Posted by: Pete Roussel on January 26, 2012

Every writer has a different storyline about the Senior Bowl practices.  Most articles end up surrounding the emergence of a little-known prospect, the flashes of some non-BCS pass rush specialist, or some prospect's pulled hammy.

My storylines are different.

For me, the Senior Bowl is like the second coaches convention.  Of course, just a couple of week ago, I was in San Antonio for the AFCA Coaches Convention.  That's where virtually all college football coaches get together for 2-3 days to get away from the office and catch up with friends in the profession.

The Senior Bowl is where you'll find most NFL coaches, a lot of NFL scouts, agents, and general managers.

It's also "Round 2" for the college coaches that have yet to land jobs.  They come to continue networking, meet a couple of new coaches, and maybe even watch a few snaps of practice. Watching practice isn't the priority.

I've been going to the Senior Bowl for years.  Without question, the event is growing.  I can't remember seeing as many graduate assistant coaches and quality control level assistants as I did during Tuesday and Wednesday.  There were grad assistants from SEC, ACC, and Big Twelve programs on hand.

There was even a grad assistant from the University of Minnesota roaming the sidelines, shaking hands with coaches.

Despite being a week from National Signing Day, a couple of college head coaches like Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, and Mark Hudspeth stopped by practice in support of former players.

Houston Nutt, Larry Porter, and Pat Hill were each in attendance.  Nutt brought along former assistants Tyrone Nix and Keith Burns.

Marion Hobby was rolling with Dabo, while Hud had several UL-Lafayette assistants with him.

It was good to see a large turnout of coaches this year in Mobile.

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