There are numerous college all-star games after the regular season has completed its schedule. But the most coveted invitation is from the Reese’s Senior Bowl played during the weekend between the AFC and NFC Championship Games, and the Super Bowl. Given the Cleveland Browns need for a quarterback, they were locked into them this year.
The area of Mobile, Alabama is perfect for weather that is cool-to-chilly on most days but not brutally cold. Oftentimes, the weather will hold steady in the mid-to-high 60s despite being a January outdoor event. The Senior Bowl is basically an NFL convention. At the other all-star games, NFL teams send some coaches and scouts, but at the Senior Bowl, every coach, scout, executive, and front office personnel are in attendance.
Plus, this one game attracts members of the CFL, UFL, and some Arena Football team representatives. It was estimated this year that 900 members of pro football clubs applied for credentials while 1,100 members of the media were in attendance.
There are numerous reasons why this game is huge.
It used to be that all players were paid. The 1988 contest was the last time players received game checks which at the time was $1,750 for the winning squad and $1,500 for the loser’s share. This fact did affect some of the game’s athletes who remained in school until June’s graduation but were also participants in other sports such as basketball, baseball, and track. In order to remain eligible to play spring sports, the players could not receive any compensation.
Another reason for the game’s allure is that both coaching staffs are NFL coaches. Again, it used to be a full team’s staff would coach each roster, but in the past decade many staffs have been missing too many coaches who would accept employment elsewhere either in the pros or the college ranks. Nowadays, each roster still has only NFL coaches, but it is a mesh of guys from various teams.
The most important reason the Senior Bowl attracts players and is a coveted invitation is that only the best players are invited. The game’s selection committee cherry-picks college talent.
The Top-15 projected players in the NFL draft rarely play in this game because their draft stock can only descend, but half the first round and half the second round participate in Senior Bowl week.
In the 2024 NFL draft, a total of 110 players who participated in the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl were selected, representing 43% of the entire draft class.
Often a player will elevate his draft stock one or two rounds by playing against and dominating the excellent talent that has been assembled.
Every Senior Bowl game has six quarterbacks that participate – three for each roster. This year, the players that arrived at the QB position were a who’s-who of household names: Jalen Milroe of Alabama, Oregon’s Dillion Gabriel, Will Howard of Ohio State, Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss, and Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard.
With both Leonard and Howard accepting invitations, this meant the starting quarterbacks from this year’s National Championship Game would appear and play in this year’s Senior Bowl contest.
Pittsburgh v Louisville Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
As the week before players were making their final travel plans approached, Howard, along with five other Ohio State players, canceled their appearance. So, the anticipated championship game reunion never materialized.
With all the marquee names slated for this game, one player who had accepted to participate received only minimal fanfare and was overshadowed by the more popular quarterbacks in attendance: Louisville QB Tyler Shough (6’-5”, 225 pounds).
Shough, age 25, spent seven years playing college football because of the pandemic. He also played for three different colleges in three separate conferences: Oregon, Texas Tech, and Louisville.
He played in 42 games with 599 completions on 951 attempts, 7,820 yards, 59 touchdowns against 23 interceptions, a 147.7 QB rating, with 246 rushing attempts for 733 yards with an additional 11 scores.
RELATED: NFL DRAFT PROFILE: TYLER SHOUGH
In Week 4 of the 2021 season for Texas Tech, Shough (pronounced “shuck”) broke his collarbone. The following season he injured his left shoulder and missed some games. In 2023 he rolled his ankle, again in Week 4. The X-rays revealed a broken fibula that required surgery. Shough entered the transfer portal and had an excellent year with Louisville.
Reese’s Senior Bowl 2025 - Practice Photo by Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Shough impressed at the Senior Bowl and showed he can throw it a country mile. Coaches and scouts talked about him after they left the South Alabama area. He continued that trend at the Combine where he threw and ran and is now slated to be a second or third-round draft pick.
Now that news that the Browns have brought him in for a Top-30 visit as only the third quarterback to be shown around the facilities behind Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, people are starting to notice him more with an eye on just maybe, this could be GM Andrew Berry’s quarterback choice in this year’s NFL draft.
This off-season Shough got married. His wife was a soccer star at Oregon so athletics run in the family.
Dawgs By Nature’s Barry Shuck covered this year’s Senior Bowl and was able to talk to Shough on two separate occasions. Here is what was discussed.
