The 2023 college football season hasn't even kicked off yet, and the East-West Shrine Bowl is already eyeing 166 Group of Five candidates to play in the prestigious all-senior showcase. The granddaddy of college all-star games, the Shrine Bowl is generally considered the No. 2 all-star game to give potential professional-level talent a platform — ranked ahead of several others and behind only the elite Senior Bowl.
The next one will be played Feb. 1, 2024, at the Ford Center, a 12,000-seat venue in Frisco, Texas, where the Dallas Cowboys train. The final cut will have about 130 players. This will be the 99th version of the game — which dates back to 1925, when 25,000 people watched the first college all-star game in history in San Francisco. The whittling down of the watch lists will continue as the 2023 season goes on, and the final rosters will begin being released in batches late in the season.
Legendary college and NFL players including Tom Brady, Roger Staubach, Randy White, "Mean Joe" Greene, Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor, John Elway and Gale Sayers all played in this game. Athletes will obviously train and then play the game in front of hundreds of pro scouts from the NFL, CFL, USFL and XFL. Last year, the Shrine Bowl produced one first-round pick (Zay Flowers, No. 22 pick to Baltimore) as well as seven of the top 100 picks and 45 picks overall — just under 20 percent of the entire draft. In all, 11 of those 45 picks were from Group of Five schools.
Here's a breakdown of the players as listed by the Shrine Bowl this week:
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
| SCHOOL | G5 PLAYER | POS |
| Charlotte | Eyabi Okie | Edge |
| Charlotte | Julius Welschoff | DL |
| E. Carolina | Jaylen Johnson | WR |
| FAU | Armani-Eli Adams | Safety |
| FAU | Evan Anderson | DL |
| FAU | Je'Quan Burton | WR |
| FAU | Larry McCammon III | RB |
| FAU | Casey Thompson | QB |
| FAU | LaJohntay Wester | WR |
| Memphis | Jaylon Allen | Edge |
| Memphis | Simeon Blair | Safety |
| Memphis | Davion Ross | CB |
| Memphis | Blake Watson | RB |
| No. Texas | Mazin Richards | LB |
| Rice | Jack Bradley | TE |
| Rice | J.T. Daniels | QB |
| Rice | Luke McCaffrey | WR |
| Rice | Gabe Taylor | Safety |
| SMU | Chris Adimora | Safety |
| SMU | Marcus Bryant | OT |
| SMU | Elijah Chatman | DL |
| SMU | Brandon Crossley | CB |
| SMU | Kelvontay Dixon | WR |
| SMU | Jordan Kerley | WR |
| SMU | Jaylan Knighton | RB |
| SMU | DeVere Levelston | DL |
| SMU | Justin Osborne | OG |
| SMU | Hyrin White | OT |
| SMU | Charles Woods | CB |
| So. Florida | Donovan Jennings | OG |
| Temple | Layton Jordan | LB |
| Temple | Jordan Magee | LB |
| Tulane | Valentino Ambrosio | K |
| Tulane | Casey Glover | P |
| Tulane | Tyler Grubbs | LB |
| Tulane | AJ Hampton | CB |
| Tulane | Sincere Haynesworth | OC |
| Tulane | Darius Hodges | DL |
| Tulane | Jha'Quan Jackson | WR |
| Tulane | Patrick Jenkins | DL |
| Tulane | Jarius Monroe | CB |
| Tulane | Kam Pedescleaux | Safety |
| Tulane | Prince Pines | OG |
| Tulane | Michael Pratt | QB |
| Tulane | Phat Watts | WR |
| Tulane | Cameron Wire | OT |
| Tulsa | Kendarin Ray | Safety |
| UAB | Jermaine Brown Jr. | RB |
| UAB | Drew Tuazama | Edge |
| UTSA | Oscar Cardenas | TE |
| UTSA | Joshua Cephus | WR |
| UTSA | De'Corian Clark | WR |
| UTSA | Joseph Evans | DL |
| UTSA | Nicktroy Fortune | CB |
| UTSA | Frank Harris | QB |
| UTSA | Jamal Ligon | LB |
| UTSA | Rashad Wisdom | Safety |
CONFERENCE USA
| SCHOOL | G5 PLAYER | POS |
| FIU | Lexington Joseph | RB |
| FIU | Donovan Manuel | LB |
| FIU | Shaun Peterson Jr. | LB |
| Jville St. | Kolbi Fuqua | Safety |
| Jville St. | Clay Webb | OG |
| La. Tech | Hank Bachmeier | QB |
