Senior Bowl 2025: Darius Alexander, Landon Jackson, Azareye'h Thomas Among Day 3 National Team Winners
Both teams wrapped up Senior Bowl practices with high-energy competition. Here are my takeaways from National Team practice.
The 2025 Senior Bowl practices are history. I spent last night and this morning reviewing the All-22 to double check my live takeaways, and I’m ready to share my winners from the final day. Check out seven NFL Draft prospects on the National Team who stood out to me on Thursday.
I’m always grateful for the chance to cover the Senior Bowl and interview some of the top prospects. Those interviews will drop in the coming weeks. I may need to subtitle them because they often took place in crowded environments. I’ll also do a full Senior Bowl week recap once I get home from Mobile.
I’m writing the American Team Day 3 recap post from a combination of my hotel room, Uber, and two airports and airplanes, so please excuse me if it doesn’t drop until tomorrow.
National Team Top Performers
1. Darius Alexander, DL Toledo
This is my third year covering the Senior Bowl. Alexander's performance on Day 3 ranks among the three or four best days I've seen a player have in Mobile. Everything from his body language to how his teammates responded to him to the feeling among media members in the stands was tremendous.
Alexander split his 1-on-1 reps, winning against center Jonah Monheim as a 2i with a club and long-arm, losing to left tackle Josh Conerly Jr. as a wide 9 while executing a swipe-rip and then counter spinning inside, using that same swipe-rip to beat left guard Jalen Rivers as a 4-tech, and then having a toss-up bull rush as a 1-tech against center Caleb Rogers.
Alexander got revenge on Conerly later during the red zone 11-on-11 session by beating him as a wide 9 with a club-swim for a “sack.” That’s a 6'3 5/8", 304 lb. defensive tackle cleanly beating a true left tackle around the edge. Alexander also beat Monheim as a 1-tech with a club-swim and overpowered Harold Fannin Jr. from a wide 9 alignment for a sack in the 11-on-11s.
Alexander also aced his evaluation for his performance after the whistle. When Tommi Hill got banged up and took a minute to sit up, Alexander was the first defensive player to walk over and check on him. He also took time to high five every member of the special teams operation before they kicked a field goal at the end of practice during the competition period.
Thursday belonged to Darius Alexander.
2. Landon Jackson, Edge Arkansas
Jackson got better every day throughout the week. He started a little shaky but was on fire yesterday. Jackson beat Aireontae Ersery and Ozzy Trapilo through the B-gap with inside swims in the 1-on-1s. He also beat Trapilo for a backside pressure in the 11-on-11 redzone session and used a chop-swipe to beat Ersery around his outside shoulder.
Jackson also beat Maliki Matavao through the C-gap with pure explosiveness and power for a “sack” in the goal line 11-on-11s. The pressure forced a hurried throw from Dillon Gabriel that was uncatchable.
3. David Walker, Edge Central Arkansas
Walker had his most impactful day to close out the week. He flashed in the first two practices but strung together several wins in the 1-on-1s in Day 3. Walker ducked under Ozzy Trapilo’s two-handed punch with a ghost-esque move before flattening his angle to the quarterback and chopped away Anthony Belton’s outside hand for a clean win around the top of the arc.
I entered the week with some questions about Walker’s true bend, but he checked the box during the live and film evaluations. He also showed off better power than I expected he would against Power Four competition, bull rushing directly through opponents and using his power to pry open the B-gap.
Walker’s 31 3/4" arms will be a non-starter for some teams, but he packs a lot of power into his frame that complements his natural leverage advantage at 6'0 5/8", 267 lbs.
4. Azareye'h Thomas, CB Florida State
Thomas carried himself well throughout the week. He’s one of my favorite height, length, speed options in this class. I know there are some mixed opinions on him, but he’s a top 25 prospect on my board at only 20 years old.
Thomas locked Pat Bryant down, allowing no separation in the 7-on-7 drills. Fade routes found no success against him. It took running a pick route to give one of the National Team’s X receivers a chance to beat Thomas.
The final 1-on-1 session was a huge success for Thomas. He made a one-handed interception covering Kyle Williams on a red zone fade. Thomas patiently waited for Williams to execute his overcomplicated release, got in phase immediately, and turned to locate the ball with time to spare as he compressed the route along the sideline.
