Alabama Football: Breaking Down Crimson Tide's 2015 Senior Bowl Participants

As college football coaches hit the road for last recruiting, and the week before Super Bowl week progresses, the football world’s eyes are on Mobile, Alabama, this week for the 2015 Senior Bowl.

The annual college All-Star Game for players who graduated from college draws a hoard of NFL coaches and scouts to get a look at players who could have previously been overlooked by teams.

It’s an important step in the NFL draft process, and one that can be a jumping-off point for some lesser-known prospects’ NFL careers.

Alabama has four now-former players going through the process this week. Let’s take a closer look at each, some initial impressions out of Mobile and what their pro prospects look like right now.

Jalston Fowler

Fowler’s done just about everything at Alabama—blocking, running the ball, catching passes out of the backfield. That kind of well-rounded skill set could be good news at the next level, per NFL.com’s Chase Goodbread:

In 2014, Fowler played mostly fullback in Lane Kiffin’s offense and shone doing a lot of those things, eventually being named a team captain. He is playing running back at the Senior Bowl and is already impressing with his technique.

Bleacher Report’s Sanjay Kirpalani has already seen some of that in Mobile:

While fullback is becoming sort of a dying breed in the NFL, with the general philosophical shift to a wide-open passing attack, Fowler could carve out a nice, long career if he can continue to succeed in pass protection.

CBSSports.com has Fowler as the top fullback in this year’s draft with a fourth- to fifth-round projection. If Fowler keeps impressing this week, that number could start to rise.

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Austin Shepherd

Shepherd has been a right tackle just about his whole career at Alabama. He was a two-year starter on that side of the line to finish his career and was one of the Crimson Tide’s most consistent linemen.

That could be changing a little bit for Shepherd at the next level.

BamaOnline.com’s Charlie Potter reports that Shepherd has been playing a different spot on the line:

Shepherd hasn’t played guard since his sophomore year of high school, he told AL.com’s Michael Casagrande.

"When you're a tackle, you're by yourself," Shepherd said, per Casagrande. "You're in a wide open space and you kinda control yourself. When you're at guard, you're in a little box. You pretty much have bumpers on each side of you."

Maybe this is just an experiment. CBSSports.com and NFL.com both list Shepherd as a tackle, with CBSSports ranking him No. 13 at the position. But things could change for Shepherd this week.

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Arie Kouandjio

Kouandjio will undoubtedly be compared to his brother, Cyrus, which is understandable. But they are two different players.

Cyrus was more of a pass-protecting tackle, whereas Arie is a more powerful run-blocker. His measurements on the first day were a little surprising, but in a positive way:

Bleacher Report’s Jeff Risdon actually thinks Arie looks a little better than his brother at this point in the process:

The comparisons between the Kouandjios make sense. But Arie will try to avoid one fate his brother suffered, with a late slide down the draft board that saw him not taken until the second round.

CBSSports.com has tabbed Arie as the No. 3 guard in this class with a second-round grade.

Blake Sims

Sims wants to play quarterback, even though he played running back his first two years in Tuscaloosa. But he showed in his one season as a starter that he has what it takes to lead an offense through the SEC.

Still, questions about his size, specifically his height, will follow him. And some of those fears were confirmed at the Senior Bowl’s weigh-in:

But Sims will do what he can to show that he can follow in the footsteps of quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Drew Brees, shorter quarterbacks who have succeeded in the NFL.

Per the Charlotte Observer’s Jonathan Jones, Sims is on his way to doing that right now:

He still has a long way to go, though. CBSSports currently ranks him the No. 8 quarterback, with a sixth- or seventh-round projection.

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Marc Torrence is the Alabama Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.