The McShay Show - Senior Bowl Day Two Takeaways: Edges Steal the Show, QB Quick-Hitters, and Breakout Prospects to Know

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

It’s day two at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, and the guys are back to break down the biggest moments from the field from Tuesday’s practice. To start, Todd and Steve reflect on the QB group, including thoughts on Diego Pavia’s NFL future and Cole Payton’s strong showing. Then, they share which projected first-rounders popped and which guys left them wanting more. To close, it’s the debut of Nudge Guys, a segment highlighting under-the-radar prospects with the potential to rise throughout draft season. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show! 1:50 Senior Bowl day 2 coverage3:35 Evaluating the Quarterbacks 24:05 Standout prospects 35:10 Hold the verdict43:55 Nudge guys The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, Daniel ComerSocial: Alysha Tsuji Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Day one from the Senior Bowl. Practices are done. We're thawing out. It was a great day of practice, and we got a lot to cover. We're excited that you're joining us here, live on YouTube right now. And you know what? There's only 86 days until the NFL draft, so we got no time to waste men. You good?

I'm great, man. Tucker, you know what to do. Roll that thing, baby. It's just you and me. It's quiet here. We had a busy day. Schedule's changed. They pushed practice back to 130 to 330 to 3.30 central time, then four to six.

Felt good early on. Then it got real cold, but everyone fought through. The McShay show is presented by Fanduel. Playoff mode is on, and Fandual's got it all. Same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in live, and offers to boost your winnings every game day. Don't miss out on any playoff action on Fandual. Download the Fandual app or head to fandul.com slash McShedew. That's Fanduil.com slash McShay to get started.

Must be 21 and older in President Select States or 18 and older in President D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-88-889-7777 or visit cpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. And it's not just like Southern Cold. It's like actual legit cold. Englanders and today was cold. But we've got a lot to unpack. I want to mention this. We love all of you that support this show and you have on YouTube, you have on Spotify, you have on Apple,

and everywhere else you get your podcast. There's going to be a little change next Monday. We're going to Netflix. We'll have a lot more details, talk about live and chats and this and that. But you should know, starting next Monday, we will be on Netflix moving forward for video. We'll still have a presence on YouTube. And obviously all of our shows, will be on Spotify and Apple and everywhere else you get your podcast. But a little housekeeping note there. And by the way, the newsletter, the McShay report, Google it. I don't think you can double down now, but get involved.

We're going to have every single day after practices, we're going to do an hour live show as we're starting right now. And basically, I'm going to empty the bag of all these notes. I've got all sorts of videos that we took, literally standing in the huddle with players and taking video, listening to the coaching that's. going on. There's going to be a lot of detail. If you don't, the things that you don't get here, you can get a lot more in detail there. So excited about everything we're doing and all the content this week, but let's get to it, the quarterbacks, okay? I thought the first practice,

which was the 130 to 330 Central for the national team, those quarterbacks included Diego Pavia, obviously undersized. Everyone, that was the big story. All the funny memes, get them all out there. The interesting part is no one in the league was surprised by this, but Diego Pavia shows up at 5097, meaning 5.9ths and 7 eighths of an inch, essentially 5 foot 10. 198 pounds, which actually surprised scouts a little bit more than even the 509.7. Thought he was going to be around 210. 9.5 inch hand span, which is right about the average that you look forward to the quarterback. And in practice today, there's some things I want to get to.

In between that size frame would be kind of the surprise of the day, if I'm going to be honest, the North Dakota State quarterback Cole Payton, who checked in at 6-2 and 3 eighths of an inch, 229 pounds, big hands, 10 and 1-8th inch. And then Sawyer Robertson, one of my favorites. If you follow the show, you know, going back to the Manning Passing Academy in July. It was a guy that I saw some things from, was excited to see him this season, did a lot of really good things for Baylor, did not have a lot of supporting cast. But to get to see in apples-to-apples comparison, starting today the first day of practice,

was fun to watch and still a lot more to see the next two days and in the game on Saturday. Let's start with this. I don't think Diego Pavia can play quarterback in the NFL. Let's just get it out of the way. You watch him during team sessions and you watch them during some of the seven-on-seven stuff and there's some fun things to watch, man.

Like arm angle changes, on the move, initial play breaks down. He just has unbelievable instincts. And I think that's part of what made him so special at Vanderbilt, why they won all those games and the comeback moments. He's cool under pressure. Nothing seems to affect him. He really does sense when pressure's coming, where it's coming from, knows how to get the ball out, even though he's shorter framed, throwing over bigger offensive line and finds those windows. So he does a lot of the things that you look for at the position. but when you watch them just like the one-on-one seven-on-sevens having to drive the ball

NFL throws it's not the same as the other guys and it was the same as Sawyer Robertson it wasn't the same as the North Dakota state guy Cole Peyton right yeah and and it certainly wasn't the same in the second practice as like Garrett Nuss Meyer and Luke Altmire who we'll get to in a little bit had a really good day Tim Green yeah and Green as well from Arkansas I'm curious your thoughts on it because it's tough to see if we're just being honest and I didn't want to start the show this way but we just started on Diego Pavia

so let's just get it out of the way. It's tough to see because it's not like he did it in the whack or FCC. He did it in the SEC. Yeah. So it's hard to say definitively like, this guy can't play in the NFL. I'm not saying that.

I'm saying, When you watch him out there, you just start to wonder, like, are the limitations going to be too much at the next level? Yeah, and I think they are. And I think you can rattle those numbers off and you can see him on TV and realize that he's small. And this is why scouts come down to see these players. This is why scouts go to games. They want to get on the field and they want to get next to these players and really see what they look like. And when you're standing next to Diego Pavia, he's small.

I mean, he is small to the point where he's, he's. here's the other thing. Kyler Murray was small and went, you know, got drafted first overall by the Cardinals. And Kyler Murray was also like four-four speed, rifle for an arm. So here's what you're saying is Kyler Murray was a unique talent that was able to play at that size. And honestly, I think you can make the argument that it hasn't gone as well as, you know, they had hoped, right? Yeah, of course. So there's that to it.

