Jackson Free Press

Last year, in the 2016 Senior Bowl, former Mississippi State University quarterback Dak Prescott shined. He even won MVP in the South squad’s 27-16 win over the North squad.

Scouts were impressed with his footwork and the fact that he could take snaps under center, an area in which quarterbacks from spread offenses often struggle. Prescott then carried over his solid practice and game from the Senior Bowl to the NFL Combine.

Even though he slid to the fourth round in the NFL Draft, all the evidence that Prescott could play in professionally started in the Senior Bowl. The meteoric rise of Prescott will have NFL scouts taking a harder look at the work of players in this all-star game.

There are a few players with ties to Mississippi universities or the state in this year’s Senior Bowl. All the players will be looking to show scouts that they are ready to make a Prescott-like step to the next level.

Mississippi State University has two players in the 2017 Senior Bowl: wide receiver Fred Ross and offensive tackle Justin Senior.

Ross ended his career at MSU as one of the most productive receivers in school history, although he dropped some passes that he should have caught this season.

Scouts are going to watch Ross’ route running and see if he drops easy passes in the Senior Bowl. He can help himself even more by showing that he is faster in person than he looks on tape.

Though Senior started most of his career at right tackle with the Bulldogs, scouts will likely watch his pass-blocking skills and see if he can play left tackle.

Being able to play left in the NFL is important for offensive tackles. Players who can play left tackle often rise higher in the ranks because they protect the quarterback’s blind side, which also means they can make more money than right tackles.

If Senior can’t play left tackle, another important thing to show is that he can slide inside and play guard. Being able to play more than one position on the offensive line would make him for more useful on an NFL roster.

University of Mississippi tight end Evan Engram will be one of the most watched players at this year’s Senior Bowl. He can stretch the field vertically in the passing game and could make for a red-zone threat at the next level.

Just like Ross, Engram had some head-scratching drops at times this season, and scouts will be watching that in practice this week. Teams might like to see how he blocks in the run game before deciding when to draft him.

Texas A&M University safety Justin Evans will try to show that he is the top player at his position in a year that is full of good safeties. Evans is from Wiggins, Miss., and played at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before transferring to …

Super Bowl LI features a wide disparity between the two head coaches and starting quarterbacks in terms of experience. New England head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady are about to coach and play in their seventh Super Bowl together.

Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn and quarterback Matt Ryan are in their first Super Bowl together. If experience counts at all in the Super Bowl, Belichick and Brady are overflowing with it.

No coach and quarterback combo in the history of the NFL has reached seven Super Bowls together. Belichick and Brady are tied with Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw with the most Super Bowl wins with four.

Belichick is reaching his seventh Super Bowl and is 4-2 in his previous trips. He surpasses the great Don Shula, who made six trips to the big game but went 2-4.

Shula is still the NFL’s all-time winningest coach with 328 wins in 33 seasons as a head coach, but Belichick is currently fourth with 237 wins in 22 seasons as the top man. Belichick is still 91 wins behind Shula and will need at least nine more years of an equal number of wins just to have a chance to break Shula’s record.

Quinn on the other hand is in his second season as a head coach with a 19-13 overall record. If you do the math, that means Belichick has 218 more wins than the man he is coaching against in the Super Bowl.

There isn’t even another active coach with 200 wins in the NFL right now. The next closest active head coach is Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs (173).

Other active head coaches who have won a Super Bowl are Mike McCarthy (Green Bay), Pete Carroll (Seattle), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh), Sean Payton (New Orleans) and John Harbaugh (Baltimore), and none have even 125 wins.

Brady is tied with Joe Montana and Bradshaw for the most Super Bowl wins with four. Unlike Brady, Montana and Bradshaw were undefeated in Super Bowl starts.

Brett Favre and Peyton Manning have the most regular season wins by a quarterback with 186. Brady sits third with 183, but when you add playoff wins, the New England quarterback has the most with 207 wins.

Ryan has just 85 wins in the regular season and 88 in the postseason. It is amazing that Brady nearly has 100 more regular season wins than the quarterback who will oppose him.

Brady’s name is all over the NFL record book for passing. He is fourth in passing yards (61,582), fourth in passes completed (5,244), fourth in touchdown passes (456) and fifth in pass attempts (8,224).

Another amazing Brady stat: He has just 152 career interceptions. That is fewer interceptions than Peyton and Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger.

Ryan has 114 career interceptions and came in the league eight years …

The birthplace of blues music will also have a more than a few hats in the ring. Several of Mississippi’s best names in modern blues music will be taking on all challengers in the International Blues Challenge, some of which may be familiar to local lovers of live music