The college all-star circuit kicks into high gear next week with the East-West Shrine Bowl in Las Vegas followed by the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.
We’ll take a quick look at the players that will be taking part in both events, going through by positions. We’ll start here with the five quarterbacks heading to Las Vegas for the Shrine Bowl.
Tanner Morgan, Minnesota
Tanner Morgan will go down as one of the best quarterbacks in Minnesota school history. He’s the all-time leader in wins (33), pass efficiency rating (151.0) and completion percentage (62.2) and is second all-time in games started (47), completions (661), attempts (1,063), passing touchdowns (65), passing yards (9,454) and total offensive yards (9,459). Morgan is likely a day three quarterback due to issues with consistency
Aidan O'Connell, Purdue
Aidan O’Connell helped lead the charge in Purdue that culminated in the school’s first appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game. O’Connell has back-to-back seasons with over 3,400 passing yards and is a career 67% passer. He and Drew Brees are the only Purdue quarterbacks to have multiple 500-yard passing games in the same season.
Tim DeMorat, Fordham
Tim DeMorat is already making his rounds in the all-star circuit, having already played in the Hula Bowl. Now he’ll head to Vegas to continue making a name for himself at the Shrine Bowl.
DeMorat is a three-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and four-time First-Team All-Patriot League selection. He threw for 4,561 yards, 53 touchdowns and just eight interceptions in 2022 for the Rams. He leaves college as the career leader in the Patriot League in touchdowns responsible for (137) and touchdown passes (120). He is second all-time with 13,131 passing yards.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA
DTR may be the most recognizable name on this list. Thompson-Robinson became the first UCLA player ever to reach 12,000 yards of total offense and was one of only two FBS players with at least 25 passing touchdowns and 11 rushing touchdowns (Oregon’s Bo Nix was the other). DTR is also UCLA’s all-time leader in completions (844), total touchdowns (113) and touchdown passes (86).
Tommy DeVito, Illinois
Tommy DeVito transferred to Illinois after five years at Syracuse and had a fine season, completing 70% of his passes (257/369) for 2,650 yards with 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He overcame some of his prior injury problems to play 13 games for the Illini in 2022.
Chase Brice, Appalachian State
Like Tim DeMorat, Chase Brice also made an appearance at the Hula Bowl and is now ready to take on the Shrine Bowl. Brice led the Sun Belt in each of the past two seasons in touchdown passes — 27 in 2021, 27 in 2022. Set school record with 3,337 passing yards in 2021, a record previously held by Armanti Edwards.