If you're Pavie, you don't have that same skill set. So there's that. And teams are looking at you as a potential backup now instead of a starter. And then when you're getting to a potential backup, you want someone who's going to be, you know, someone who's going to run your offense, who's, you know, going to fit into that backup role. And someone that's small,

I don't think you're going to want to put in that backup role as someone who could be potentially a starter down the road or someone that can come in and win a couple of games to you. I just think that it's different. He's not as elite talent as Murray. And so he wasn't going to go that early anyways. And now the frame. I'm with you.

I just don't think he can play the position. Yeah, and I don't want to present it as we saw in one day at practice that this guy's not going to be like a... What was he coming into this week? He was a phased draft. Yeah, late round undrafted free agent prospect. And I still think he's... I'm not saying anything changed from one day of practice. I'm saying standing on the field, I don't think there's a more important position than quarterback being on the field and evaluating.

Yeah. How does the ball come up? out of their hand. How are they seeing, you know, physically, how do they stack up? You can take a lot more from that position than you can, maybe other positions when you can get on tape and just, you know, study what you see. So that part was, it was interesting. It was definitely a takeaway, okay. Sawyer Robertson in that first practice was, is the most physically gifted when you look at his size at six, three and a half, 221 pounds, has some mobile. ability. Ball comes out easy. Not always the most beautiful ball sometimes. There were a couple

throws. I thought there were a couple flutters, yeah. But, but with energy, and the thing that I liked about Sawyer today was the layering of the ball. Every throw he made was catchable, was like easy. It came out, you know, the trajectory was right. And I felt like in that first practice, it was very different from the second practice, and we'll get to that in a minute. There didn't feel, it didn't feel like there was this rhythm to that practice, in the passing game at least. Whereas in the second practice, it was like, it felt like a Chip Kelly, Oregon type practice where things were just moving

and the quarterbacks had a better grasp. So I'm really interested to see in Wednesday and Thursday, especially Thursday, I think, too, in the red zone. Tomorrow I want to see them rip it. I want to see Sawyer-Roberson with that first. with the arm that he has. I want to see him ripping the ball down the field and kind of get into that feel. Today it felt like he was kind of working his way through the offense, getting a sense of his receivers, making sure his eyes were in the right place. You know, like all of those quarterbacks

were struggling under center, taking snap. So there was a lot of like interrupted portions of the of the practice today. So that's going to be interesting to watch. But I thought Sawyer, clearly from a skills standpoint belongs and to me is this kind of mid-round jewel of someone like, hey, let's bring him in. He threw for a lot of yards. He layers the ball well. He's got some mobility. He's got an arm. He's competitive. He's tough. We saw him against Auburn bouncing up.

There's some things there that are really intriguing as a potential backup. The North Dakota State kid though, Maybe it's just because I had a bar set low. And remember, I haven't watched every single, like, I watched a little bit of tape on this guy. He doesn't have this extensive career to go back on. He did enough really good things to get invited here. Right. But watching him, he's a lefty, by the way, Southpaw.

Ball's coming out with energy. It's kind of popping off his hand. I thought, honestly, if you were dropped on this planet and you didn't know anything about any of these quarterbacks, at the end of the day, he probably had the most consistent practice of all the quarterbacks, at least on the national roster, I'd say. I would say on the national roster, yeah. What were your thoughts of what you saw from him? I was impressed like you were.

I had not seen a lot of him. I thought the ball came out really well. I like the way he's built. He's not as tall as Robertson, but he's thick and he moves well. I mean, overall, I thought he had a great day in terms of just helping himself. I mean, I'm sure that this is the kind of thing that you like to see at the senior ball. when these players come in and take advantage for an opportunity? It's one of those deals, right, where day one's the foundation,

day two is what's the leap, day three, we're going to get you in the red zone, and we're going to test you in confined areas, precision with the football and all of that. I give like a check plus to Cole Payton coming in from North Dakota State today in this environment for the foundation piece. Now I want to see tomorrow. Can he take it to another level? or was today just a really good day from him? Because if he keeps building on this,

now all of a sudden, let's just call it what it is. It's a weak quarterback class. I mean, we've got one at the top in Fernando Mendoza from Indiana. Print the jerseys now he's going to be a Las Vegas raider. You've got Ty Simpson, who there's a lot of questions about because of the inexperience, how the season finished. But for nine games this year, he was as good, if not better than any other quarterback in the country.

and then with Dante Moore going back to Oregon Trinidad Chambliss Still uncertainty Could be here I begged him not to fight Put up this fight He's in this fight

And hopefully for his sake he wins He's now taking it to the Mississippi State court Basically appealing the NCAA And he's suing He's actually suing the NCAA We've talked a lot about that on the show So Chambliss's status is still up in the air

As we sit here almost turning the page to February Carson Beck, Garrett Nussmeyer. Drew Aller, how far do you want to go down? I can't go to Drew Aller in that conversation. So there's room, is my point. And quarterbacks always get bumped up. There's room for a guy like a Cole Payton to take advantage of this class. Now let's flip to the American team.

Okay. The practices I mentioned, you saw two quarterbacks in Altmire and Garrett Nussmeier that just were in command. To be honest with you, Altmeier from Illinois was even more in command than Garrett Nussmeier, and Nussmeier was in command. The intriguing part is always going to be the 6-foot-6, 229-pound, 10-inch hand-wielding, big arm, mobile cat named Tailing Green, right? As a pastor, he's just not there. But I get news for you, the good Lord only makes a few of these, like ever.

Okay. So I promise you, and we're going to have a segment later in the show called the Nudge guys. When coaches come down here, maybe scouts from different areas come down, they're all sitting groups in this stance. Like if you work for the Colts, you sit in a little pod. If you work for the Jets or the Eagles or the Steelers or you kind of sit in your group. And there's always like a, huh, you know, see that guy, see 10? And there's quarterback coaches who are like, I don't care. He doesn't throw the ball that well.

a lot of guys didn't at this point, we can work with that. So he's almost like this wild card that's separate, where a team on day three is going to take a chance on Tailing Green, even though his, like, in the passing drills, it just doesn't match up with Nussmeyer and Altmire. So Altmire is like this really solid country bread that you toast, you put a little bit of butter on it, but, like, there's nothing special.

