Oregon State Senior Bowl Primer
Getting ready for an exciting week in Mobile for Taliese Fuaga and Kitan Oladapo
It’s Senior Bowl week once again and that means a couple of things: 1) it means I am going to eat entirely too much BBQ (even though there’s no such thing as too much BBQ) over the next five days, and 2) it’s officially Draft SZN!
#TheDraftStartsInMobile Baby!!!
I’m happy to be in Mobile for a very special Senior Bowl week. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the game and there are at least that many storylines surrounding the game as we begin the long march towards the 2024 NFL Draft.
Let’s assess this from an Oregon State perspective for this piece. Beaver fans have multiple reasons to keep track of the happenings in Mobile this week as it could turn into a pivotal few days for a couple of former Beavs.
Offensive Lineman Taliese Fuaga and Safety Kitan Oladapo are the two Oregon State representatives at this year’s Senior Bowl, marking the first time in 15 years that OSU has sent multiple prospects to the game in back-to-back seasons.
Fuaga and Oladapo are both on the National roster for this week’s proceedings, so you can catch them in action at National Team practice from 7:30 am to 9:30 am on NFL Network from Tuesday-Thursday.
Will Fuaga be the highest drafted player in Mobile?
There’s legitimate hype around Fuaga hearing his name called first at the NFL Draft among all the talented prospects in Mobile. Quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels are all elsewhere. So are stud receivers Marvin Harrison Jr, Rome Odunze, and Malik Nabers. Fellow offensive tackles Joe Alt and Olu Fashanu are also preparing for the draft on their own. Considering all those names with Top 10 anticipation, if a Senior Bowl participant is going to go within the first ten picks, there’s a good chance it could be Fuaga.
It will be fascinating to see how the tackle position plays out in this year’s draft. It’s a deep class, but there are also a lot of tackle-needy teams out there. It wouldn’t be far fetched to see as many as 10 offensive lineman going in the first round.
I’ve spoken to multiple people who feel Fuaga is the best run-blocking lineman in the entire draft pool and also the most NFL-ready offensive lineman at the Senior Bowl. If he holds his own in the always entertaining 1-on-1 pass rushing drills this week, then there very likely could be a top ten pick with his name on it this April.
His high floor makes him an ideal fit for a team that needs OL help and needs to win now. If he’s still on the board, then the New York Jets with pick No. 10 makes a ton of sense.
Kitan Rising
Thus far in the process, there has been a disappointingly low amount of smoke about Kitan Oladapo as a draft prospect. The good news is that it’s still early. After all, the draft starts in Mobile, not ends.
Every piece of draft coverage needs to be taken with a big ol’ grain of salt, but I was hoping to see Oladapo’s name popping up in the earlier extended mock drafts and various Top 200s. Right now he’s not, but that would change with a good week in Mobile.
Oladapo is a draft sicko’s dream. His style of play evokes all kinds of ridiculous “draftisms” we’ve heard over the years. I guarantee you’ll hear him described as a “ranger, twitched-up, box-to-box rover” more than once before the draft is over.
Oladapo himself is feeling good and confident in pads in Mobile. I got a chance to catch up with him after the first practice of the week, and when asked what he wanted to be sure he showcased for the scouts in attendance he said “I’m really ready to show that I’m the most versatile safety in the draft. I can guard tight ends. I can guard slots. I can run fit, I can blitz, and I can be in the post.”
The week in Mobile is a great opportunity for both Fuaga and Oladapo, but it’s also monumental for Oregon State. Both players are participating in the Senior Bowl one year after Luke Musgrave and Rejzohn Wright showcased their skills to pro scouts in Mobile, which marks the first time in 15 years that OSU has sent multiple players to the game in back-to-back seasons. The last time there were multiple Beavers in back-to-back Senior Bowls was in 2009 when CB Keenan Lewis and OL Andy Levitre earned invites a year after RB Yvenson Bernard, OL Roy Scheuning, and K Alexis Serna featured in the 2008 contest.
Images courtesy of OSU Athletics