East-West Shrine Game 2014: Roster, Top Prospects for College All-Star Game

College football players from around the nation who have hopes of playing in the NFL have assembled in St. Petersburg, Fla., for the 2014 East-West Shrine Game, which takes place on Saturday, Jan. 18.

Though not as prestigious as the Senior Bowl, this is an excellent chance for prospects to make a name for themselves heading into the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine. From the first day of practice to the game itself, these young men will be under the microscope by NFL scouts.

This East-West Shrine Game isn't just about football, however, as detailed by its official website:

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In addition to serving as one of the NFL’s primary sources for eligible players, the game benefits Shriners Hospitals for Children®, and helps support its mission of providing expert care to children in need, conducting innovative research and offering educational opportunities to medical professionals.

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Former Atlanta Falcons and Houston Oilers head coach Jerry Glanville is coaching the East team, while Houston Texans defensive coordinator and former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel will coach the West squad.     

Glanville, who coached the losing team last year, appreciates the dual nature of the event, via ShrineGame.com: “In the end, it’s really about everyone having a good time in support of great cause.”

Here's a look at the rosters for both teams, followed by a closer examination of the top prospects expected to play in the East-West Shrine Game. 

Rosters

East

Pos	#	First Name	Last Name	HT	WT	School
C	74	Chris	Elkins	6'4"	300	Youngstown State
C	67	Zac	Kerin	6'5"	300	Toledo
C	64	James	Stone	6'3"	302	Tennessee
G	73	Zach	Fulton	6'5"	323	Tennessee (Injured)
G	77	Antwan	Lowery	6'4"	305	Rutgers
G	63	John	Urschel	6'3"	308	Penn State
OT	71	Kyle	Bryant	6'7"	320	Youngstown State
OT	52	Justin	Britt	6'6"	315	Missouri (Injured)
OT	52	Donald	Hawkins	6'5"	310	Texas
OT	66	Laurent	Duvernay-Tardif	6'5"	315	McGill (Canada)
OT	72	Matt	Feiler	6'7"	325	Bloomsburg
OT	76	Matt	Hall	6'10"	320	Belhaven (Miss.)
QB	11	Jimmy	Garoppolo	6'3"	222	Eastern Illinois
QB	6	Jordan	Lynch	6'	216	Northern Illinois
QB	9	Jeff	Mathews	6'4"	229	Cornell
RB	24	Zach	Bauman	5'10"	200	Northern Arizona
RB	27	LaDarius	Perkins	5'10"	190	Mississippi State
RB	20	Rajion	Neal	5'10"	212	Tennessee
TE	82	Alex	Bayer	6'4"	253	Bowling Green
TE	8	Crockett	Gillmore	6'6"	245	Colorado State
TE	18	Blake	Jackson	6'3"	235	Oklahoma State
WR	80	Jeremy	Gallon	5'8"	187	Michigan
WR	84	Matt	Hazel	6'3"	190	Coastal Carolina
WR	1	Allen	Hurns	6'3"	195	Miami (Fla.)
WR	81	Patrick	Laird	6'3"	219	Army
WR	85	Ja'mes	Logan	6'3"	195	Mississippi
WR	88	Erik	Lora	5'11"	190	Eastern Illinois
K	16	Zach	Hocker	6'0"	182	Arkansas

Pos	#	First Name	Last Name	HT	WT	School
CB	21	Ricardo	Allen	5'9"	186	Purdue
CB	22	Travis	Carrie	6'	212	Ohio (Injured)
CB	26	Ross	Cockrell	6'	190	Duke
CB	3	Pierre	Desir	6'2"	206	Lindenwood
CB	15	Phillip	Gaines	6'1"	185	Rice
CB	23	Andre	Hal	6'0"	185	Vanderbilt
CB	5	Nevin	Lawson	5'10"	186	Utah State
DL	96	Jay	Bromley	6'4"	293	Syracuse
DL	98	Will	Clarke	6'7"	273	West Virginia
DL	90	Bruce	Gaston, Jr.	6'2"	305	Purdue
DL	94	Zachariah	Kerr	6'2"	310	Delaware
DL	97	Demonte	McAllister	6'2"	290	Florida State
DL	56	Garrison	Smith	6'3"	297	Georgia
DL	99	Ethan	Westbrooks	6'4"	263	West Texas A&M
DL	57	Kerry	Wynn	6'5"	270	Richmond
LB	13	Xavius	Boyd	6'2"	243	Western Kentucky
LB	2	Preston	Brown	6'2"	255	Louisville
LB	40	Glenn	Carson	6'3"	235	Penn State
LB	4	Andrew	Jackson	6'1"	257	Western Kentucky
LB	46	Derrell	Johnson	6'2"	263	East Carolina
LB	34	DeDe (Devekeyan)	Lattimore	6'1"	237	South Florida
LB	53	Cody	Peterson	6'3"	228	Navy (Injured)
LB	41	Johnny	Millard	6'3"	240	Cal Poly
S	10	Tre	Boston	6'1"	190	North Carolina
S	17	A.J.	Marshall	6'0"	190	Wake Forest
S	29	Hakeem	Smith	6'2"	188	Louisville
S	12	Dezmen	Southward	6'2"	214	Wisconsin (Injured)
S	14	Jemea	Thomas	5'10"	195	Georgia Tech
P	30	Steven	Clark	6'5"	232	Auburn