Honestly, like, it's just... I think he has one special drink. What? He's got onions. I think he's had onions over the entire course of his career. I think he's a guy when it met, when the game's in the line, he's got, I mean, look at his fourth quarter numbers of the history of his career.

He's really comfortable in those moments. I think he's, I get what you're saying. Yeah, you're not wrong. I'm talking about, but, but there's no onions moments in the senior These are practices, and so the skill set. So, yeah, I mean... You're not seeing it here, but I would say as an overall evaluation of the player. I hear what you're saying.

I would say, when you're looking at the career of the player and the evaluation of the player, that's the one thing that jumps out to me. But I had a really unique opportunity standing, like, literally, like, the play caller's here, the quarterbacks are here. The huddles right there. They're getting the C-to-P, the green sticker, like, is in the back of their helmet. coach the player, you know, calling in the plays. And I'm watching, like, Nussmeyer's kind of the, he's an interesting cat.

Like, he's like, he's kind of the dude. He's, he's the energy piece. He's kind of like fucking around with everybody, right? But in a good way. Not Baker, he's not quite as like, like, let's go, you know. But he's kind of get this juice about him. And then there's Altmeier, like the nice, solid country toast. like you pop them in the toaster of them,

you put a little spread of butter on, and just like, and so you view that as like, yeah, I want more, I want it more physically. But you stand down there and you watch the efficiency of like a pro offense

and how it goes, and the verbiage that's coming in, and the reeds that have to happen and getting everyone lined up, and he's just very steady. Yeah. And so all of a sudden that, all of a sudden that,

that like, just normal piece of toast looks really appealing to you, and it goes really well with like a nice soup or uh you know like and i'm watching him throughout the practice and i'm kind of falling for him a little bit more i'm kind of like i get this guy now yeah to be around him is to get him yeah and now i'm watching him break you know break the huddle the efficiency the reeds balls snapped processing going where it's supposed to go and i'm watching i'm standing by the two coaches the one the different coaches from 14 different NFL teams here i think it's

seven for the American and two of those coaches for the one was from New Orleans the other was Detroit they're they're coaching the offense right and every time he'd come back it was like nice job what yep that was right read good job just like that yeah and the ball's coming out quickly and he's placing it I'm interested to see with Altmyer because I also remember back to the Manning Pass Academy and talking to the mannings and talking to all the people who work there and talking to some of the people I really trust in quarterback at He doesn't have the tools that the other guys have, but there's something about this guy.

He's going to find a way. And, you know, if you look in the NFL, there's a lot of guys that don't have elite tools that, Chase Daniel comes in mind. Yeah. I mean, you're killing more than what he did for a little while. That are in the league for 12, 13, 14 years. When they come in, they win games because they know how to run the offense

and nothing, you don't skip a beat. Altmyer's an interesting player to me because of all those things we just talked about. Also, we talk about circumstances and what was around these players. And the Illinois offensive line at times this last season was abysmal. I mean, Indiana, they couldn't block anyone. I mean, it was, there were times where he, and to his credit, that can go one of two ways. You can start to speed up your clock. You start to make bad decisions.

I think he learned to get the ball out quicker. I think he learned, I've got to get this to my reads. I got to, you know, it sped up his clock, but not in a bad way, if that makes sense. I thought he really adjusted well to it and was able to overcome that. I mean, I don't think that Illinois team was all really great in terms of the supporting cast, and he played pretty well. Yeah, it was interesting watching some of the quarterbacks with the NFL coaches, right? For Sawyer Robertson, it was with the Minnesota Vikings coach who was a past game coordinator, Ryan Cordell.

Right? I think that's right. Ryan Cordell. South of Cordell, yeah. And Ryan was working with, as Sawyer is a big, tall quarterback, working with the quick game efficiency of his footwork. And because I think when you're a Baylor, it's a lot of quick game, but trying to speed up his feet so that the accuracy would be there in the short stuff. Right. And that was fun to watch.

Then with Nussmeyer, it was fun to watch. Like, you got to remember, dad was a quarterback. Dad's an O.C. Dad's a quarterback coach. Dad's been in the NFL a long time. he's kind of got all the answers, but, or has been around all the answers,

shouldn't say he has all the answers, and I don't want to, I don't want to, represent that he's acting that way. That he's acting that way. But the high level conversations, like there was this one play where he boot left. I watched it,

and, like, you know, efficiency of play action, boot, throw, balls where it should be, but like kind of a quarter count late. But to have to see the conversation that took place, and I'll get the gentleman's name tomorrow. Whoever the Lions representative on the coaching staff was laid on that one. Why are you laid on that one?

It came back and they had this conversation. I kind of videotaped it too. I don't know, but we'll get some of it in the newsletter maybe. And they were having a discussion between, yeah, they fooled me. I thought it was man. It was match or match or man. I forget which one. Yeah.

And like how quickly. He realized it. He realized it. So he was a quarter count late, but he still. instead of like getting got, he saw it and like, and then got the ball out. So just to see that high level conversation. And when I say in the second practice, things were just moving more like an NFL efficiency standpoint. That's what I'm talking about. I'm also watching these guys, and Altmeier is very, very effective and efficient throwing the football on team.

Nussmeier, even though he's, you know, 6-1, 200 and what did he check? second and 202 pounds. I stand next to him. Like, a very similar build. I was 197 this morning when I weighed in. Stop. I'm joking. There's no scales here at the hotel.

But my point is that he, in the 707, he's, he, you can see the armed talent. And you can see the trajectory and most importantly leading received, like the back shoulder hitting that. He wasn't perfect. I'm not saying it by any stretch. It's not like he came in here like, whoa, we've got to reassess this guy's a first rounder. I'm not saying that.

