2020 East-West Shrine Bowl

IDP News & Notes

It’s officially draft season, and prospects from all over the country are attending all-star games over the next month. Up first is the 95th edition of the East-West Shrine Bowl. This game has showcased stars such as Ricky Jackson, Steve Atwater, Pat Tillman, Mean Joe Greene, Alan Paige, and Dick Butkus. From small school hopefuls to big school studs, this game puts everyone on a level playing field so they can showcase their talents. The East squad was able to get the victory over the West squad by a score of 31-27. Now let’s take a look at this year’s stars and how they performed.

East Team Standouts

Edge, Kendall Coleman, Syracuse Orange One of the East team’s best players was edge rusher Kendall Coleman, who was able to apply constant pressure on the West team today. Used an elite dip move to slip past blocks, to which none of the opposing o-linemen had an answer, that led to a sack and several disruptions in the backfield. Along with that dip move, he showed great bend around the edge and the ability to flatten at the top of his rush. Scouts say he had one of the most consistent weeks of any player there and routinely won one-on-one matchups.

ILB, Shaquille Quarterman, Miami Hurricanes The big thumping linebacker had a good week of practice, showing that he’s more than a downhill thumper. On day two of practice, he grabbed the attention of scouts when he performed very well covering tight ends and running backs with good instincts during space coverage drills. This was good to see, with concerns about his speed being a question. During the game, he made some really good reads versus the run game, as he ended up with five tackles for the game.

DL, Garrett Marino, UAB Blazers Marino made his presence felt all game long with some of the most active hands of anyone. He made opposing blockers work extremely hard and gave them no plays to relax. On one play in the first half, Garrett showed quick burst to make a big tackle for a loss while being blatantly held. He’s a player with one of the highest motors and non-stop effort on every play. He was one of the players who had a lot of buzz around his name this week.

CB, Parnell Motley, Oklahoma Sooners The senior Sooner made receivers earn any catches they made today, as he contested each pass. He made a play on a pass, knocking the ball loose as it was caught. This came after the play where he made a nice open-field tackle to prevent a long run against a running back who broke loose into the secondary. He showed nice closing speed and routinely tried to rip balls loose. 

Edge, Alex Highsmith, Charlotte 49ers After having a huge season for the 49ers, Highsmith continued that this week at the Shrine Bowl. Scouts were eager to see how his skill translated among other stars. He received positive grades, and scouts stated what a consistently good week he had at practice. Highsmith did well in today’s game as well, producing a number of pressures and forcing the West team to pay some extra attention to him.

OLB, Cam Gill, Wagner Seahawks While he is best known as a supreme pass rusher, he showed today that he is much more than that; he made tackles from the outside linebackers spot. Cam had a very good week of practice, where he showed good awareness getting hands up to bat down a pass and won routinely in one-on-one drills against offensive tackles. Being able to showcase that versatility will go a long way in scouts’ eyes. One of the best overall pass rushers in this draft class, we recently had Cam on our @IDPNation podcast as one of our IDP interviews.

West Team Standouts

FS, Luther Kirk, Illinois State Redbirds He was named the DMVP of the 2020 Shrine Bowl because he had himself quite a game. Kirk ended up with two tackles and one interception, but it was the range of a second interception that was called back by a penalty that was impressive. From the deep center field, he covered a lot of ground to snatch a would-be reception from the intended target. You can see this play below. Word is he had a great week of practice and translated it to the game. He’s a name to watch going forward.

CB, Keith Washington,  West Virginia He had some mixed results all week according to scouts but showed flashes of his upside. The senior cornerback saw a lot of action in this game and held his own. He made an excellent open-field tackle against the run in the opening series of the game. It seemed that the East team was picking on him at times, but that’s okay because it gave Keith a chance to show what he can do. 

Edge, Bryce Huff, Memphis Tigers The senior edge rusher was our very first interviewee on our podcast at IDP Nation Podcast (@IDPNation) | Twitter. Bryce was very active all-day and finally made his presence known with a big sack. He had been close on a number of plays throughout the game before making this impact play.

Derrek Tuszka, North Dakota State Bisons Here is a player that I am going to go back and watch tape on. While I watched some of North Dakota State’s games this year, I was watching one of his teammates. However, now I will focus on Tuszka. He stood out the entire game, routinely getting pressures on the East squad’s quarterbacks. Early in the game, he showed a very nice combo rush where he used a bull rush, then used an inside rip to get a big pressure. He would have a number of pressures throughout the game and one in the second half that led to a big interception by teammate Luther Kirk. Derrek’s name was one that I wrote down repeatedly as I made notes on today’s game.

ILB, John Houston Jr, USC Trojans Here is another player who stood out and whose name I routinely wrote down. The captain for the Trojans had a solid week of practice, and it translated to the game. He made one of the best fundamentally sound plays of the game in the first half when he made an excellent read-and-react play on a dump down to a running back for minimal or no gain. 

ILB, Dante Olson, Montana Grizzlies Olson is a player that has climbed up my big board the past few months and looked good today. He led all players on any team with seven tackles. He showed he has a nose for finding the football and making the stop. It was great to see a small school player perform at a high level on a national stage.

S, Dele Harding, Illinois Fighting Illini He played linebacker for Illinois and, though a little undersized, was productive. At the Shrine Bowl, he played at safety and performed well. One of the big hitters of today’s game was Dele Harding. He was an enforcer all game and made his presence felt on the East team’s receivers. He made several tackles and was a tone-setter for the West squad. His big-hitting presence was acknowledged all week. 

Thanks for reading my article, and if you enjoyed it, you can read more of my articles at dynastyfootballfactory.com. You can also follow me on social media, on Twitter at Hollywood@DFF_DWin, on Facebook on my IDPNation page, on Reddit in the fantasy football IDP sub I’m user KingTitan1, and you can tune in each week and listen to the podcasts, IDP Nation that I co-host, on a number of different platforms. Feel free to hit me up with any questions that you have, as I’m always glad to help fellow IDPers. #IDPNation #IDP #IDPDevy