DBN: You have about three years on the usual quarterbacks coming out in any NFL draft. What are the positives to being an older rookie?
Shough: I had a crash course on the NFL what a rookie might go through during my college career. Playing through COVID and getting banged up with some freak injuries. I was a backup to Justin Herbert for a couple of years when I was at Oregon. I was playing with guys who were six years younger than me. I had to navigate those relationships and still be a leader. It was a great experience. In the NFL it’s a business and you have to produce. That’s my goal and I feel I am prepared for that.
Editor’s note: QB Justin Herbert also played in the Senior Bowl in 2020 and was selected 6th overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft
DBN: This is a time when quarterbacks are playing longer. That has to be encouraging, right?
Shough: All those experiences have characterized who I am. You see quarterbacks play well into their thirties and many play their best ball late into their thirties. You got Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers winning MVPs in those years. Matthew Stafford playing really well right now. So, I think more than anything it’s kind of helped me.
DBN: It is important for you to start your first year, or can you sit for a season or two and learn?
Shough: I will be ready to start eight or nine months from now. 100%, yeah. No doubt in my mind. Physically wise, I feel I am the best that can be. I can make any throw outside the pocket and extend plays with my legs. The mental side of it is where I have gained an edge.
DBN: What are your strengths?
Shough: The passion for the game. There are so many things that I could have said, no man, this isn’t for me, or why me? You have to have the perspective that this game doesn’t last for a while so you better go out and attack every single rep and showcase what you can do. Every opportunity that I have had has been a blessing. I’ve been excited to go and attack it. That is what playing quarterback is: making the most of your opportunity because whether you are Brock Purdy who I grew up with and the last pick in the draft and now you get your chance, or the first pick in the draft. Either way, you have to go out and earn it.
DBN: You have played in three different offensive schemes. Is that an advantage?
Shough: The time I spent at Texas Tech had the most influence on me. To be a part of that different offense and spend time with my OC Zach Kittley helping me bio-mechanically wise throwing with confidence on different platforms and different levels. And especially learning to find your check down and the flat routes where you bend your body on the outside to get that ball out. Learning to take on the little mechanical things.
DBN: This year’s quarterback class is looking like a bunch of Day 2 guys. Your thoughts?
Shough: The staff at the Senior Bowl did a great job of getting those guys here. Like me, we all get to go through that process as well which is better for us. All of these guys are super-talented. I think you will look back years from now and say this is a great quarterback class. At the time, it’s easy to point like okay, maybe it’s not a great class. At this point, I am just trying to do everything I can to compete and show what I can do. In the NFL, people are always looking to replace you. You have to do your job to keep your job or take another man’s job. I’ve done that my whole career just to compete and stay in it and keep fighting. I know that’s how it’s going to be in the NFL. Whether you are a backup and need to support and push and know your role, or you are the starter and you have to compete to keep your job and do what’s best to win.
DBN: The last college team you played for, Louisville, played a pro-style offense. Does that allow you a step forward at the next level?
Shough: 100% I think so. I have played in five different systems with five different OCs so I am used to playing with different personalities and different styles of coaching. Coach (Jeff) Brohm at Louisville is an intense guy which you need. He will cuss you out on the headset and also praise you. We played with a lot of motions and formations and different types of protection. Different runs and a lot of different types of passes. I wouldn’t feel ready if I was 21 or 22.
DBN: What is your greatest weakness?
Shough: Dialing in my footwork. Taking it from the gun five drops for the first time in my life. Taking seven-step drops. Different kinds of play action and making those consistent in the process.
DBN: Where are you working out this off-season and where will you be during the draft?
Shough: I have been training in Dallas at EXOS with a quarterback coach three days a week. I will be in Arizona for the draft week just to be around the family. My grandparents are getting older. They are in their 90s and I wanted to make sure they were part of this. They have been amazing as well as my parents and family and friends.
DBN: Have you thought about what it’s going to be to get that phone call that a team has drafted you?
Shough: I am going to feel grateful and indebted just because I know they believe in me. I believe in myself and that’s what I want to convey. I am going to find a way to be the best guy in the room every single day, and be somebody you want to work with. And work but try to enjoy the job and have some fun. It will be a culmination of all those things where this is a bonus. Football doesn’t last forever. I’ll be playing golf and pickleball 25 years from now and will have the time to do that. But by golly, I am going to do this right now. Nothing is given to you: go earn it.