But I'm saying his passing skill level is higher than the other five quarterbacks. And so that was interesting to watch as well. So it's day one. Day two in the progress, as I said, is huge. Day three in kind of the red zone and the specialty areas is important to watch. And then how does it all play out in the game? We'll get an accurate assessment. but I think it's been really important watching Sawyer Robertson coming from that Baylor team

where there was a lot on his shoulder and he didn't get the support. And it's going to be really interesting to watch Nussmeyer this week. And even with some of the offensive line problems. But seeing this week, there was a funny, I'll leave it with this. Who was I standing? I was standing next to a couple different guys. Phil Savage, though, had the line of the day. We're watching seven-on-sevons, right?

I think seven-on-seven are team. And Nussmeier drops back to pass, and all of a sudden a pass-rusher comes from the backside, and he gets strip-sack. Meanwhile, this is a senior bowl. You're not here to hit quarterbacks. Stay off the quarterback. Stay off the quarterback.

And Phil Tern, Phil Savage, who was actually the executive director here, he worked with the Jets for a while. He's with the Rams now. He was the GM of Cleveland Browns. He was with the Ravens. with Ozzy and helped build that whole Super Bowl team. He turns, he goes, F, Nuss.

He goes, poor guy comes down to the senior bowl. He's still getting hit. And we were all kind of thinking of it. Like, of course, Nuss Meyer, like, he comes down here where you're supposed to be like in glass, like, styro, you know, like protected. But yeah, yeah. And then I walked over and he was still like,

did the guy purposely strip me or did he just get nudged in? He's like confused. Like, that's not supposed to happen. All right, we've got a couple more segments here that I want to get to. Is this the quarterback show over yet? The quarterback show is over. Awesome. All right.

Standouts. This is the bees of this show, okay? Standouts. I want to know the players, and there are, at McShay 13, I listed guys who I think are top 50 prospects. We'll get to all those guys throughout the week and we'll get to some of them here. I'm not saying that these are necessarily the best players here, and maybe they are. but I want to know from each practice, give me one from the morning and I'll give you mine,

give me one from the evening one, and I'll give you mine. So I want to go through four players to each that were to you the standouts in all of practice today. I'll start with the national team in the morning, and that was Lee Hunter. We've talked about him a lot coming in.

He is an absolute pain in the ass in the run game. You can't move him. He splits, doubles, he gets off blocks. He's big, he's strong, he's powerful. The thing that is, he's a lot. he could really take advantage of here is to show teams that he can get after the quarterback. And I thought he was a little uneven in that area when he was in one-on-ones. But what I loved, and when I say uneven, this is what I mean.

He's still kind of developing what his arsenal is, setting up his moves, tying his feet to his hands, all that kind of stuff. He's not quite as polished in that area. But he was taking so many snaps and so many reps trying to get better and just compete that the defensive line coach at one point got out and said, Why am I seeing Hunter go for the eighth time? Why is no one else getting up here and going? He just kept wanting to get back in there, show what he can do. I thought he was outstanding. And then we got into team.

I mean, he wasn't great one-on-ones. You had the great video. I don't know where he posted it. But he gets into team and he gets right to the quarterback. And, I mean, it was he was having a good time out there. I mean, I won't repeat what he said because I can't right now. I don't think I should. But he was having fun getting after the quarterback and team.

Yeah, he's one of those guys. I'm worried we're going to see him still here on Thursday. He's that, yeah, he's on that level. He's on that level. And I think in a defensive tackle class that we've got some really good ones. Caleb Banks has all the talent in the world. We'll get to him, I think, as the week progresses from Florida. Caden McDonald is a great, like probably the best run stopper.

Caleb Banks, Peter Woods. Peter Woods from Clemson, who's, again, his sack production wasn't where it was supposed to be. I watched Lee Hunter. The difference with him is he can rush the quarterback in the NFL now. And so, well, you got Banks, whose projection didn't play a lot this year. You've got McDonald, who's great versus the run, but has worked to do as a pass rusher. Woods, who's a phenomenal talent, probably a top 10, 15 pick coming out of Clemson,

but still developing as a pass rusher. Hunter can get after the quarterback now. He's got a little bit of room for growth there. I understand that. Yeah, but he can't. Yeah, you're right. I'd say of those four, he's the guy I would trust to rush the quarterback the most right now. Right the second.

Right the second, I hear you. Yeah, I think Woods probably still has the higher ceiling in that area. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. I was actually trying to put a bow on it. Yeah, for a positive. After I said he was uneven one-on-ones, but that's fine. Okay.

I'm going to go to Colton Hood, the other first. rounder and maybe I would argue potentially the highest draft pick of all the senior ball players here. There's a good chance that he is. And what's interesting is his other cornerback mate who didn't play for Tennessee this year because of the injury. Jamad McCoy. Jamad McCoy a year before probably could wind up going a little bit higher than him.

Colton Hood was fun to watch. I'll say this. He's a little bit lean in the lower, but you watch him in his movement skills and his ability to turn and run and his man-to-man instincts and how fluid he is and like that burst that he has and you're like oh yeah right away like now i get to see it on like i've seen it on tape we've studied him there's a reason why he's in top 32 but but to see it on the field against some pretty good receivers as he's as he's working today and like it just there was never a time where i felt like he was in trouble there was one rep down the right rail earlier on in practice okay and

He did everything beautifully. Red the route, hips flipped, in phase. And I'm watching. They're like coming towards me on the sideline, right? And he turns, balls up, right? And he's in coverage and he turns this way. If this is the right rail, he turns this way. And the ball, perfectly thrown ball.

I forget who threw it. Like, right there. Misses it catch on him. Did nothing wrong. the last split second. Cornerback coach comes running over. He's like, hey, sidelines your friend.

Work with me here. You've got balls this way. Why are you going to turn this way? Come back this way, right? Last rep he had of practice. Almost identical situation, except it was a one-on-one. There was a competition drill at the end where they had some quarterbacks throwing one-on-ones.

