Miami has two standout prospects at the Senior Bowl: one from Monsignor Pace and another from the U
South Florida football runs the world.
Players from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties get after it. Case in point: more players (17) were from Miami than any other city during Week 1 of the NFL season.
The Senior Bowl practice showcased their prowess to a tee as players who attended University of Miami or high school in South Florida tended to dominate, chief among them Hurricanes tight end Elijah Arroyo and Texas A&M edge rusher Shemar Stewart, who graduated from Monsignor Pace.
“Everybody wonders how I’m 6-5, 280 and being able to move the way he does,” Stewart said Wednesday. “Growing up and playing football in Miami, you have to move like this. Everybody in Miami is fast. Every skill player in Miami probably runs a 4.4 [40-yard dash] or faster. I feel like playing in Miami prepared me, prepared my mobility for the next level.”
Stewart, who has steadily climbed draft boards during the past few weeks despite his 1.5-sack season, has turned heads in his two days of practice. He bum rushed offensive linemen during 1-on-1s and even got a sack in the scrimmage on Tuesday. A major contributor: that frame and mobility he mentioned.
The Texas A&M standout subsequently issued a notice to general managers on Tuesday.
“If I was a GM, I would take me with the highest pick you got,” Stewart told the NFL Network. “You don’t want to miss this.”
It was nearly impossible for the offense to run the ball Wednesday during scrimmage in large part due to his pressure from the outside. Stewart and LSU offensive lineman Emery Jones Jr. got into a bit of verbal exchange. Asked whether he used Tuesday’s dominant performance to fuel his Wednesday showing and Stewart shared some advice his father gave him.
“My dad said it best: only girls complain about old stuff,” Stewart said. “So every day I try to come in and get better.”
Similar to Stewart, Arroyo has been one of the hottest players at the Senior Bowl. A 6-4, 245-pound tight end, the UM standout has turned heads with his smooth route-running and soft hands. Plus, the man is just plain out fast. Take a look at how ESPN draft expert Matt Miller described the elite tight end.
“Arroyo was just outside my top 50 entering the Senior Bowl, but after watching him on Tuesday, he needs to be bumped up,” Miller wrote. “He can absolutely scoot at 6-foot-4, 251 pounds, as he routinely ran past safeties while showing great reach and an ability to extend plays. He’ll be in Round 2 of my next mock draft.”
A native of Frisco, Texas, the tight end finished fourth on the Hurricanes in receiving yards (590), fifth in catches (35) and third in touchdown receptions (seven). Still, he had the highest yards per catch at 16.9. His stats, however, don’t show everything.
“A dawg,” Arroyo said when asked what the team that drafts him will get. “I’m an elite competitor. I love winning. I’m a team player. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get our team to win.”
Arroy also called himself a “culture builder.”
“We came from being a 5-7 to a 10-win team, and that’s not for no reason,” Arroyo.
Outside of consensus top tight end prospect Tyler Warren of Penn State, Arroyo could be one of the next tight ends taken off the board thanks to his Senior Bowl performance. Sure, Arroyo does have a significant injury history — he played only six games between his sophomore and junior seasons due to a torn ACL — but the 21-year-old stressed that his ability to take care of himself has significantly improved He might not be ranked on either The Athletic and Bleacher Report’s big boards, but that should surely change by week’s end.
“I feel like they’re finding everything out right now,” Arroyo said.
