For decades, the Reese’s Senior Bowl has been considered the premier college football All-Star game. It takes place in Mobile, Alabama, and is an NFL convention. Many coaches are interviewed and hired during Senior Bowl week because every NFL head coach, assistant coach, scout, and player personnel representative is there.
In previous years, the top AFC and NFC clubs that did not make the playoffs took their entire coaching staff and ran both squads, dubbed “North” and “South.” However, this created issues because many coaches would be fired regardless of their win-loss record.
The move was made to the clubs in both conferences with the most full coaching staffs. Then both squads were called “American” and “National.” This was changed to balance out the talent level on each roster. Perhaps the SEC had something to do with it. It also assisted if one squad was low on players in a specific position, as the game could bring in more quality without regard for geography.
Today, the game serves as a training ground for current NFL coaches. Guys who are coordinators for their respective teams can be named head coach of one of the Reese’s Senior Bowl rosters, whereas position coaches are suddenly catapulted into coordinator roles.
Browns’ safety coach Ephraim Banda has fallen into the latter group as he was selected the defensive coordinator for the American team.
Every NFL team depends greatly on the Reese’s Senior Bowl. This renowned game featured players from half of the first three rounds of the NFL draft last year. Although the game is primarily a scouting tool, the practice week is critical to each player’s draft rating. Many players have accepted an invitation to this event, had a fantastic practice week against some of the country’s best talent at a competitive position, and seen their draft ranking climb.
When Browns quarterback Joe Flacco competed in the 2008 Senior Bowl, he was projected to be drafted in the late second round. After a tremendous week and being voted the game’s MVP, the Baltimore Ravens selected Flacco with the 18th choice in the first round. His Senior Bowl practice week improved his draft value by a full round. Last year, Browns offensive tackle Dawand Jones was only in practice for one day, but he was observed by numerous scouts and coaches.
The American team’s coaching staff includes Terrell Williams (head coach), who is the assistant head coach/DL coach for the Tennessee Titans, Troy Brown (OC), who is currently the WR and kick returner coach for the New England Patriots, Mike Adams (ST), who is the assistant special teams coach for the New York Football Giants, and Banda.
The national team coaching staff consists of Jeff Ulbrich (head coach), who is the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets, Giants quarterback coach Shea Tierney (OC), Daronte Jones (DC), the defensive pass game coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, and Phil Galiano (ST), who is currently the assistant special teams coach for the New Orleans Saints.
Related: Ephraim Banda Profile
Banda has previously served as a defensive coordinator, but not at the NFL level. Before joining the Browns, he was the Miami Hurricanes’ co-defensive coordinator from 2019 to 2020 and Utah State’s defensive coordinator from 2021 to 2022.
The Senior Bowl alumni list includes NFL players and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. Some of the game’s greats include Dan Marino, Curtis Martin, Wilbur Marshall, Brett Favre, Michael Strahan, Cooper Kupp, Bo Jackson, Franco Harris, Von Miller, Jalen Hurts, LaDaninian Tomlinson, Jordan Love, Gene Hickerson, and Justin Herbert.
