Too Deep 96 #86-#95: Senior Bowl Standouts and Snubs

From Virginia Tech CB Aeneas Peebles to Buffalo LB Shaun Dolac, a group of prospects who were helped by the predraft process -- or were conspicuous in their absence from it.

Yay! We’re almost done! But we still have lots of interesting prospects to talk about.

#86 Harold Fannin Jr., Tight End, Bowling Green

Fannin led the nation in receptions (117), yards (1,549) and YAC (900). He didn’t just lead all tight ends in these categories, mind you, he led the entire nation. His 19 broken tackles on receptions also led the nation, as did his 74 first down catches. He dropped just three passes.

Bowling Green is a midmajor, but it is not St. Theresa’s Finishing School for the Puny or anything. Fannin went 11-127-1 in a game against Penn State that the Falcons kept rather close. He beat defenders up the seam and trucked through a few tackles in that game. He went 8-145-1 in a competitive game against Texas A&M, zigzagging past the deep safety after one catch for a 65-yard touchdown. He was the best player on the field against Arkansas State in something called the 33 Ventures Bowl, with 17 catches for 223 yards and a touchdown that bounced off a defender’s hands and into his in the back of the end zone.

Fannin then went to the Senior Bowl and disappeared. He couldn’t beat man coverage and looked stiff when moving laterally in practices.

A so-so practice week doesn’t erase an almost historic season, but it raises yellow flags. Fannin, like most collegiate tight ends, is really a king-sized slot receiver. The Falcons schemed up all sorts of chicanery to get him the ball. He can be an adequate NFL blocker – he likes to deliver a lick in the open field on the rare occasions that a teammate catches a screen pass – but that’s not where his money will be made. Mid-major BMOC tight ends often have gaudy numbers but high bust potential, though Fannin’s numbers are more gobsmacking than gaudy.

Fannin’s film against both stronger and weaker competition remains intriguing. His straight-line speed is impressive, he can make difficult catches, and he fights for extra yards like a running back. He’s a Day Two value who reminds me a little of Ja’Tavion Sanders, who made some splash plays for the Panthers as a rookie in 2024. But Fannin has the highlight reel and statistical profile of someone who could be much more.

#87 Shaun Dolac, Linebacker, Buffalo

Dolac led the nation with 170 combined tackles, per Sports Info Solutions. He also intercepted five passes and notched 6.5 sacks in 2024. He earned Consensus All America honors. Yet Dolac was not invited to the Combine. Or the Senior Bowl. or even the Shrine Bowl.

Dolac is an older prospect who turns 24 in September. He weighed just 225 pounds at his Pro Day, where he ran a 4.55 forty. Those aren’t “traits monster” numbers, but they are within NFL parameters for an off-ball linebacker.

On tape, Dolac looks like the Zack Baun of the MAC Conference. He lurks in underneath zones to both pick off foolish passes and race downhill to make tackles on short passes shy of the sticks. He has the speed to reach the perimeter and prevent YAC on wide receiver screens. He makes a lot of plays between the tackles, though it’s not clear how much of a pounding he could take against NFL blockers.

I may have ranked Dolac too low here: he looks like an NFL starter and playmaker as a weakside linebacker. The folks who choose players for the all-star games and Combine usually know what they are doing. But it’s hard to imagine Dolac doing less than sticking on an NFL roster as a special teams demon. Future special teams demons usually merit an invitation to the darn Shrine Bowl.

#88 Collin Oliver, Edge Rusher, Oklahoma State

Oliver only played two games in 2024 due to a foot injury. He was an undersized defensive end early in his college career, then moved to a combination edge/linebacker role when Oklahoma State changed defensive schemes in 2023. He’s an explosive, tenacious defender who pulls the hyperspace lever when he sees a path to the football.

Oliver’s game boils down to “see ball/get ball.” He projects as a undersized edge in the NFL, though its possible he could develop into a situational linebacker. The foot injury adds a further layer of doubt to his projection. But Oliver runs fast and slams hard into whatever is in front of him, and his Combine broad/long jump results suggests explosiveness that can be converted into sacks. His aggro style will appeal to Dan Campbell types and lead to extra opportunities in the NFL.

#89 Quincy Riley, Cornerback, Louisville

Riley was one of my favorite players during Senior Bowl week. He blanketed every receiver on the field. One-on-one WR-versus-CB drills are designed to for the wide receiver to win – he can run all sorts of schoolyard fakes on a wide-open field – but Riley demonstrated the speed, change-of-direction quickness and alertness to always be in position to break up the pass.

