2018 East West Shrine Game OPEN THREAD

The 2018 East-West Shrine Game is a college all star game played annually and this is the 93rd time it’s been played. It will be held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., at 2 p.m. CDT today. This is the real beginning to the offseason when NFL teams and scouts will get a chance to see college stars pitted against other college stars. Ultimately, this is also the first chance GM’s will get to move players up or down their draft board based upon today’s performances.

If you have the NFL Network then you can watch this game on television. It is the 8th straight year that NFL Network will be providing coverage of the East-West Shrine Game. This is the longest-running college football all-star game around.

Here’s the link to the East Roster.

Here’s the link to the West Roster.

SBNation says these are the defensive players on the East squad to look out for:

• Chad Thomas (DE), Miami
• Jason Cabinda (ILB), Penn State
• Kentavius Street (DE), N.C. State

They also list these defensive stars on the West squad:

• Poona Ford (DT), Texas
• Kenny Young (ILB), UCLA
• Godwin Igwebuike (S), Northwestern

Perhaps my favorite college player analyst is Mike Mayock. His positive observations on practice this week also included DE Kentavius Street . Other players he liked are: WRs Daurice Fountain and Justin Watson, Ohio St. LB Chris Worley, OT Brett Toth, TE Jordan Thomas, Missouri DE Marcel Frazier, OG Cody O’Connell, DT Bilal Nichols, and 3-4 ILB Leon Jacobs. Read more –> here.

QB J.T. Barrett had an outstanding week beginning on day one of Shrine Week practice. At 6-foot-1 you don’t hear Barrett’s name mentioned in this draft as an up and coming QB but Mayock says he needs to take advantage of opportunities like this to make his case. Barrett threw for 3,042 yards in 2017 with 35 TDs and only 9 INTs plus a 160.0 rating. In fact, Barrett has thrown for 9,432 yards in his college career. He’ll be one to watch.

Notable Absence: One interesting aspect of the NFL Networks coverage is “Who’s Talking to Whom” a list they provide at the end of each practice. In the case of the K.C. Chiefs, they listed no conversations with any of the prospects. It could be an oversight or a mistake and just because teams have conversations with prospects doesn’t really mean much. However, it is grist for the mill and worth noting.

Let me know who you liked in this game.

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