West

Pos	#	First Name	Last Name	HT	WT	School
C	63	Dillon	Farrell	6'5"	290	New Mexico
C	64	Gabe	Ikard	6'3"	290	Oklahoma
C	58	Khalil	Wilkes	6'3"	290	Stanford
G	68	Christopher	Burnette	6'2"	322	Georgia
G	79	Dakota	Dozier	6'4"	291	Furman
G	75	Ryan	Groy	6'5"	320	Wisconsin
G	72	Austin	Wentworth	6'5"	300	Fresno State
OT	77	Kevin	Graf	6'6"	304	USC
OT	76	Danny	Kistler Jr.	6'8"	315	Montana
OT	78	Charles	Leno, Jr.	6'4"	295	Boise State
OT	71	Jeremiah	Sirles	6'6"	312	Nebraska
QB	17	Keith	Price	6'1"	202	Washington
QB	11	Tommy	Rees	6'1"	215	Notre Dame
QB	10	Keith	Wenning	6'3"	220	Ball State
RB	24	Brennan	Clay	5'11"	198	Oklahoma
RB	20	Timothy	Flanders	5'9"	210	Sam Houston State
RB	37	Anthony	LaCoste	5'10"	205	Air Force
RB	31	Ben	Malena	5'9"	195	Texas A&M
TE	83	Ted	Bolser	6'6"	255	Indiana
TE	82	Kaneakua	Friel	6'5"	250	BYU
TE	48	Jordan	Najvar	6'6"	255	Baylor
WR	2	John	Brown	5'11"	170	Pitt State
WR	18	Quincy	Enunwa	6'2"	225	Nebraska
WR	81	Seantavius	Jones	6'3"	200	Valdosta State
WR	89	Chandler	Jones	5'11"	175	San Jose State
WR	7	TJ	Jones	5'11"	190	Notre Dame (Injured)
WR	6	Bernard	Reedy	5'9"	175	Toledo
K	4	Anthony	Fera	6'2"	208	Texas

Pos	#	First Name	Last Name	HT	WT	School
CB	22	Bene	Benwikere	6'0"	192	San Jose State
CB	23	Carrington	Byndom	6'	180	Texas
CB	32	E.J.	Gaines	5'11"	195	Missouri (Injured)
CB	12	Bennett	Jackson	6'	195	Notre Dame
CB	16	Rashaad	Reynolds	5'11"	186	Oregon State
CB	5	Shaquille	Richardson	6'1"	188	Arizona
CB	25	Marcus	Williams	5'11"	192	North Dakota State
DL	97	Beau	Allen	6'3"	334	Wisconsin
DL	70	Justin	Ellis	6'2"	357	Louisiana Tech
DL	95	Evan	Gill	6'3"	291	Manitoba (Canada)
DL	98	Derrick	Hopkins	6'0"	311	Virginia Tech
DL	93	Cassius	Marsh	6'4"	268	UCLA
DL	90	Josh	Mauro	6'6"	275	Stanford
DL	96	Chidera	Uzo-Diribe	6'3"	250	Colorado
DL	99	Larry	Webster, III	6'7"	250	Bloomsburg
DL	92	Zach	Moore	6'6"	285	Concordia (Injured)
FS	27	Stephen	Obeng-Agyapong	5'10"	205	Penn State
LB	56	Shaquil	Barrett	6'2"	250	Colorado State
LB	40	Nate	Dreiling	6'4"	226	Pitt State
LB	42	Devon	Kennard	6'3"	255	USC
LB	55	Prince	Shembo	6'1"	250	Notre Dame
LB	41	Tyler	Starr	6'5"	250	South Dakota
LB	44	Max	Bullough	6'3"	245	Michigan State
S	3	Alden	Darby	5'11"	195	Arizona State
S	8	Daytawion	Lowe	5'11"	205	Oklahoma State
S	1	Sean	Parker	5'10"	195	Washington
S	9	Daniel	Sorensen	6'2"	208	BYU
S	21	Brock	Vereen	6'0"	202	Minnesota
P	15	Richie	Leone	6'3"	215	Houston

