Syracuse Football: Kendall Coleman a ‘winner’ at Shrine Bowl practice

Former Syracuse football stud Kendall Coleman is impressing scouts in practice at the Shrine Bowl. Here are all the details and what insiders are saying.

Kendall Coleman is representing Syracuse football at this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl. He’s the 90th former Orange player/coach to participate in the longest-running college football all-star game on the planet.

KC joins some pretty elite company from Syracuse’s rich history including guys like Ernie Davis, John Mackey, Larry Csonka, and Marvin Harrison to name a few. Just last year both Jamal Custis and Chris Slayton joined the long list of Orange royalty.

While the game isn’t until Saturday, January 18 at 3:00 p.m. at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, the practices all week are arguably just as important, if not more so.

During that time there are plenty of opportunities to impress NFL teams, area scouts, coaches, and general managers.

So far this week Coleman has met with several teams including the LA Chargers, the Carolina Panthers, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Arizona Cardinals.

One of his individual reps is getting a lot of love on Twitter via The Draft Network due to Coleman’s “slippery-ness” as a pass rusher:

Although it’s not just a rep that has teams buzzing, several scouts have been impressed with what they saw as well.

David Syvertsen from Ourlads Scouting provided some exclusive insight into what he’s seen from Kendall Coleman thus far and he also labeled him one of his “winners” from Shrine Bowl practice earlier this week:

"“Measured well enough to be considered a 3-4 outside linebacker at the next level, he’s likely too undersized for a 4-3 role. Kendall is very sudden and quick. He can often miss contact by offensive tackles in pass protection. Coleman plays low and has won the leverage battle more times than not throughout these practices.He’s got fast, twitchy hands and I think he can play. I would say he’s getting selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. I’d project him maybe in the fourth to fifth-round range.”"

Heading into this Kendall Coleman cracked a bunch of lists as a sneaky guy to watch out for at this event.

Here’s what some of the experts are saying about Kendall Coleman thus far both good and bad:

"“Kendall Coleman’s far from a complete player, and during his time at Syracuse, he struggled in certain contexts — mostly dealing with power. But Coleman flashed the ability that turned him into a starter for the Orange: the speed rush. He hit multiple speed dips and ghost dips across the course of one-on-ones and full team scrimmage, which lead to immediate pressure and embarrassing reps for the opposing tackles. Coleman is winning from a 2-point stance so far and is a good fit for outside linebacker play in 3-4.” — Benjamin Solak, The Draft Network."

"“Syracuse pass rusher Kendall Coleman had a really good day. He’s got a great get move. He can dip and bend around the edge to get to the top of his rush and flatten. He was great in one-on-ones.” — Andy Fenelon, NFL.com."

Coleman played all four years at Syracuse accumulating over 137 tackles, 15.5 sacks, and 26.5 tackles for loss. But perhaps the most impressive nugget of his career was Kendall’s ability to earn the coach’s trust and play right away as a freshman. Coleman played in 44 career games per Sports Reference.

If you’re looking out for Kendall Coleman on Saturday he’ll be wearing No. 54 and playing on the “East roster” in the East-West Shrine Bowl, per the team website.