Thomas also knocked away a short red zone pass intended for Jaylin Noel. He was a little more reactive at the line than I would like but snapped in phase and located the ball quickly for an effortless one-handed stab that showed off his 32 1/2" arms.
5. Damien Martinez, RB Miami
Martinez was one of the only consistent performers in pass protection for the running backs. He won 1-on-1 reps against Jeffrey Bassa, Nickolas Martin (twice), Cody Lindenberg, and Justin Barron on Thursday. Martinez is a thickly built 5'11 1/8", 226 lb. back with 32" arms. He has better burst, vision, and fluidity between the tackles than I expected for a power back.
6. Ty Robinson, IDL Nebraska
Robinson has his best practice session to close the week, posting two clean wins in the 1-on-1s. First, he beat Texas Tech’s Caleb Rogers (who lined up at right guard) through the B-gap with a swim move. Robinson followed up by beating Jalen Rivers (also at right guard) using a chop and club to gain vertical separation before flattening his rush angle to the quarterback.
7. Grey Zabel, OL North Dakota State
Zabel was one of the two highest risers of the week and is now hearing his name thrown around in late first round conversations. Day 3 wasn’t his best showing, but he still won more than he lost. Jamaree Caldwell and Joshua Farmer beat Zabel in the 1-on-1s, but the FCS All-American beat Oluwafemi Oladejo in team drills at right tackle.
Thursday was a give-and-take day for Zabel, but I think his transitions between playing all along the offensive line were more seamless than any of the other linemen present. He reinforced that yesterday.
Remaining Day 3 National Team Notes
Ollie Gordon II lost poorly to Jeffrey Bassa and Nickolas Martin in pass protection during the 1-on-1s. Karene Reid also got the best of him. Gordon did beat Cody Lindenberg.
Karene Reid was the most consistent winner in the LB-RB pass pro drill on Day 3. He showcased impressive acceleration and natural instincts to counter and keep his rush alive.
Bhayshul Tuten had one of my favorite reps in pass pro from the week. He’s an explosive slasher, so the work he put in during the 1-on-1 drills was a pleasant surprise.
Jeffrey Bassa had several nice run fits in the 11-on-11 drills. Bassa is a former safety who has done his best work against the run working sideline-to-sideline and in pursuit because of his lack of mass to step down and challenge blockers. He had several clean fits today.
I think Aeneas Peebles had better practices on Day 1 and 2, but he hit Grey Zabel with a nasty spin move during the 11-on-11 red zone session. His form doing the worm as the kicker lined up to finish off the practice was immaculate. Peebles and Darius Alexander had some of the best energy all week. You could tell they were really enjoying themselves on the final day.
Jaylin Smith had some nice reps tracking Kyle Williams across the formation both on pre-snap motion and on drag routes during the 11-on-11 red zone period. Per Zebra Technologies, Williams reached the third-fastest speed among all players this week at 21.36 mph. Smith was second at 21.61 mph.
A bunch of the 1-on-1 redzone reps between the wide receivers and cornerbacks weren’t translatable because the receivers did too much dancing around at the line of scrimmage. In a real game situation, a pass rusher is getting to the quarterback in roughly three seconds or less. There’s no time for what my high school basketball coach would call, “that wiggly jiggly sh*t.”
Keondre Jackson had a very impressive rep in the red zone 1-on-1s against Elijah Arroyo. He maintained good inside leverage on the corner route and didn’t allow separation.
Tez Johnson and Xavier Restrepo were the most sudden and shifty route runners out there. They created instantaneous separation and had most defensive backs playing on their heels. This made them especially effective in drills that required them to separate in small spaces, like the red zone 1-on-1s.
Jaylin Lane also showcased his impressive suddenness and acceleration on a winning red zone 1-on-1 rep against Azareye'h Thomas.
Tommi Hill got called for a hold while covering Pat Bryant during the 1-on-1 compete session near the end of practice and struggled on his other two reps against Bryant, who finally caught a touchdown on his third try. Hill had some positive reps in 7-on-7 but had issues mirroring and getting too grabby in the 1-on-1s.