Reese's Senior Bowl: Adding Underclassmen, A True All-Star Game

Ever since 2021 and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reese’s Senior Bowl experience seemed to dwindle for fans, players, and media alike. While many players lost opportunities to go out and showcase their abilities for the final time before the draft, it also made it difficult for media and scouts to find the best available talent. As a result, the talent pool became very difficult to vet. While the game was exclusively opened to senior football players, the reality is that many of the nation’s top players were already highly touted as underclassmen, making it glaringly obvious that the best players were not participating in the Senior Bowl. 

For media personnel who want to see the best available talent one last time and fans who want to see their underclassman, All-American QB, it was in the Senior Bowl’s best interest to open up the invites to the underclassmen across the nation. With such a vast pool of new players being added, the competition will intensify come February. Media members will no longer be relegated to players opting out of the game, leaving Mobile early, and not participating in the final game.

The mindset that many top-projected players would not benefit from playing in the Senior Bowl is completely false. While the risk of injury plays a large role in many decisions to sit out, the likelihood of injury is always present even during pre-draft conditioning.

 With the competitive landscape of college football now, the opportunity to get more tape and live action in front of scouts is always a benefit. Within the NFL community, the Senior Bowl has a great reputation for allowing scouts to get a feel for the players that they are considering drafting. Since the teams are being coached by NFL staff, the players can get real experience working in an NFL organization. 

The Reese’s Senior Bowl will kickoff on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 in Mobile, Alabama at 1pm. 

LeMarkus Bailey
-Writer/President