With NFL decision-makers lining the sidelines, Day 1 of the 2026 Senior Bowl practices wrapped up on Tuesday. On the critical opening day, Auburn OL Jeremiah Wright emerged as one of the biggest surprises. He made a strong first impression among NFL scouts with his dominant performance.  

Wright’s standout moment came in a one-on-one rep against Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton. Both not only represented their state’s two traditional power schools but also the state in which they grew up, Alabama. In the physical contest, Wright pulled out his best, tackling 6-2, 278-pound Overton with his physical domination. 

One of the two Tigers representatives in the Senior Bowl, he reportedly made the biggest impact among NFL scouts in the ‘best-on-best’ drill, per Rob Paul of Sports Book Review.  

What makes Wright’s rise even better is the way he got there. A Selma native, he spent six seasons at Auburn and played under three head coaches: Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, and Hugh Freeze. He went through constant turnover and even a torn ACL along the way. He switched back to the offensive side of the football after the injury, serving as Auburn’s backup left guard in 2022. But even through that instability, he is positive and also resilient.

He preaches having patience now, “Patience was the biggest thing for me…I know how bad I work … to be out there and showcase my skill and talent and everything can be taken away from me in the snap of a finger.”

He started the last two seasons for Auburn as the right tackle and was never an All-American or All-SEC player. Yet, he was Auburn’s highest-graded offensive lineman in 2025, 68.3 by PFF. He played 883 pass-blocking snaps during the last two seasons as a starter and gave up 30 pressures and seven sacks. He also has the team leading 33 knockdown blocks, but still wasn’t able to make it to ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s top 13 interior offensive linemen list in the 2026 NFL Draft. This will be a big boost to his NFL stock in the upcoming draft.

Offensive standouts of Senior Bowl 2026 Day 1

Rob Paul of Sportsbook Review also listed the top ten offensive standouts of Senior Bowl Day 1, which features Gennings Dunker of Iowa, Carver Willis of Washington, Jeremiah Wright of Auburn, Tyren Montgomery of John Carroll, Caleb Douglas of Texas Tech, Logan Taylor of Boston College, Kaytron Allen of Penn State, Josh Cameron of Baylor, Jake Slaughter of Florida, and Dametrious Crownover of TAMU.

Among them is Iowa’s right tackle, Gennings Dunker, who reportedly had a strong impact in the one-on-one drills on Tuesday. Reports noted that Dunker was incredibly physical in the one-on-one drills and showed enough athleticism to warrant a longer look at offensive tackle.

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The other standout that was hard to ignore on Day 1 was Logan Taylor of Boston College. The 6-foot-6 Taylor has proved to be very consistent with his proficiency at generating leverage, bending his knees, and keeping pad level throughout reps. His steady anchor limited movement against both Caleb Banks and Nick Barrett in 1-on-1s, the former of whom is a potential Top 50 pick.

On the other hand, Jake Slaughter proved to have a visibly improved ability to anchor against power. The report noted that Slaughter was quick to swivel his base and make contact with full extensions and has improved his play strength, while his flexibility helped with absorption. It’s just the first of three practice sessions of the Senior Bowl, and we need to wait to see how the remaining days turn out.