| La. Tech | Deshon Hall | Edge |
| La. Tech | Smoke Harris | WR |
| La. Tech | Willie Roberts | CB |
| Liberty | X'Zauvea Gadlin | OT |
| Liberty | Kobe Singleton | CB |
| MTSU | Tra Fluellen | Safety |
| MTSU | Teldrick Ross | CB |
| MTSU | Zaylin Wood | DL |
| So. Houston | Ife Adeyi | WR |
| UTEP | Praise Amaewhule | Edge |
| UTEP | Gavin Hardison | QB |
| UTEP | Kobe Hylton | Safety |
| UTEP | Elijah Klein | OG |
| UTEP | Tyrice Knight | LB |
| West. Ky. | Malachi Corley | WR |
| West. Ky. | Wes Dorsey | OT |
| West. Ky. | JaQues Evans | Edge |
| West. Ky. | Quantavious Leslie | OG |
| West. Ky. | Austin Reed | QB |
G5 INDEPENDENTS
| SCHOOL | G5 PLAYER | POS |
| UConn | Christian Haynes | OG |
| UConn | Jackson Mitchell | LB |
| UConn | Noel Ofori-Nyadu | OG |
| UConn | Valentin Senn | OT |
| UConn | Eric Watts | Edge |
MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE (MAC)
| SCHOOL | G5 PLAYER | POS |
| Akron | DJ Irons | QB |
| Bowl. Green | Connor Bazelak | QB |
| Buffalo | Joseph Andreessen | LB |
| Buffalo | Ron Cook Jr. | RB |
| Buffalo | Marcus Fuqua | Safety |
| Buffalo | Max Michel | Edge |
| Buffalo | Gabe Wallace | OG |
| Buffalo | Daymond Williams | DL |
| East. Mich. | Samson Evans | RB |
| East. Mich. | Jaylon Jackson | RB |
| No. Illinois | Nolan Potter | OT |
| Ohio | Kurtis Rourke | QB |
| Ohio | Sam Wigluz | WR |
| Toledo | Dallas Gant | LB |
| Toledo | Maxen Hook | Safety |
| Toledo | Tyler Long | OG |
| Toledo | Devin Maddox | WR |
| Toledo | Quinyon Mitchell | CB |
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
| SCHOOL | G5 PLAYER | POS |
| Air Force | Camby Goff | Safety |
| Air Force | Trey Taylor | Safety |
| Boise St. | Cade Beresford | OT |
| Boise St. | George Holani | RB |
| Boise St. | DJ Schramm | LB |
| Boise St. | Riley Smith | TE |
| Colo. St. | Dallin Holker | TE |
| Colo. St. | Tory Horton | WR |
| Colo. St. | Mohamed Kamara | Edge |
| Fresno St. | Levelle Bailey | LB |
| Nevada | Isaiah Essissima | CB |
| New Mexico | Dylan Hopkins | QB |
| S. Diego St. | Jack Browning | K/P |
| S. Diego St. | Mark Redman | TE |
| San Jose St. | Tre Jenkins | Safety |
| San Jose St. | Justin Lockhart | WR |
| UNLV | Doug Brumfield | QB |
| UNLV | Jaxen Turner | Safety |
| UNLV | Ricky White | WR |
| UNLV | Jerrae Williams | CB |
| Wyoming | Frank Crum | OT |
| Wyoming | Easton Gibbs | LB |
| Wyoming | Cole Godbout | DL |
| Wyoming | John Hoyland | K |
SUN BELT CONFERENCE
| SCHOOL | G5 PLAYER | POS |
| App. St. | Tyrek Funderburk | CB |
| App. St. | Nate Noel | RB |
| App. St. | Bucky Williams | OG |
| Arkan. St. | Jeff Foreman | WR |
| Coastal Car. | CJ Beasley | RB |
| Coastal Car. | Braydon Bennett | RB |
| Coastal Car. | Clayton Isbell | Safety |
| Coastal Car. | JT Killen | LB |
| Coastal Car. | Grayson McCall | QB |
| Coastal Car. | Sam Pinckney | WR |
| Ga. South. | Davis Brin | QB |
| Ga. South. | Davon Ferguson | Safety |
| Ga. South. | Jalen White | RB |
| Georgia St. | Travis Glover | OT |
| JMU | James Carpenter | DL |
| JMU | Taurus Jones | LB |
| JMU | Nick Kidwell | OT |
| JMU | Ty Son Lawton | RB |
| Louisiana | Neal Johnson | TE |
| La-Monroe | Tryrone Howell | WR |
| Marshall | Micah Abraham | CB |
| Marshall | Rasheen Ali | RB |
| Marshall | Ethan Driskell | OT |
| North Texas | Ridge Texada | CB |
| So. Alab. | Yam Banks | Safety |
| So. Alab. | Caullin Lacy | WR |
| So. Alab. | Devin Voisin | WR |
| So. Alab. | La'Damian Webb | RB |
| So. Miss. | Frank Gore Jr. | RB |
| So. Miss. | Jay Stanley | Safety |
| Texas St. | Ashtyn Hawkins | WR |
| Texas St. | Malik Hornsby | QB |
| Troy | TJ Jackson | DL |
| Troy | Richard Jibunor | LB |
| Troy | Javon Solomon | Edge |
| Troy | Reddy Steward | CB |
| Troy | Kimani Vidal | RB |