Riley intercepted five passes at Middle Tennessee State in 2021, then recorded three interceptions in both 2022 and 2023 for the Cardinals. He picked off two passes last season, and his 12 passes defensed tied for eighth in the nation.

Opponents targeted Riley 61 times, which is a high total for an NFL cornerback prospect. Riley had a rough game against Stanford, allowing 7-128-1, with the touchdown coming on a fourth-and-1 play-action bomb in the fourth quarter of a still-close game. Riley sometimes loses a step in transition after jamming his receiver. His open-field tackling is also an issue: seven broken tackles in just 49 tackle attempts. He either flicks the dive stick or just bumps into the ballcarrier too often.

Riley has the athleticism and pure coverage ability to be an NFL starter if he improves his tackling.

#90 Aeneas Peebles, Defensive Tackle, Virginia Tech

Peebles was another Senior Bowl standout. He’s just a few hairs over six feet tall and weighed just 282 pounds, but he’s lightning quick and has great hand-fighting technique. Peebles recorded 30 pressures for the Hokies in 2024, the same number as Mason Graham.

Peebles spent four seasons at Duke before portalling to Blacksburg. So we are dealing with an overaged, undersized tackle prospect here. But Peebles is so tenacious and adept at winning leverage battles that he could become a Tasmanian Devil-like 3-tech tackle or an end in a traditional 3-4 scheme.

Quote of Note: Peebles, at the Senior Bowl, about his quickness (and shortness): “I was blessed with being 6-foot-1. If I'm going to make money doing this game, it's going to be that way. So I embrace that.”

#91 Shavon Revel, Cornerback, East Carolina

Revel is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a 6-foot-2 body with a torn ACL.

Revel suffered a severely fractured skull as the passenger in a car accident while in high school. He was not highly recruited upon recovery and attended a JUCO just in time to have COVID wipe away his 2020 season. He played sparingly in 2021 before transferring to East Carolina. He broke his hand in 2022, then blossomed into a star in 2023, only to tear his ACL in practice last September. He is on track to be available for training camp, but he did not work out at the Combine or at Pro Day.

Revel is tall, long-armed, obviously fast, aggressive in run support and generally toolsy. He blocked two field goals in 2023, which speaks to his suddenness and ability to extend.

When comparing Revel’s stats with tape, however, a problem arises. Revel recorded a Pick-6 against Appalachian State – it was both an athletic and a heads-up play – but he also allowed six catches for 132 yards. He intercepted a pass and blocked a field goal against Tulsa in 2023, but also allowed 7 catches for 115 yards. In those games, Revel bit on a double-move here and sat down in zone coverage too quickly there. He allowed just two catches against SMU in 2023, one of them contested, but the Mustangs targeted him deep eight times.

You see the problem? Midmajor quarterbacks targeted Revel an awful lot, and they had considerable success. Maybe they were testing Revel in 2023, but if he passed the test then he shouldn’t have been targeted at all by opponents like App State in 2024. I don’t want to see that a Day Two cornerback prospect had three passes defensed against UTSA. I want to see that UTSA’s quarterback did not even look at his side of the field.

So we have a slightly overaged prospect with an injury-checkered career whom midmajor opponents were strangely eager to target. He wasn’t even a prized recruit. Revel’s pure traits are doing a lot of lifting to hoist him into the second round.

I am comfortable with Revel as a third-round lottery ticket who can contribute on special teams or cover the big dude in a dime package if nothing else. Revel’s upside is evident in his scattered highlights. But frankly, “upside” is all he really has.

#92 Darien Porter, Cornerback, Iowa State

The following numbers simply do not add up:

• A 6-foot-3 cornerback;

• Who ran a 4.3-second Combine forty;

• And ran the first sub 47-second 400-meter dash in Iowa prep-school track-and-field history;

• And allowed a 26.7% completion rate to his targets in 2024;

• Who spent six years in Ames;

• But was only a one-year starter.

What gives? Porter spent three years as a wide receiver for the Cyclones, but he was not a starter there, either. He was a special-teams ace who blocked four career punts and one field goal. But that just begs the question: why he didn’t earn starting time on defense earlier?

Porter’s 2024 tape is fine: he tangles up receivers well, can turn and run with them, recognizes plays and route concepts and uses his long arms to hogtie ball carriers in run support. If he were 22 with a normal backstory, he might be a first round pick. He’s 24, however, and took an awfully long time to earn a Big 12 starting job.

