2019 Senior Bowl: 5 players to watch

Gerald Willis III, DT, Miami

The Senior Bowl game itself is not as important as the week leading up to it. During that week of practice NFL scouts are able to sit down and talk to prospects and watch how they handle themselves in drills run by NFL coaching. That ability to dissect players up-close gives these scouts a first hand look at players that they may have previously only seen at a distance. It also allows the players to answer questions directly to NFL’s top brass for the first time.

A player that will need to answer some questions is Miami’s Gerald Willis. After transferring from the University of Florida to Miami, Willis was a wrecking ball for all of last season. Scouts will likely want to ask him why it took him this unusual path to find success. Willis left Florida after multiple suspensions. Upon arriving in Miami, he sat out 2015, player sparingly in 2016 then left the team and sat out the 2017 season.

Once he was back in the fold in 2018, presumably with his demons behind him, Willis played up to the level of highly-touted high school track record. He led the Hurricanes defense in tackles for loss and from the first game against LSU looked like he played at another level than everyone else on the field. Willis lives in opponents backfield and is able to stack and shed interior offensive lineman with ease when he brings good technique.

He has all the traits to continue that success in the NFL. Willis will need some refinement, as most players who come with such dominant tools do. Should he put it together, for this week in particular, it will elevate his stock and quell some of the concerns surrounding his character.