, Minnesota
Deven Eastern had a quiet first day on the job in Mobile, but he took over in both phases of the game on Days 2 and 3, and no doubt improved his stock as a potential mid-round nose tackle target.
At 6’5 1/2″ and 301 pounds, Eastern has a unique build for a fulcrum defender. He’s not as stout as other players inside, but he’s a forklift-style power producer and dislodge defender with overwhelming length, natural leverage acquisition and base load, and menacing force potential within bouts of rotational torque.
Multiple times in 1-on-1s, Eastern won with either quick swims, violent clubs, or raw linear power, and in team drills, he was arguably more disruptive. On Day 2, he swam around a down block and closed for a tackle-for-loss, and he routinely prevented displacement against duo blocks, affirming very real two-phase utility.
Thaddeus Dixon, CB, North Carolina
It’s not always about how a prospect starts the week. It’s about how they respond.
Thaddeus Dixon was at best a middle-of-the-pack player through Days 1 and 2. He was mossed by Montgomery on Tuesday and proved susceptible to double moves. But on Day 3, Dixon was certifiably locked down and was arguably the best player on the field on either side of the ball.
In 1-on-1s, Dixon got his revenge on Montgomery with a sticky release response, and he clamped up Vinny Anthony II in press, using twitched-up footwork and instant reaction to transition and undercut an ill-fated pass with his length. The highlight, however, was a heady interception on a late-thrown comeback route in team drills.
At 6’0 1/2″ and 194 pounds, Dixon has an ideal mix of length, lean mass, short-area twitch, and fluidity. His ability to summarily shut down any and all competition on Thursday was all too tantalizing and could resurrect the long-lost Day 2 hype from his Washington days.
Honorable Mentions
- Derrick Moore, EDGE, Michigan
- Sam Hecht, OC, Kansas State
- Nadame Tucker, EDGE, Western Michigan
- Delby Lemieux, OL, Dartmouth
- Bud Clark, SAF, TCU
- Kaelon Black, RB, Indiana
- Malachi Fields, WR, Notre Dame
- Chris McClellan, DT, Missouri
- Carver Willis, OL, Washington
- Logan Taylor, OL, Boston College
