Senior Bowl week should be viewed as a progression. Each day is a new opportunity to change perceptions.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was the perfect example of that this year.

Milroe seemed to be swimming during the first and second days of practice. He was regularly coached on his footwork, particularly from under center. The reigning William V. Campbell Trophy winner (academic Heisman) struggled to adjust to everything coming at him.

However, Thursday's session proved to be different. A comfort level started to materialize from Milroe. His previously poor outings didn't bleed into the final day of padded practice.

NFL scouts want to see improvement as the week ensues. They want to see how prospects handle top-level coaching and playbook installation, while the spotlight shines brightly on everyone in attendance.

Milroe helped build his case by going from someone who didn't look comfortable to a quarterback throwing some legitimate passes with confidence. He wasn't the only prospect to follow that trajectory, either.

The Bleacher Report Scouting Department of Brandon Thorn, Brent Sobleski, Dame Parson and Matt Holder were on hand to see the progression of everyone in attendance, among those who remained throughout the entire practice week.

Skill Positions

A few names popped during Day 3 of Senior Bowl practices, starting with a well-known and anticipated quarterback who provided his best practice of the week.

QB Jalen Milroe, Alabama

Milroe made several accurate throws to open receivers and delivered a perfect pass down the right sideline against tight man coverage. However, the wide receiver couldn't secure the catch, allowing the defensive back to knock it loose. He also threw a touchdown to an open receiver during the 11-on-11 drill down the field.

Milroe made a few off-target throws during the one-on-one sessions, though.

Consistency is key in Milroe's development. But Thursday clearly turned out to be his best performance of the week. More passing reps throughout the daily practices would have provided Milroe with more development/improvement. Unfortunately, that was the case.

RB Trevor Etienne, Georgia

Etienne displayed his value as both a runner and receiver. He ran the ball with good patience and footwork between the tackles. His burst and shiftiness were on display during one-on-one receiving drills.

Etienne proved that he is a good change-of-pace running back prospect.

RB RJ Harvey, UCF

Harvey caught the football well and put linebackers on their heels with his route-running in the open field. Harvey must continue this trend as a pass-catcher at the next level.

As a sub-5'8" ball-carrier, it's important to have a receiving skill set to mitigate concerns about his size.

WR Jaylin Lane, Virginia Tech

Lane displayed sudden route-running and play strength through contact. He won with separation at the top of his routes and showcased these traits during red-zone one-on-one drills.

Lane did display excellent body control to reel in a high pass for a touchdown, which proved to be the culmination of a solid week overall.

WR Xavier Restrepo, Miami

Restrepo was also solid. However, the expectations entering the week built upon his quickness and separation were not met.

To be fair, Miami's all-time leading receiver scored late during a seven-on-seven red-zone session. He navigated through the defense well to find soft spots in the coverage. He also consistently separated on comeback routes all week.

TE Terrence Ferguson, Oregon

Ferguson did a good job of winning with his size/frame and catch radius. In particular, he displayed his value during red-zone drills when being covered by linebackers.

The tight end showed a unique trait where he sets his own pace with his route-running before snapping off the top of his stem.

— Parson

Offensive Linemen

As the practice week wraps up for the offensive line, the group disappointed a bit after a strong first two days. Multiple high-profile prospects proved to be inconsistent.

Even so, the good outweighed the bad, which alleviates significant pressure on a position group that initially looked very shaky entering this week's festivities.

IOL Grey Zabel, North Dakota State

Zabel had his worst practice of the week Thursday with a handful of losses spread across one-on-ones and the team portions of practice. The effort was by no means a bad day since he had several nice reps as well. Zabel even had a rep at right tackle during the last play of team where he anchored on command and locked up a bull rush from UCLA's Oluwafemi Oladejo.

Overall, Zabel put together an excellent, very good and solid three days of practice across the interior and a rep at right tackle. He helped his stock more than any other lineman in Mobile this year.

OT Marcus Mbow, Purdue

Mbow had been up-and-down all week due to being late with his hands several times, allowing defenders to work into his frame, drive him on his heels and into scramble mode. Mbow's lack of sand and anchor was his biggest weakness throughout the week, but he put together an excellent day of one-on-ones on the last day, where his technique and skill set as a pass-protector all came together.

The early entrant wasn't as good during the team portions, with a few glaring losses in the run game where he was shed clean inside and was driven back on an angle-drive block. Still, it was his best day of practice.

IOL Jonah Savaiinaea, Arizona

Savaiinaea's play throughout the week crystallized his best position as an interior blocker. He had significant struggles at right tackle, but he was more reliable during his reps at guard.