At the very least, Porter should make a major contribution on special teams. But the traits listed above are unique. Porter may be a very late bloomer who can succeed as a starting cornerback who specializes in covering tall receivers.

#93 Zah Frazier, Cornerback, UTSA

Frazier is similar to Darien Porter. Both are about 6-foot-3, with Reed Richards arms. Both are 24 years old; Frazier turns 25 in October. Both were just one-year starters at the FBS level.

Porter spent many years as a backup receiver and special teamer at Iowa State. Frazier started his college career as a cornerback at Southern Illinois in 2019, then spent two years at JUCO before committing to the Roadrunners (after briefly being connected to University of Tennessee). Academic issues held Frazier back during the 2023 season, but he broke out with six interceptions last year. He ran a 4.36 forty at the Combine, making him a very tasty height-speed-stats prospect, despite his age and spotty college background.

Friend-of-the-Zone Doug Farrar watched tape with Frazier and interviewed one of his coaches in March; you can read about it here. I watched some Frazier tape – he’s a beanpole of a defender who uses his length to create a No Fly Zone around his receiver – but I’m not sure how to project American Conference cornerbacks with unusual career profiles into the NFL.

Riq Woolen made the jump to the NFL from UTSA and served as a mentor for Frazier in college. That’s not a comparison, just a point of reference.

Interesting Note: Frazier was misidentified as “Troy Franklin” in NFL.com’s Combine results tracker for much of the late winter and early spring. My guess is that someone entered an incorrect 2024/25 code somewhere, switching Frazier with the Oregon receiver drafted by the Broncos last year.

#94 Emery Jones Jr., Offensive Tackle, LSU

Jones was just six years old when he lost his father to a heart attack (brought on by other health issues). “It made me just grow up fast,” Jones said at the Senior Bowl. “I'm not saying that in a bad way. In a good way. A lot of people say I'm older than I act or I'm older than my age. I just kind of take on that role for my family and on the football field.”

Jones grew into an almost paternal role for his mother and sisters. They began calling him The Protector, a prosaic nickname for an offensive lineman if you don’t know the context.

Jones became the starting right tackle for LSU when he was 18. He remained a starter for three years, protecting Jayden Daniels, then Garrett Nussmeier. He turned 21 years old a few days after the Combine. He’s thicc, quick-footed and steady. He delivers a punch on initial contact and avoids obvious mistakes. He has limits – Jones will hold if he fears he’s beat and can lose his balance when trying to block downfield – but he’s an ultra-safe high-character Day Two prospect at right tackle who has upside because of his youth.

Quote of Note: “I feel like when I'm on the field, I'm trying to kill whoever is in front of me.” – Jones, from the Senior Bowl. Sounds like The Protector has a little bit of The Punisher in him.

#95 Jackson Hawes, TE, Georgia Tech

Hawes may be the best blocker in this tight end class. He’s certainly among the most zealous blockers in this class. “Off the field, I'm a pretty enthusiastic, Labrador Retriever-type guy,” he said at the Combine. “On the field, I'm definitely looking to punish. I'm looking to put my face mask underneath a guy’s chinstrap.”

Hawes’ blocking, particularly on running plays, stood out against opponents like Florida State and Georgia. The Yellow Jackets often run a counter play in which Hawes, lined up as an H-back, pulls across the field in search of a defender to seal away from the ball carrier. Hawes not only frequently wallops SEC edge rushers and linebackers but nimbly positions himself to wall them off. He can also often be seen delivering blocks on the edge that turn wide receiver screens to teammates like Eric Singleton into long gains.

Now, about Hawes’ receptions in 2024: there were only 16 of them. Hawes spent five seasons at Yale, including the suspended 2020 season, before transferring to Georgia Tech; he turns 24 in December. Hawes looks good when catching the ball – he can snatch throws away from his body and rumble for some YAC – but he was never a major part of the passing game, even in the Ivy League.

Hawes will probably be a fifth or sixth-round pick, especially in this deep draft class. But 260-pound tight ends who can block often have long career as TE2/3-types and core special teamers. And while Hawes is an older prospect, he may have untapped upside, as he may not have been receiving state-of-the-art coaching or conditioning at Yale. Don’t look for Hawes to help your fantasy team, but he’ll make an NFL roster in 2025, and probably stay there.