With the Reese’s Senior Bowl week set to begin in a little under two weeks, I wanted to take some time and preview each position group. Jonathan Heitritter and I will be down in Mobile, Ala., covering the event live for the site. This is not meant to be a comprehensive dive into each player, but a foundation to know what to expect once practices get underway. This list will be based on the accepted invite list on the Senior Bowl website, which can and will change in the days leading up to the event.
As always, we will provide a deep dive into each player with draft profiles starting now, all the way up until the 2024 NFL draft on April 25.
The Senior Bowl will be a little different this season as they expanded eligibility to college juniors instead of the traditional seniors-only model.
The first position group in this series will be the quarterbacks.
QUARTERBACK ACCEPTED INVITES
Joe Milton III — University of Tennessee
Age: 23
Year: Redshirt Senior (6th year)
Height/Weight: 6-5, 235 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 10th
Milton transferred from the University of Michigan to Tennessee for his final three years of eligibility. His final year at Michigan, during the COVID-shortened season, he started five games and had a 2-3 record.
When he first joined Tennessee he was the starter, but an injury put Hendon Hooker into the lineup—a role he never relinquished until his knee injury. He started some games in each of his three seasons at Tennessee. Once Hooker was selected in the 2023 NFL Draft, Milton took over as the full-time starter in 2023. He led the Volunteers to an 8-4 record and opted out for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes as he declared for the NFL Draft.
In three years as Tennessee’s quarterback, he appeared in 29 games, starting 16 of them. Milton completed 314 passes on 498 attempts for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns, and five interceptions over that time. He also carried the ball 124 times for 505 yards and nine touchdowns, including an 81-yard touchdown run in 2023.
Spencer Rattler — University of South Carolina
Age: 23
Year: Redshirt Senior (5th year)
Height/Weight: 6-1, 217 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 8th
Rattler is about as interesting a prospect as it gets. Just a couple years ago, he was widely regarded as a future first-round draft pick given his excellent play at the University of Oklahoma. His first season there, he didn’t play much, but in his redshirt freshman season, he was named an FWAA Freshman All-American and a first-team AP All-Big 12 selection. He started all 11 games that season and completed 214 passes on 317 attempts for 3,031, 28 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He also rushed for another six touchdowns. Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the third-best quarterback that season.
The following season he ended up getting benched near the end of the season in favor of projected top 2024 quarterback Caleb Williams. Both of those players transferred away after a disappointing 2021 season for the program.
With the USC Gamecocks, he got the opportunity to be the full-time starter again and started all 25 games over the last two seasons. They failed to qualify for a bowl game in 2023 and Rattler declared for the draft shortly after. He appeared in 48 college games, starting 42 of them with 900 completions on 1,313 attempts for 10,807 yards, 77 touchdowns, and 32 interceptions. He also rushed for 16 touchdowns.
Bo Nix — University of Oregon
Age: 23
Year: Senior (5th year)
Height/Weight: 6-2 217 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 5th
Nix started his collegiate journey with Auburn and enjoyed a great first season. He was the first true freshman to start a season at Auburn since 1946 and earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors. He spent his first three seasons with Auburn and was a team captain his sophomore season. He then transferred to Oregon for his final two seasons after an injury-shortened 2021 season at Auburn with a broken ankle. According to Oregon’s team website, Nix is the most experienced college quarterback in NCAA history with 60 total starts.
He won the William V. Campbell Trophy in 2023, which is given to the player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance. He also won the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year award and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
He ended his historic collegiate career with 1,286 completions on 1,936 attempts for 15,352 yards, 113 touchdown passes, and 26 interceptions. He added another 38 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. He showed steady progression throughout his time in college and enjoyed his best season in 2023. He also earned some additional respect by participating in Oregon’s bowl game despite not being in the college football playoffs while many of his peers opted out to protect themselves for the draft.
Michael Pratt — Tulane University
Age: 22
Year: Senior (4th year)
Height/Weight: 6-3 220 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 7th
Pratt is the first player on this list so far to have started and finished his whole collegiate career with the same team. He debuted as a starter in his true freshman season with Tulane and started nine of the 10 games he appeared in that season. He threw 20 touchdown passes as a true freshman.
In total, he started 46 games and completed 730 passes on 1,204 attempts for 9,611 yards, 90 passing TDs and 26 interceptions. He also carried the ball 447 times for an additional 1,147 yards and 28 touchdowns. He won the 2023 AAC Offensive Player of the Year award. He opted out of his 2023 bowl game and declared for the draft.
Sam Hartman — University of Notre Dame
Age: 24
Year: Redshirt Senior (6th year)
Height/Weight: 6-1, 212 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 12th
Hartman spent the first five seasons of his collegiate career at Wake Forest before transferring to Notre Dame for his sixth and final season. At Wake Forest he enjoyed a prolific career, throwing for 110 touchdowns in five seasons, making the all-time passing touchdown leader for the ACC. Included in that were back-to-back seasons passing for over 35 touchdowns in 2021 and 2022.
In total, he completed 1,135 passes on 1,898 attempts for 15,656 yards, 134 touchdowns, and 49 interceptions across all six seasons. He was a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2021 and 2023 and was named Notre Dame’s MVP as well as serving as its team captain in his first season with the team.
Carter Bradley — University of South Alabama
Age: n/a
Year: Redshirt Senior (6th year)
Height/Weight: 6-3, 216 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 14th
Bradley is a local prospect with the Senior Bowl taking place at his home stadium in South Alabama. He started out at the University of Toledo where he played his first four seasons in the MAC. He then transferred to South Alabama and set school records his junior season. Over his career he completed 678 passes on 1,078 attempts for 8,372 passing yards, 61 touchdowns, and 27 interceptions. He also had 182 rushing attempts for 15 yards and four touchdowns.
Michael Penix Jr. — University of Washington
Age: 23
Year: Redshirt Senior (6th year)
Height/Weight: 6-3, 213 pounds
PFF Position Rank: 4th
Penix recently accepted his Senior Bowl invite and will be an excellent addition to the lineup. He started his career at the University of Indiana and spent four seasons there, appearing in 21 games. He was a team captain for his final two seasons in Indiana but did not finish any of those four seasons due to significant ACL injuries in 2018 and 2020, and shoulder injuries in 2019 and 2021.
He transferred to Washington and managed to stay healthy his final two seasons. He started more games at UW in two seasons (28) than he did at Indiana in four (17). He led them to a 25-3 record as the starter and the playoffs in 2023 on his way to a loss in the national championship game. He had a very impressive performance in the first round of the playoffs against Texas, completing 29-of-38 passes for 430 yards and two touchdowns.
He had two excellent seasons at Washington, throwing for over 4,500 yards and 30 touchdowns in both of them. He finished his collegiate career with 1,067 completions on 1,685 attempts for 13,741 yards, 96 touchdowns, and 34 interceptions. He also rushed for 13 touchdowns but otherwise was not very productive with his legs. He won the Maxwell Award in 2023 given to college football’s best all-around player. He received Heisman votes in 2022 and 2023 and finished with the second-most votes his final season. He was named to the All-Pac-12 second team in 2023 and was a second-team All-American by AP and FWAA.
