Ohio State Buckeyes: 5 players looking to see how they measure up at Senior Bowl

Five former Ohio State football players are at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., including four who will suit up for the National team on defense: linebackers Tuf Borland, Baron Browning and Justin Hilliard along with lineman Jonathon Cooper.

On Tuesday, Borland measured 6-foot 1/8 and 229 pounds while Browning was 6-3 1/8, 241 and Hilliard was 6-foot 3/4, 227. Cooper came in at 6-2 3/4 and weighed 254 pounds.

Joining them in Mobile is running back Trey Sermon, who is unable to practice but will take advantage of the opportunity to meet with NFL coaches, scouts and other team personnel.

A shoulder injury ended his national championship game after one play, but Sermon told ElevenWarriors.com he expects to be able to go take part in Ohio State’s Pro Day in March.

Sermon weighed in at 213 pounds at the Senior Bowl and was measured at 6-foot, 1/8th of an inch tall on Tuesday morning.

The 2020 Senior Bowl will be played at a new site this year — Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of South Alabama — but take place on the third Saturday of January as usual. It will be broadcast at 2:30 p.m. by NFL Network, which is also scheduled to show practices Wednesday and Thursday.

The other major traditional college all-star game, the East-West Shrine Game, typically provides another opportunity for many more players to impress NFL scouts, but this year’s edition was canceled as a result of COVID-19.

On top of that, the league has told clubs the annual Scouting Combine will be significantly different this year following the recommendations of a special committee that included Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn.

While the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine was one of the last annual sporting extravaganzas not impacted by COVID-19, the 2021 version will not escape the pandemic’s influence.

The league informed teams Jan. 18 there will be no in-person workouts at the combine.

On-campus pro days will take their place, though more than a few prospects have opted to only work out for teams on their home turf anyway.

The league says it will work with schools to try to create some uniformity in drills and tests performed across the country and ensure that all clubs have access to video from workouts whether or not they actually send a representative.

“We’ve been in communication with the NFL,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said last week. “(Director of strength and conditioning Mickey Marotti) and all the people there and their personnel are trying to figure that out how that’s going to work, whether it’s going to be virtual or how that’s going to play out, so I think those discussions are being had right now.”

The combine is typically in late February and extends into early March with pro days being held later in March, but dates have not been established yet for those things this year.

Additionally, the league is working to develop a plan to obtain comprehensive medical information on each prospect, something that typically would be done at the combine when hundreds of players from all levels of college football get a chance to meet NFL team representatives and make an impression.

This year players are likely to go through virtual interviews by club medical staffs with testing done at medical facilities near where the prospect lives or is working out.

Teams will still have an opportunity to perform psychological assessments, but those will be done virtually.

The league also plans to encourage colleges to hold media interview sessions to replace availabilities that typically take place at the combine and help promote the players, schools and the draft itself.

Head coaches and general managers are also encouraged to hold virtual press conferences in place of the annual meetings they have with reporters at the combine.

The draft is scheduled to take place in Cleveland on April 29-May 1.