The Super Bowl isn’t the last big football game left to be played this season. The 2026 Senior Bowl is where NFL scouts and coaches will be at to get a glimpse of potentially future players. The Senior Bowl is set for Jan. 31.
The 77th Pinini Senior Bowl is considered the premier college football all-star game, with more than 100 alumni usually selected in the NFL draft each year. There were 106 players from the game who were chosen in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Here are things to know about the 2026 Senior Bowl:
The Senior Bowl will be played on Jan. 31.
The Senior Bowl will be played at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.
The inaugural Senior Bowl, played in 1950, was at Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. It moved to Mobile, Alabama, in 1951 and was played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium until 2021, when it transitioned to Hancock Whitney Stadium.
NFL Network draft analysts Matt Miller, Jordan Reid, and Field Yates will handle the broadcast.
The Senior Bowl is widely considered the premier college football all-star game. Players who have completed their college eligibility and are considered NFL prospects are invited to participate along with draft-eligible juniors who have declared for the NFL Draft.
It serves as a scouting event, with more than 100 prospects practicing and playing in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams.
Former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, the 2025 Heisman Trophy runner-up, will participate in the Senior Bowl. He is among six quarterbacks who will play.
Pavia made news when players checked in, measuring 5-foot-9⅞ and weighing 198 pounds. Vanderbilt listed Pavia at 6-foot, 207 pounds on its 2025 roster. Pavia was also listed at 6-foot on the New Mexico State roster before he transferred to Vanderbilt.
The other quarterbacks on the Senior Bowl rosters include Illinois’ Luke Altmyer, Arkansas’ Taylen Green, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, North Dakota State’s Cole Payton, and Baylor‘s Sawyer Robertson.
Pavia is on the National team along with Payton and Robinson.
Several notable players invited to the Senior Bowl opted out for various reasons, including those affected by the winter storm that disrupted flights across the Southeast.
Some of those players include: Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr., Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey, Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard, Washington cornerback Tacario Davis, Arizona safety Genesis Smith, Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, Miami defensive back Keionte Scott, Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion, and Miami defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor.
Updated rosters are at Senior Bowl rosters.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