And if the defense made a play, the defensive players went crazy. Offensive guys went nuts if they caught it. Hoods won. one-on-one versus who would I'm trying to think it was who's the best receive it wasn't Josh Cameron because Cameron had the catch later it was one of those one of the receivers on the on the national side and he balls up in the air in phase smooth speed everything you look for turns this way knocks it away yeah so like learning

on the job that day one little bit of NFL coaching technique improves, he's got a chance to be a lockdown corner in the NFL, and I think today was a really good start for him. Yeah, I love the way he responded mentally. I mean, also, in listening, but also not going into the tank about, I just got beat early on. Yeah. This could be a long time. Yeah. My second guy from the American team is Derek Moore, Michigan, Edge. I thought he had a fantastic thing. Yeah, you were excited about this. Listen, I am. Mr. Cash, because you wanted to see it and you got to see it today. I did, and it, honestly, yeah, of course it was. Because it had, It happened exactly the way I said it was going to happen.

Yeah. He's long, and the way he extends his arms and snaps his hips as a speed, the power guy, it's explosive. Like, he can uncoil on blockers. And Markell Bell, who is a high cut, admittedly a very high cut offensive tackle, has a hard time staying low, found out today. It was a one-on-one rep, and Derek Moore went right through him, knocked him on his back. And that's what Derek Moore does.

And I think the teams are going to be intrigued by that skill set. So it was fun to see it come, to see play out right away. Because he does it on tape. He had 10 sacks this year. Michigan has had a tough year, and I think some of the players have been overlooked. I'll also say that I love, I was telling you this, I love when the rivalry hate shows up at these games. Yes.

And Casmeric, Will Casmeric, the tight end from Ohio State, something, you know, they're line up against each other in the run periods. And him and Derek Moore were, you know, like, button heads, getting physical. For a 255-pound guy, he's pretty stead. out there more he is yeah got that explosive power to take on blocks and in really set the edge overall he just thought he had a really impressive day you know else who else had an impressive day a player you may or may not have mentioned earlier in the week and i and as often happens on this show i'm trying to kind of do some producing and never directing but like getting my mind

what's coming up next where we going i probably was looking something up I didn't hear it the other day. And quite honestly, I don't care if I heard it. Because he's my guy now. Because he's yours, though. I get it. And every once in a while, you have to steal a guy from me. And every once in a while, I steal a guy from you.

And I don't even know if you... Sam Roush is quickly becoming one of my favorite players in the entire 2026 draft. Stanford Tight End. This guy, man, 117 catches the last three years. That doesn't sound like an insane number. go watch that quarterback play the last three years. 117 catches is like mind-blowing. Sam Roush is a, first of all, like right off the bat,

find me a more physical better blocker at tight end in this class. Okay? So check that box. He's nasty. He's tough. He's built for it. This guy is like, it's pedigree. Stanford brings in historically damn good tight ends.

and he was supposed to be next up. He just didn't know the program was going to collapse around him. So he comes here and I'm like, yeah, I want to see this guy. I've heard a lot of good things. I've seen a little bit on tape. He's a block and he's an inline blocker, hand in the dirt. I'm watching an NFL tight end. I'm watching a guy with the coordination, the instincts, head around, hands up.

Like, the coordination is a word. It kept coming back to me. Like, you know when the NFL, when you throw the ball to a tight end, you're like, oh, it feels good. Contested. Mm. Big hands. My ball.

Right? As a quarterback, when you throw a ball to a tight end that you trust, oh, it's like, it's like coming downstairs in a snowstorm and having like a warm, like an oatmeal. It's like oatmeal. Tight ends are oatmeal. That might be the worst one yet. No, it's soothing.

It's comfort. It's like, and you feel like you get something nutritious in you. You can go like, be a lumber. jacking back down wood. Rosh is oatmeal. I love this guy. I'm telling you he's going to be like a fourth round pick. Remember like Gunner Helm, but he can't run.

He got shot in the leg at the combine. Certain tight ends just got it, man. He's going to average 11 or 12 yards per catch. He's going to be in the league for 12 years. He's going to block in line. He's going to catch passes in the AFC or NFC championship game. He's going to catch passes in the Super Bowl. This guy's going to win a Super Bowl.

He's going to win it. Sam Roush is going to win a Super Bowl, and it's the football. It's the football gods paying him back for what happened in the last few years at Stanford. This guy is too damn good a football player to be mired in misery anymore. He's going to be a mid-round pick, and Sam Rouse is going to play a critical role in winning a Super Bowl. While selling oatmeal. As a lumberjazz. While serving as a quarterback's oatmeal.

All right. I don't even know where we are anymore. I don't need you to respond to that. I'm telling you this guys. After the first day of practice, you always walk away and you're like, cream is starting to rise to the top. Some guys are different. Roush is different.

Mark it down. What's today? January 27th, okay? Here's a segment. We have two left. We've got to explain this one a little bit. Hold the verdict. Yeah.

Hold the verdict. driving back, Marissa's driving us because she drives safer than I do. I'm in the passenger seat, mentioned in her in the back. We're trying to figure out a way to word this, okay? Hold the verdict for us

essentially is we know there's more there, there's a lot of talent, we wanted, maybe like you left wanting after practice today, know that there's more, want to see more in a certain air, whatever it is,

But at this point, you just didn't feel like you got all of them or you want to see more. So let's just hold the verdict. We're not saying that he had a disappointment. The five fallers. Five risers. Five fallers. We're not here to do that show. These are guys that we just think that there's going to be more.

We hope there's more. But today was a little like, huh, didn't quite get what we wanted. Who's your hold the verdict guy? Florida defense tackle Caleb Banks. I mean, you sent us a video where it looked like he was going to, when he was, he's hitting the bags. He's going to, like the bag was going to go out of the stadium. The bag drill, I was watching a bunch of good players, and then I was watching Caleb Banks.

Right. It was him and everyone else is what you said. Good players. And then Caleb Banks. And I love the tape. They had to, after the bag drill, they had to wait 30 seconds for the thing to stop rocking. Yeah. You know?