Top Prospects

Jimmy Garoppolo, QB, Eastern Illinois 

Bradley Leeb-USA TODAY Sports

It's not easy making it into the NFL from the FCS, but Jimmy Garoppolo will follow in Tony Romo's footsteps (a fellow Eastern Illinois quarterback) this spring. Furthermore, he could end up becoming a hot prospect before the scouting process comes to its conclusion.

Garoppolo got off to a good start during the first practice of the week in St. Petersburg, according to Bleacher Report's Michael Schottey, who is attending the event:

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The top passer of the day, in my estimation, was Eastern Illinois' Jimmy Garoppolo. Though he did not live up to his listed height of 6'3" nor look to have as much accuracy as he does on film, he displayed more-than-adequate zip on passes to every level of the field and was able to consistently throw tight spirals with little wobble at the top of their arc. 

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Garoppolo put up jaw-dropping numbers for the Panthers in 2013, completing 66 percent of his passes for 5,050 yards with 53 touchdowns and just nine interceptions in 14 games. Those are better numbers than the ones Peyton Manning put up, considering Manning did what he did in 16 games against pro competition. 

For his efforts, the quarterback won the Walter Payton Award, becoming the second player (Romo was the first) from Eastern Illinois to win the prestigious honor. Garoppolo isn't the only quarterback turning heads this week, though, which brings us to the next man who could make it big at the next level. 

Jeff Mathews, QB, Cornell

Size isn't everything, but it sure helps if you have it. 

Measuring in at 6'4" and 229 pounds, Jeff Mathews out of Cornell features size that's comparable to that of Andrew Luck, and he has a tremendous arm to boot. He showed off his arm during practice, as noted by ESPN's Adam Caplan:

Arm strength, accuracy and anticipation are all vitally important to playing the quarterback position in the NFL. Windows don't stay open long against NFL defensive backs, and quarterbacks who wait for them to open up usually end up turning the ball over. 

Compared to Garoppolo, Mathews' stats weren't as impressive in 2013, but stats sometimes lie about the potential of a player. For the record, he completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,953 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. 

E.J. Gaines, CB, Missouri

Missouri cornerback E.J. Gaines is the best overall player at the East-West Shrine Game. 

At 5'11" and 195 pounds, he possesses enough size to defend the NFL's top receivers. His penchant for physical play at the line of scrimmage makes him an intriguing prospect for teams that employ strong man-to-man tendencies on the perimeter.

Furthermore, he showed his ability to play bigger than his frame when he shut down Mike Evans (6'5" and 225 pounds) out of Texas A&M in late November. Evans caught just four passes for eight yards in that game, thanks to the smothering presence of Gaines in his hip pocket, and ESPN's Louis Riddick marveled at his explosiveness against the much bigger receiver:

Gaines picked off five passes in his senior season, and he totaled eight in his career at Missouri. He possesses all the physical tools to become successful in the NFL, and a strong showing in this game will further boost his draft stock. 

Justin Ellis, DT, Louisiana Tech

Justin Ellis might be able to tell you where the beef is. 

Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

At 6'2" and 357 pounds, he's a massive man and a monster to deal with in the trenches, as Josh Norris of Rotoworld.com pointed out. Norris also noted what the defensive tackle could do to improve:

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Ellis gets great push up front. In fact, he could improve his anchor against double teams with a wider base and lower pad level. It would be no surprise if Ellis outperforms his peers in individual pass rushing drills. He finds contact through his hands and extends with powerful leg drive.

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You wouldn't expect a man of Ellis' size to be much of a pass-rusher, but his stats illustrate Norris' point: 9.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks in his career. 

If Ellis can improve his conditioning and continue to hit the weight room, then he'll be a terror in the NFL in the middle of one lucky defense. 

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