Savaiinaea measured in with longer arms than expected based on his film, but his mediocre range, foot quickness and propensity to strike down the middle of rushers on the edge creates persistent short corners. That's mitigated to a large extent at guard, where he can get his hands on rushers more quickly and use his size and strength to gain control.

Savaiinaea's size and strength inside showed up with some commanding reps this week, including his best day of one-on-ones on Day 3 where he repped exclusively at guard. While the one-on-one session provided a strong effort, the "compete" portion saw him get blown up in his one rep against Alabama's Tim Smith due to wide hand placement, exposing his chest and getting him driven into the quarterback.

Savaiinaea has plenty of things to work on in his transition to guard, particularly playing with better sustain skills. Even so, he ended the week trending in the right direction.

OT Anthony Belton, North Carolina State

Belton had his worst day of practice Thursday due to being caught out of position numerous times during one-on-ones and the team portions of practice. That exposed his propensity to lean, overextend and lose his balance.

Belton did end the day with two wins against Arkansas' Landon Jackson during the "compete" period where Jackson played into Belton's strengths. However, it was an overall shaky day.

Over the three days of practice, Belton probably helped himself more than hurt his draft status due to two strong days.

OT Josh Conerly Jr., Oregon

Conerly's offensive line coach from Oregon, A'lique Terry, was in attendance on Thursday. Along with moving back to left tackle, he looked more like the promising player from his film.

Conerly posted two excellent reps during one-on-ones, including a beautiful set and strike-timing against Toledo's Darius Alexander. Conversely, he did have a couple of glaring losses during the second team period, including a clean loss around the edge to Alexander and another clean loss inside to Central Arkansas' David Walker on an overset.

Conerly experienced an up-and-down week, with only a few flashes of being dialed in with his pass-sets and hand usage.

— Thorn

Defensive Front Seven

Players like Marshall's Mike Green, Texas A&M's Shemar Stewart, Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku and Kentucky's Deone Walker sat out the last Senior Bowl practice, while Ole Miss' Walter Nolen left early with an injury, so the defensive line lost some star power on Thursday. However, the position group's performance on the field didn't experience a downturn, as the defense won in the trenches during both sessions.

EDGE Princely Umanmielen, Ole Miss

After a relatively quiet week, Umanmielen managed to finish strong. He was constantly in the backfield as both a run defender and pass-rusher, racking up a few practice sacks/pressures and a tackle for loss. Also, the Ole Miss product had a lot of success during the two-on-two pass-rush period by beating offensive tackles around the edge and winning with line games.

As a whole, Umanmielen's performance wasn't enough to move him up B/R's draft board, but he found a way to stand out Thursday by being much more consistent at the point of attack. The latter was good to see regarding his developmental potential in the NFL.

EDGE David Walker, Central Arkansas

The National team's defensive line dominated the one-on-one pass-rush drills, and Walker was a big reason why, as he racked up several wins. While the FCS product has a sawed-off frame (under 6'1" and 267 lbs) that skews his NFL projection, he has the potential to be a disruptive player, which his 30 sacks over the last three seasons highlight.

DL Darius Alexander, Toledo

Alexander has been an impressive pass-rusher throughout the week, which continued in the one-on-ones on Thursday. Even better, it translated to the full-team period as he's managed to get a sack.

The former Rocket moves pretty well at 304 pounds, giving him the potential to be a quality interior pass-rusher at the next level.

EDGE Sai'vion Jones, LSU

Jones had a few wins on stunts during the two-on-two pass-rush drills and batted a pass at the line of scrimmage during the full-team period. He also was able to get some penetration as a run defender to turn in a complete effort on the last day of practice.

EDGE Jared Ivey, Ole Miss

After putting together a good performance on Wednesday, Ivey strung together another quality outing the following day. He really stood out as a pass-rusher with a couple of quick wins during the two-on-twos and full-team period. The latter was particularly important since the Ole Miss product showed improvement with his hand usage.

DL Junior Tafuna, Utah

Tafuna entered the Senior Bowl as a lesser-known prospect but managed to impress in both phases of the game. He finished strong during the final practice and did exactly what he needed to do this week, which will force scouts to flip on the tape to match what was seen during the season.

EDGE Landon Jackson, Arkansas

After a couple of tough days, Jackson experienced a bounce-back performance on Thursday. He logged a few wins during the one-on-ones, which carried over into the full-team period where he managed to get to the quarterback a couple of times.

Jackson did lose a couple of reps against North Carolina State offensive tackle Anthony Belton during the National Team's final competition period, but the earlier portion of the outing was enough to salvage some draft stock.