And you could hear it throughout the stadium reverberating, right? But then you were watching in the trenches while I was watching the perimeter guys. I love his tape. 24 again three games this year because of a foot injury I'm seeing this video of the bag work and I I've got my phone out every time he had a one-on-one rep I'm thinking to myself this poor kid I whoever's lined up against him oh no this is going to be a problem and he just kept stalling out as a pass rusher today to me maybe it's he didn't play a lot of football this year it didn't seem to have a plan he's got all of these

tools the length the power the size the athletic ability and it was wasn't coming together in the pass rush today. So hopefully that's something that we'll see him develop as the week goes on. It'll get more comfortable. But it was just stalling out. I mean, there was a couple times he looked like he was going to lose his footing. And it was just, I was taken aback by how underdeveloped he looked as a pass rusher. I always think, I guess I go to Dexter Lawrence, right?

is a good example of a guy who wasn't there, but my goodness, we knew the talent was there and developed into who he is today as a pass rusher, as a dominant interior force. Caleb Banks right now steps on an NFL field, and he's an impact player versus the run, but you've got to take him off the field as a pass rusher while developing him.

I think he'll get there. I'm with you. He's too talented. not to get there. You do have to wonder, like, it just, he hasn't played a lot of ball. I thought it was like 26 snaps. Maybe it turned out to be, like, 60 snap. It was fewer than, like, 70 snaps all season long.

Just never got his season going because of the injury. And tried to play and kind of re-nicked it and then shut it down. And there's coordination and timing plays a role in any pass rush. But when you're that big, you move that well and you have that much upper body power as I saw those bags getting whacked around. It's just a matter of you got to get in the lab and you got to start working on it

with the right coaching and consistency. It's like anything in life, right? Like if you go do something five, six times and you think you got it, like who are you kidding? You got to rep it every day. Like it's got to become your life. And that's what you're going to draft Caleb Banks

off of the potential. But I also want to see with NFL coaches and over the next two days what's the improvement there, you know? Agree? My hold the verdict guy. Davis and Igbenosin. I wanted to go with your cornerback, Chris Johnson,

because I didn't see him. I didn't see enough from him, San Diego State today, and he did get beat one time. Reggie Virgil and the one-on-one. So I almost brought him up, and I just brought him up. I almost went with him. He did, according to the analytics, have the fastest on-field time today.

He did, which actually. was encouraging because I wanted to see that. And he's just a damn good football player. So I'm expecting to see more the next couple days. Igbenosin's tough because it's just not a scheme fit. But I'm watching this guy who played so much better this year. The penalties were

like a quarter in terms of like the grabbing, the holding, the PIs. That was the big problem with him. He's big, he's tall, he's smart, he's physical, he'll do all the things. I think Matt Patricia put him in the perfect situation. They were keeping things in front of him, playing

zone, allowing him to be physical at times with the press and the length. Maybe it's just not going to be a great week for him, and I know he did some good things, but Igbenosa and I saw too many times against quicker wide receivers where it's like, oh yeah, he is a tall, long-legged, kind of stiff-hipped, by comparison, corner who's just not going to match it. So if you're watching today, you're like, okay, we know we can't do a lot of that with him. he's not going to be in a lot of shadow coverage where he's got you know where guys who were like super quick in and out of their breaks he just was giving up a lot of separation to the top of breaks today

and so I think you know that about him already right but I want to see how he responds of you know what I mean like he flashed a little late too yeah nice breakup breaking on the ball he flashed a little bit late but he's a guy that I'm I'm kind of hoping that we've seen more from because he's coming off for such a great year. And it was a lot of fun to watch him this year because I felt for him because I knew he was talented, but in 2024, the penalties

and the negative plays were so glaring. I mean, there was, like, 16. Was it more than that? Yeah. I think it was like 12. I don't know. It was double digit past interferences. So he's a player to keep an eye on. And again, in the McShay report,

Google it. The McShay report, it's a newsletter. Take a lot of pride in it. We're going to go in a lot more. I'm going to go in a lot more detail on a lot of these guys and have some video to support it. But I think those are two guys that we wanted to. The other thing, too, with the verdict still out. I'll go as long as I want, but I will keep it in a lot. You will.

And that's fine. But you did say on the way in here, just behind the scenes, oh, guys, I can do this. Oh, I can be quick. I was in TV. I'm actually, yeah, I was in TV for, for a big game. For 19 years and six months as my sim. As my Simba thing from Disney just came in, a year and a half late,

congratulating me on 20 years. Thanks, Disney. A, I didn't make 20 years. B, it was like two years later. What are we doing? Anyway, as I learned from my years in TV, I'm actually laying out a little here. I'm stretching because we're at 743 and we're trying to go to eight.

So we might as well give the folks a little bit more right till 8 o'clock. We only only one segment left. The running backs. The verdicts got, there's a lot of talent here. Like, I saw flashes from Adam Randall Clemson made this one cut and go in the back to the inside.

Felt the cut lane almost got tripped up and then takes off. Speed. He was like second or third fastest of all the players in that first practice. He's a big physical, he's a big back, I should say. He became better in contact,

contact balance, became a lot more instinct. If he can catch them, the ball. He's got speed. He's intriguing. Then you get Singleton. I want to see Nicholas Singleton. I saw like a couple good runs today. I want to see Nicholas Singleton do Nicholas Singleton

things in the next couple of days. Ketron Allen's just going to be who he is. Big, big, tough, interior runner. But Singleton can catch. Allen actually had a faster on-field time today than Singleton. I need answers. Verdicts out. Yeah, yeah. We're going to get to in.

Verdicts still out. Okay. And there's some other really good backs, too. So I'm just, it was the first day of practice, and there's not a lot of like one-on-one where, like, they were past catching and linebackers and all that stuff. So, but I want to see more from these running backs as we get through the weekend team and in some of those one-on-one pass-catching drills. Yeah. All right. Last one. Save the best for last.

Nudge guys. We've talked about Nudge guys, and feel free to cut me off if I'm not doing this, right? We've talked about players that are height-weight speed guys up to this point. Nudge guys can also be players that jump out for another reason of, oh, I didn't realize that this guy was quite as good. Yeah. Or look at him, he's competing right now in a way that is elevating. Nudge guys are, you're sitting, and I alluded to it earlier,

but you're sitting in a pack with guys in the league or whoever you're with. And you're standing, like, today, it was from Phil Savage, you saw Albert Breer to saw John Lynch to, to Nick Casario we talked to, Sean Stalada. That son of a bitch won't get out of my life. Took a video with him today. You guys, you act all tough and then you're best friends. I mean, we were North Shore guys from Mass.

