In recent years, the East-West Shrine Bowl has brought in talent that can rival the Senior Bowl. An example of this was Ole Miss WR Antwane “Juice” Wells this year. Wells has the ideal size being 6002 (51st percentile) and 203 pounds (69th percentile) with great traits that make him a solid development piece. One of his best traits is finding any way necessary to score touchdowns. Wells had 33 touchdowns over his four healthy seasons. In an interview with Steelers Depot at the East-West Shrine Bowl, Wells talked about what he can bring to a team at the next level.
“Every time I touch the ball, I’m just trying to smell paint,” Wells said. “You know, find a way to get to the end zone. So, I feel like that’s one of my strengths with my game. I’m always, you know, trying to look to find different ways to make the defender miss and find my way to the end zone. Whether I gotta run through somebody, run around somebody, whatever, you know, I’m gonna try to do whatever I can to get to the end zone.”
Along with his ability to find the endzone, his hands are one of his best traits. He attributes constant work on the jug machines to why they are so consistent and strong. When Wells was out for the 2023 season due to an ankle injury, he kept working on the JUGS machine to strengthen his hands more. These hands made him a standout at the Shrine Bowl, where he caught both of his two targets for 22 yards playing on a West team that struggled to get into a rhythm offensively due to poor quarterback play.
While some may look at Wells’ stat sheet and say that he is not the player he once was at James Madison University where he had 83 catches for 1,250 yards and 15 touchdowns in his 2021 campaign, that’s not the case. The film tells a completely different story. In 2022, after transferring to South Carolina, Wells was Spencer Rattler’s favorite target. Wells had double the catches (68) and touchdowns (6) with almost double the receiving yards (928) of USC’s next leading receiver.
Wells would miss the 2023 season due to a lingering ankle injury but would return in 2024 to transfer to Ole Miss for one last go. In that season, he did have career lows in catches (28) and yards (553) but still made an impact for the Rebels. Wells put up another six-touchdown season and a career-high in yards per catch (19.8) which made him a real weapon every time he touched the ball. Wells credited his drive and hard work for his continued success
“Hard work, man, and just hunger, you know? Coming outta high school, like I said, I didn’t go to, you know, any university” Wells, after high school, spent a year at Fork Union Military Academy to get his grades up he would later explain. “So I already felt like I was overlooked and that that hunger just brought a different animal outta me. I always had that drive and I always, still to this day, have that same drive.”
Wells said that he can do anything an NFL offense asks him to do. He feels that he is a combo receiver who can play outside to take the top off a defense while also adding versatility and playing in the slot to catch balls over the middle.
After learning more about his college career, it is not a stretch to believe Wells when he says this. His entire career was always adapting to a new situation and thriving in it. The same thing will happen in the NFL wherever he goes. From the Shrine Bowl to my conversation with him, one thing is clear, any NFL team that drafts Wells will be getting a relentless competitor determined to make an impact at the next level.
