Expert Analysis
10/18/24
7 min read
2025 NFL Draft: Prospects To Watch in College Football Week 8
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!):
Boston College at Va. Tech—Thursday night
Boston College RT Ozzy Trapilo
Measurements: (6077v, 314v, 33 7/8 arm, 10 1/8 hand)
We’ve had a couple of Boston College O-linemen at the Senior Bowl over the past six years go onto become first-round draft picks, Chris Lindstrom (Falcons) in 2019 and Zion Johnson (Chargers) in 2022, and while Trapilo might not go that high he’s someone our staff feels is a plug-and-play starter at right tackle in the league. The third-year starter is an absolute giant human being, and he wins with great awareness, hand use, and upper-body strength.
The two things that make him different than most taller 6-foot-7 tackles are he bends and anchors well. While we’ve never seen him do it on tape, our staff feels like Trapilo plays with good enough pad level and instincts to move inside to guard as a pro. In what is shaping up to be a thinner OL class, especially at the tackle spot, we would be surprised if Trapilo gets out of the second round.
Notre Dame at Georgia Tech—3:30 pm ET, ESPN
Notre Dame DT Howard Cross III
Measurements: (6010v, 289v, 32 3/8 arm, 10 ½ hand)
The undersized yet disruptive and super instinctive 3-technique earned an invite to Mobile a year ago before returning for another year with the Irish. While his overall tackle numbers are down from a year ago, he’s making more plays behind the line-of-scrimmage this fall (5.5 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks), and his ability to win right away off the snap cannot be discounted.
He’s not going to fit for teams that ask their defensive tackles to occupy double teams. However, he bends and leverages single blocks very well despite his size limitations. His advanced age (sixth-year player) and lack of size will be working against him for some clubs, but teams that value quick upfield penetrators will like what Cross brings to the table.
USC at Maryland—4:00 pm ET, FS1
USC OL Jonah Monheim
Measurements: (6050v, 296v; no hand or arm measurements)
Like Notre Dame DT Howard Cross III, Monheim is another player who received a Senior Bowl invite a year ago. The Trojans lured Monheim back to school with the promise that he would play center this year and his proven position versatility will be his main calling card during the draft process.
Each year, there’s only a small handful of linemen who can actually play all five spots—last year, we thought Kansas’ Dom Puni and Duke’s Graham Barton were the only two in the draft—and Monheim is that guy this year. Over his career, Monheim has logged 783 snaps at left tackle, 731 at right tackle, 345 at right guard, and now 415 at center this season. Monheim is the type of smart, savvy, and competitive end-results blocker who usually plays in the league for a long time.
Maryland DS Dante Trader
Measurements: (5110v, 199v, 31 arm, 8 5/8 hand)
This could be the second straight year that a Terps safety ends up in Mobile. A year ago, Trader’s former teammate, Beau Brade, got the Senior Bowl invite because he was a good football player, but he eventually went undrafted after not running well at the Combine (but he did make the Ravens’ 53-man roster).
Trader is a quicker-than-fast athlete with good movement skills for the safety spot. His average size shows up at times in run support. However, he’s bursty downhill and not afraid to throw his body around. In coverage, he’s at his best in short zones, and he generally puts himself in a good position to make plays, which is why the majority of his eight career interceptions have come on tips and overthrows.
Trader is similar to Brade in the sense that he has solid Day three draftable tape, but he’ll likely need to run a decent 40 times (under 4.60) to hear his name called in April.
Texas vs. Georgia—7:30 pm ET, ABC
Texas LT Kelvin Banks
Measurements: (6040e, 318e; no official measurements, estimates only)
The Longhorns’ true junior left tackle will face his stiffest test of the season so far on Saturday night against a Georgia pass rush crew that features potential first-rounders like Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker so this is one game that all NFL evaluators will be dialed into. Banks has made nice strides the past year under OL Coach Kyle Flood, particularly when it comes to his hand usage.
When we studied Banks over the summer, he relied too much on his feet, but that is no longer the case, as he’s clearly more confident shooting his hands than on sophomore tape. Last week against Oklahoma, Banks didn’t allow a single pressure on 35 pass blocking reps, and he’ll need a similar effort against the Bulldogs in prime time. It’s worth noting that Banks’ bookend right tackle Cameron Williams is also getting plenty of buzz right now among NFL scouts.
Montana State vs. Portland State—4:00 pm ET, ESPN+
Montana State OL Marcus Wehr
Measurements: (6020e, 300e; no official measurements)
The Senior Bowl has been the ultimate proving ground in recent years for small-school offensive linemen, and one guy squarely on our radar right now is the Bobcats’ Wehr.
Saturday’s game against Portland State will be our staff’s first exposure to Wehr and it will be very important since NFL scouts didn’t get any verified measurements on him last spring. Since the school only lists him at 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds, there are obvious size concerns going into this weekend’s live exposure. On tape, the things that stand out most are Wehr’s quickness and overall mobility.
He made the move from right tackle to right guard this season, and many NFL scouts we’ve spoken with feel like his best pro position might end up being center.
One thing we want to see more out of Wehr this last month of the season is better finishing temperament. Sub-FBS offensive linemen that make it in the NFL routinely mash people at that small-school level, and we haven’t seen that from Wehr this season.
Arizona vs. Colorado—4:00 pm ET, FOX
Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan
Measurements: (6044e, 210e; no official measurements)
This weekend’s must-see 1-on-1 matchup is McMillan against Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter. Unlike most 50/50 jump-ball guys his size, McMillan is the unique bigger receiver that can actually create separation at the top of a route and those get-open skills will be put to the test by Hunter’s sticky man coverage ability.
McMillan can make plays at all three levels, and his run-after-catch stuff is what makes him such an exciting prospect. While it’s a small thing, NFL teams will like the fact that McMillan was loyal this offseason to Arizona and stuck around for Coach Brent Brennan rather than shop himself in the portal. Few receivers in this year’s draft have the talent to be No. 1 receivers at the next level, but McMillan is certainly one of them.