But yeah, and I told him, he's still a rodent in my life. He won't get out. Won't get out. I love Sean. It is what it is. Fucking Beverly game. But you're with whoever you're with, Then you're like, yo, a little nudge.

You see that? Yeah. You see that? And yeah, it could be, man, look at that. Like, who's the, that's safety? I don't know. I've seen Ephesian, Ephesians, Prysock, right? Yep.

From Washington, 6-0-2, 6-3, 194. I'm telling you, it's 210 today. I don't care. Yeah, he just, yeah, he looks big. He's no way he's under 200. 33 and 3-inch-inch arms. Okay. That's absurd.

It's absurd for a coin. I'm watching him. It's like, remember the movie Twins with like Schwarzenegger and... Dady DeVito? Yeah. It was like all the other, all the other, what, I mean, everything I do. All the other cornerbacks are here and then it's like, foo. And it's like big neck and calves.

Like that's a nudge guy from a measurable sim. But there's also guys like, there's small school. You just didn't know this about. They stand out. So give me a nudge guy from practice today. I'm going to go with Bryson, the defensive tackle from Tennessee, who was at Tennessee for six years. I think people get a little scared of guys. Didn't transfer?

No. Older guy. You know, when you look at the guys who are there for six years, it scares some people away. I was not expecting what I saw during one-on-ones. And we've talked about coordination of a pass rush. His hands and feet are tied together. He has a plan. When he's attacking an offensive lineman, he knows how he's going to try and get that guy off balance.

I thought he really popped during one-on-ones. It caught my attention with how he played today. You know what's interesting? I don't think we've talked to a scout, a GM, or a coach in 48 hours now of being here in Mobile. That hasn't mentioned in one of our conversations. Man, it's different now, huh? Yeah. And it's not what you would think.

What you would think is, oh, these guys are entitled. they're making all this money. They don't have loyalty. It's actually not that. Because that stuff actually helps with scouting. You get to find out who can handle money, who can handle their business, who has people that are reaching in their pocket.

Like, you actually get more information. It's easier to scout now with some of that stuff. The point that keeps coming up is, hey, they weren't in a program. when you become a mercenary and you pay for play and you're bouncing around you go you're not in when you go to when you went to Alabama with nick sabin and their their training excuse me they had a four-year program for you and maybe you only made it through three but at least you got three years and it was nutrition it was it was lifting it was conditioning it was

your body's this when you come to us and it's going to be this when you leave us a proven program of how to develop players at every position. We have a blueprint here. Julio Jones went here. We know how to develop a wide receiver. You know what I mean? Right. And on top of that,

they haven't been in a system. And the technique changes everywhere they go. And so coaches are forced to kind of like on the fly. Are you coming in in February for next season? We got a few months. This is how we do it. Well, that's how we. And players come in and they don't know.

what their way to do it is. Excuse me. So when you tell me a player is in one place for six years and was part of that program and learn one way to do it and his feet are tied to his hands and you're showing, you know, there's something to that. And it's something to keep an eye on because that's been the thing. It's kind of surprised me the most about their conversations over and over again.

We're talking about, yeah, they just haven't been in a program. They're leaner. They're not as thick. They're not as built. Their technique isn't as good. And so we're having, we talked to earlier, and we're going to share this on Friday with Mickey Loomis, the GM, talking about we're having to coach more, our staff has to coach more than ever before when players came in because of all those things. I don't know. It just popped in my head when you said that.

Nudge guy for me. Ted Hurst. Ted Hurst is a highlight of the day. Oh, my gosh. Ted Hurst is a Georgia. We talked about him in the newsletter coming into this as a player to watch. big wide receivers. That was a theme. 603-2, so 6.3 and a quarter, 207 pounds,

had over 1,000 receiving yards last year, and he said, yeah, it was Georgia State. This guy came out today against, let's see, this guy came out today against Duke, North Carolina, Chris Johnson, mentioned his favorite player that he's yelling his poor wife, Iris, about, and his sweet five-year-old daughter about. Facts. Cal, Penn State, Iowa, TCU, like all these guys, Tennessee, Tennessee. And he's getting open, he's challenging vertical, and he's making tough catches.

He had the catch of the down the left rail, I think it was, one hand in the end zone. Contested tough catch. Had another one vertically down the left rail as well, earlier in the practice. This guy's a player to watch. And he's in all time, like, you know, who's seven? Right. Georgia State, let's do a little work on. And the wide receiver coaches are like, let's go.

I want to get to know him more. So Ted Hurst is a player. I'm definitely keeping an eye on number seven for the national team. We'll see him again tomorrow. Excited to see is we get like, you know, day two with Cole Payton, Sawyer Robertson, Diego Pavia, hopefully there's more reps and more efficiency in that practice. But he's going to be a guy to keep an eye on it out for here. Love it.

I got one more? Do I go one more? Yeah, one more. We're wrapping it up? Yeah, no. Ethan Oni Onwa. I don't know if people remember this name. He was a rice transfer to Ohio State.

Yeah. When he was transferring, the assumption with this kid was he's going to Ohio State. He's going to become the next great offensive tackle for Ohio State. Yeah. And he's going to be a first round pick. There was first round. Oh, my gosh. That's right.

He went to Ohio State. It's dawning on me. No, I know, but like, he went to Ohio State. Why didn't I hear anything about it? Didn't win the starting job. He played in 13 games, did not start a game at Ohio State, okay? I didn't know that. Today, up and down, inconsistent.

But we are talking about a 6-foot-6, 332-pound offensive lineman with 34-plus-inch arms, who moves really well and started 34 games. He didn't start last year, but he started 34 games at Rice at right tackle, at left tackle, and he's playing guard. I think if you're an offensive line coach, you think that there might be a diamond in the rough here. It didn't work out last year, but here he is competing.

I think he went to the American Bowl before he came here. That's where he's at in this process. But when you look at the body, you look at the way he can move, the frame, the length, all of it, if I'm an offensive line coach, I'm intrigued by bringing this kid in. I like that.

