2023 NFL draft: 10 biggest offensive standouts from 2023 East-West Shrine & Senior Bowl events

#10. John Michael Schmitz, Minnesota (Interior OL)

Miami-Ohio v Minnesota

It’s not like John Michael Schmitz really needed to prove a whole lot during Senior Bowl, as he was already regarded as one of the top interior offensive linemen in this class coming in. However, with that showcase, he fortified himself as OC1 and a first-rounder most likely.

Schmitz would have most likely been a top-100 pick last year already, with 19 starter at the pivot and being a second-team All-Big Ten performer. Yet, he improved to first-team all-conference and played as well as any center in the country this past season.

Everything this guy does is solid. His ability to frame rushers and control reps with vice grip hands made him nearly impossible to get by during one-on-one pass-protection drills.

He completely shut down Alabama’s D.J. Dale and Oklahoma’s Will Redmond on a couple of occasions, trying to power through him in pass-pro on day two. They couldn’t find any counter on the second of back-to-back tries against him.

The only rep I can remember him losing theoretically was probably once against South Carolina’s Zacch Pickens on day three. Pickens sold out for just getting upfield to one side and made the dummy quarterback move, but he didn’t actually get a hand on that trainer. When the defense ran some two-on-two games to close that session, Schmitz perfectly timed up his upward strike to shut down the Alabama IDL Byron Young once looping around towards the center.

During team drills, Schmitz’s ability to execute more diverse assignments than that zone-heavy rushing attack he was part of Minnesota was on display. He did utilize his upper-body strength to torque shade-nose tackles and allow the back to press the front-side on numerous occasions on outside zone, but he also created good vertical movement on combos and climbed off those under good control.

The most fun for me were a couple of highly impressive moments, full 11-on-11 plays, where he set the key block in front of Tulane’s explosive RB Tyjae Spears and Okahoma’s Eric Gray respectively (who both ripped off chunk plays each). Schmitz sent one of the biggest standouts across those first two days (Sacramento State LB Marte Mapu) flying a couple of yards on one of them.

Other winners who are interesting NFL draft prospects

RBs – Eric Gray (Oklahoma), Evan Hull (Northwestern) & Xazavian Valladay (Arizona State)

WRs – Jayden Reed (Michigan State), Nathaniel “Tank” Dell (Houston), A.T. Perry (Wake Forest) & Jalen Cropper (Fresno State)

TEs – Davis Allen (Clemson) & Payne Durham (Purdue)

OTs – Darnell Wright (Tennessee) & Matthew Bergeron (Syracuse)

IOL – Chandler Zavala (N.C. State) & Juice Scruggs (Penn State)

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