EDGE Danny Striggow, Minnesota

Striggow became a late addition to the roster. as he didn't get the call until 11 p.m. Wednesday, according to Daniel House of Gophers Guru. Even on short notice, the Minnesota product managed to stand out with a couple of disruptive plays during the team portion of practice. His performance during the game will mean more than other players who were at practice all week.

— Holder

Secondary

A fascinating dynamic emerges at every Senior Bowl. Certain positions are set up to succeed more so than others.

Wide receivers are often given far more time and room to beat the jam and create separation than typically allowed within the structure of a regular practice. One-on-ones often become a pseudo-game of playground hoops, where both sides are doing things that aren't necessarily efficient or even effective. A win may be a win, but it sometimes means nothing since it would never happen in a game setting.

With that in mind, the incoming secondary class continually competed for three straight days and made life difficult for the wide receivers in attendance despite their obvious disadvantage.

CB Melvin Smith Jr., Southern Arkansas

A trio of small-school offensive linemen stole the show during Wednesday's practice. Smith didn't create the same type of buzz. However, his ability to compete throughout Thursday's practice was impressive to watch.

In particular, Smith had a series of matchups against Georgia speedster Arian Smith during one-on-one sessions. The two did a wonderful job battling and going back and forth. The 5'10", 185-pound Division II product wasn't overwhelmed against arguably the fastest guy in this year's class, who happened to play for one the nation's biggest pipeline programs.

Instead, Smith Jr. attacked at the jam to reroute his opponent and maintained the receiver on his hip even when the release occurred. He was even overheard telling the other Smith, "Good route," upon giving up a touchdown despite being in good position.

Performances like the one described against better competition can only help the status of a lesser-known prospect.

CB Tommi Hill, Nebraska

Hill became the focal point for the defensive backs during Thursday's session, both for good and bad reasons.

He received plenty of attention for a tipped interception in the end zone where he kept both feet inbounds. LSU tight end Mason Taylor should have come down with the pass from quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Still, Hill made the play on the ball when the opportunity arose.

Later in the practice, particularly the "compete" portion where the day's top performers are highlighted by their respective coaches, Hill struggled and got beat on three straight reps. His week felt like it was all or nothing when it came to his specific contributions.

CB Azareye'h Thomas, Florida State

Thomas turned out to be a surprise entrant to the 2025 class as a 20-year-old underclassman from a program that severely disappointed this past season. Even so, Thomas presents tremendous upside as a big and long corner with vicious press-man skills.

As is the case with any bigger corner—he measured in at 6'1" and 191 pounds, with 32.5-inch arms—he's going to lose certain matchups against smaller and quicker wide receivers. He certainly did so a few times in Mobile.

At the same time, Thomas proved multiple reps where he simply overwhelmed receivers at the jam point, which allowed him to stay in phase throughout the entirety of the route.

CB Jacob Parrish, Kansas State

Each day, Parrish popped due to his foot quickness and hip flexibility. He showed the ability to backpedal and turn as smoothly as anyone in attendance.

However, one concern emerged with his closing speed off the top of the stem. Parrish was particularly sticky on shorter routes, but he struggled as reps extended.

S Billy Bowman Jr., Oklahoma

Bowman has been regularly featured through all three days because he's continually been in the mix. He started off the week extremely strong, then experienced his share of losses throughout Wednesday's session.

The improvement came from what seemed like a more aggressive version.

Bowman lost some clean reps Wednesday. He wasn't going to let that happen for a second straight practice. Bowman, who is fluid in coverage, continually harassed his assignments, leading to quite a few good moments where he was in a position to make plays on the ball.

CB Upton Stout, Western Kentucky

Much like Bowman, Stout was featured earlier in the week for his stellar play. He had his issues over the next two days, though.

As mentioned then, Stout is fluid and feisty. However, he's far too reliant on getting grabby when the possibility of losing the route emerges.

His 5'8", 178-pound frame gives him natural disadvantages. He can't compound the things he can't control with the things he can, which includes technique.

CB Jonathan Williams, Tulane

Williams continued to build on a positive predraft cycle, which began by participating in the Hula Bowl and then taking part in this year's Senior Bowl.

His build is what really sticks out, as a 6'0", 203-pound defensive back, with arms over 32 inches long. His lankiness can be seen in how he competes.

Williams didn't show explosive traits. However, he used his long legs and arms to bother some wide receivers. He may lose some reps quickly, but he's going to use every inch of his frame to cover a receiver.

— Sobleski