I like when you hit me with a story, you know? Yeah. And I remember looking at mock drafts in the summer, Yes. And it was like this guy could be first round. Yep. That's interesting. I'm going to go to a guy that played on a team that was awesome this year for the vast majority that made a huge impact on the college football and kind of came out of nowhere.

The defense got better after a really poor start. And it was Texas A&M, right? Tucker produced it. Even when Tucker can't get in my ear, he's producing. I love it. We will. We'll get to one other player after. But, and you think of Texas A&M defensively, obviously Cassius Howell.

You think of Tori Ann York and some of those other cats, right? And then the cornerbacks, William Lee, the third. Yeah. Okay. I watched an individual today that I knew was on the defense, and he had some moments, but his name is Scooby Williams, right? You know when you're just watching a player and you're like, that guy's NFL? his athletic profile, the way he moves.

I watched him in coverage today. I watched him break up a pass. I watched his range. I watched going sideline to sideline. I just watched a player who's smooth and, like, you don't have to be the take on, you know. It's a different position now, man. And I'm looking at a young man who, yes,

he only played seven games because of the injury, okay? But he can cover. and I'm excited to see him at the combine, what he runs. And he's productive when he's healthy, man. He's a good player. And I don't know. He checked in at, I wrote it down here somewhere. He checked in at, it was like 6-1.

Here it is. 6-2, 6021, 21, 217 pounds. But had 32-inch arm length, which isn't elite, but a bunch of other linebackers in the 31 range. and I just, even the way he, like, he batted down a pass, and then he went and, like, got down. I'll never forget, I went to the Jadavian Clowney's Pro Day and covered it. And they did the drill, and they do this at a lot of pro days, but it was like the big deal there because he was like the best player in a draft that didn't have a lot of quarterbacks, okay?

And people were loving the tennis ball drill when he run in the hoops and you had to pick up the ball. Today he kind of batted down the pass. He circled back around, plucked up the ball like it was a tennis ball and ran off. And I'm like, that. Yeah. Lower body flexion, the flexibility, the coordination. Ben, and just like easy to. Natural.

Natural. So I'm keeping an eye on Scooby Williams from Texas A&M. One last guy before we get you out of here right before 8 o'clock. I have a term. I want to throw you at the end. Okay. Tucker's so excited about this, this reel. And I watched his tape on the way down here, okay?

and to me he's intriguing as a Baylor as a Baylor wide receiver because he played in an offense obviously was Sawyer Robertson they had to score a lot of points he is so unique because his size he's not a typical he wears number 34 so it looks weird anyway right and he looks like like in 1980s running back almost you know like tall thick build and I'm just looking at He checked in at 6012, 223. Big hands, 10 and 1 eighth inch, almost 34 inch arm length. He returns punts. He's great with the ball after catch.

He's still learning as a route runner. Had some drops on tape. My goodness, young man, put the ball away because the ball's security of scaring me even before you got it knocked out. And I saw, like, there's some stuff there that has to be worked on. But I saw him kind of, it looked like he tweaked his hand, like stretching out and then all of a sudden he comes back late in practice during the competition drill down the field one-on-one down the right rail i'm standing right there goes by the last play of the entire day you could see his speed his natural ability he catches the ball touchdown everyone comes racing down to greet him

and he's like i told you me like come on like get the ball to me and the confidence and just to see him flourish when he's not really, he's run vertical routes, but his route running develops, and he secures the ball a little bit better, becomes a little bit more consistent. You don't find many guys built like that who are so good with the ball in their hands. So he's another guy.

Yeah, the way he tracked and adjusted, I really like. Which adds to the profile of a guy who's really good with the ball in his hands after the catch. All right, finish us off right before 8 o'clock. Here's a look, a glimpse inside my mind as I'm watching. I watch the offensive line, And I feel like guys fall into roles And these practices

So I'm going through and I'm like Bo Stevens from Iowa He's coaching everyone up He's my unk I look at him He's unk He's the coach on the field Kaelin Rutledge

The Guard from Georgia Tech He's kind of the prick Sam hackton Not kind of the prick Yeah he's a prick He's a prick Sam hacked from Kansas State They actually had to

They had to tell him The cool down a little bit Yeah they did Because he was He was getting shippy Sam hacked from Kansas States The technician He's just the like

fundamentally sound guy. But I think I came up. Demetrius Crownover was the dude today. Who's the dude? Who's the guy is better than everyone else? I thought Demetrius Crownover, the Texas A&M office. I want to hear more about him this week.

I thought he was the best in the morning. I have a new thing. Okay. The rep snatcher. And Jennings Dunker from Iowa is the rep snatcher. Explain. Zabel, last year from North Dakota State, was the rep snatcher.

These are the guys who are saying, you need a right guard? I know I play right tackle. I'll jump in right now. No one's going to jump in. Like, he wasn't, he wasn't, like, bad about it. It's the equivalent in school of, like, the teacher's pad of, like, he always raising their name.

Oh, my gosh. When we played, Mark Magna was an unbelievable defensive tackle at Richmond. Played in the NFL for the Jets and the Patriots. He could have, you know, played it cool, whatever. If you went to Matril's, which were morning workouts, first in line, no matter what. That's kind of the rep snatcher. I want to get as many reps as possible.

So annoying. No, no, like, like as a, as, as, teammate like all right yeah we get it mark you work harder than us you have greater stamina than us you get over the hill faster than us the Iowa offensive line you grow up you're like man the amount of respect I have he wasn't the best player today but he was I'm gonna compete I'm gonna take every snap I can get that's a perfect way to end it and honestly we're gonna be here on Netflix next week on Monday I have to remind everybody we're excited about it excited about the future of this show and everything that's coming with it thrilled about the newsletter the mcchey report please Google it

please get involved. Thrilled about some more news that we're going to present to you in the next week or so and, like, couldn't be happier. Things are finally starting to freaking takeoff here, and we appreciate all your support along the way. And I'm most thrilled to be sitting next to this guy who gives me five stars every time. And guess what? It's 8 p.m. Central on the dot. Let's go. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling. Gambling problem? call 1-800 gambler or visit r g-g dash help.com.

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