Day 1 of practice is in the books for the 2024 Draft prospects in attendance at the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, AL. Practice was done with contact in the trenches and hitting but no tackling to the ground. Weather was beautiful today with the sun out and shinning for what looked from my perspective to be a very competitive day of practice before the game this coming Saturday. Here are my risers and fallers after day 1:

Risers:

Sam Hartman QB, Notre Dame

    Hartman showed the best arm talent, pocket presence, and accuracy of all the QBs. Did have a fumbled snap while under center, but that was the only blemish on the day. It just goes to show the unfamiliarity these young QBs have when it comes to being under center since most of the college game is handled in the shotgun. As far as accuracy goes, Harman hit just about every throw that left his hand perfectly. His best throw of the day was a deep ball to Roman Wilson who split double coverage (more on that in a minute) and Hartman hit him perfectly in stride for what would have been a runaway touchdown catch.

Roman Wilson WR, Michigan

    Wilson is going to fly up draft boards if he continues to play the way he did today. His speed and route running are clearly on another level in comparison to some of the other guys out on the field. He has no problem getting separation and one of the only throws I didn’t see him come down with was a ball that Bo Nix just simply under threw, hitting Wilson in the feet. Wilson may be one of the top WRs in the draft and is currently a day 2 pick. Based on what I saw today, I would take him over multiple guys projected to go in front of him with no hesitation whatsoever.

Quinyon Mitchell CB, Toledo

    It is hard for a guy who is projected to go early on day 2 to be much of a riser but that is exactly what Mitchell is. Effortlessly stayed with multiple WRs in press man and gave up ZERO separation. PFF has him graded as the best CB in this draft and it is easy to see why. It almost looks like he is in the huddle with the offense and is running the route with the WR, sometimes showing the WR how to run the route. If this play continues throughout practice and into Saturday, he may leapfrog some of the top CBs in this draft and be a 1^st round pick.

Javon Foster T, Missouri

    It is easy to see why PFF ranked Foster as highly as they did in comparison to some of his peers at the Tackle position. Guy has strong hands and once he gets engaged there is no getting away from him. He handled every rep and was in complete control every time. Run game, pass game, it didn’t matter. Still he is way down the board as of right now, going in my mocks on day 3. There is no reason he shouldn’t leap into day 2 and be ahead of some of the tackles who just didn’t perform in practice today if the play stays where it is at.

Christian Jones OL, Texas

    Probably the biggest surprise for me is Jones out of Texas. PFF has him ranked in the 250’s in their mock draft simulator and I just don’t know why. He lined up at Guard and won reps easily. Then moved outside to RT and dominated there as well. Jones will NOT be drafted any later than the 4^th round at this point if he can do that day in and day out. If he stays where he is at this could be the next Mike Owenu; just good at any of the right OL positions.

Fallers:

Bo Nix QB, Oregon

    Nix is projected to be the 4^th or 5^th QB off the board and a lot of mocks have him going in the 1^st round. I will tell you now that he looked the worst out of the 3 QBs for the National team. Nix had Wilson WIDE open on a crossing route and just missed him. Didn’t step into the throw and it bounced at Wilson’s feet with no chance for the WR to make a play. Outside of that Nix did exactly what we all said he would. Dinked and dunked his way through his reps and never displayed the arm talent that would have proved the doubters wrong. In comparison to Sam Hartman and Michael Pennix Jr., Nix looked like a day 3 QB who needs a lot of work to be even considered for a starting role.

Patrick Paul OL, Houston

    Paul is projected as a day 2 guy, but he showed significantly less than the guys on the risers list. Consistently beat by speed and when it came to power he was just bulled into the pocket. I don’t think I saw him win a rep in 1-on-1s today as the edge defenders just put him wherever they wanted him to go with little to no objection from Paul whatsoever. He has all the size and tools you would want, but seems to lack the energy or aggression to use them. Not something you want to see from a LT protecting the blind side of your franchise.

Jha’Quan Jackson WR, Tulane

    It is hard to knock Jackson because he just simply gets open. The issue is he attempts to do to much and will run right back into being covered instead of trusting his 1^st move. That 1^st move by the way works almost every time and he is probably one of the better slot guys in this class if he can just rely on that. A good NFL WR has to know when to break the route off to get open. Jackson just simply isn’t there.

Ben Sinnott TE, Kansas State

    Sinnott was touted for his hands and his route running ability. PFF even has him ranked as the 3^rd best TE in this draft class. After 1 day of practice I would put Wiley out of TCU ahead of him. Sinnott won his routes more times than not, but it didn’t matter. He seemed to drop every ball that came his way. It didn’t matter if it was team drills or 1-on-1s, Sinnott just couldn’t catch anything. He also had probably one of the most blatant push-offs I have ever seen in a one-on-one drill. He pretty much ran over the coverage guy, fully extended his arms to push off, and then after all that, dropped the ball.

Be sure to check back for my day 2 risers and fallers for the Reese’s Senior Bowl.