Senior Bowl Player Profile: South Alabama CB Darrell Luter

On February 4th, Mobile’s game will be held at Hancock-Whitney Stadium and over a hundred of the nation’s draft hopeful seniors will descend on the Gulf Coast for a week of practice in front of scouts from every NFL team before the Senior Bowl. Leading up to the game, we’ll take a look at a different prospect every day and talk about their background, their college career, where they could be drafted, and how the Senior Bowl could help them. Today, we’ll take a look at one of South Alabama’s stars, cornerback Darrell Luter:

Background:

Luter has had quite the path towards becoming an NFL Draft prospect. A native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, he was an unknown commodity coming out of Oak Grove High School and elected to attend Pearl River Community College to try to raise his stock and eventually transfer. This is exactly what he did, shining in his two seasons at Pearl River and becoming a 3-star recruit and the 36th ranked JUCO cornerback in the class of 2020. He chose to play for the Jaguars over offers from Houston and Coastal Carolina.

College Career:

Luter played three seasons in Mobile after his transfer from Pearl River. In his first year playing major college football, the 2020 COVID season, Luter played in every game for the Jags and was a key contributor, tying for the team lead in cornerback tackles. It was his 2021 season that really put him on the map, though. Luter was phenomenal last year, winning just about every accolade you can imagine including Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and being named a second team All-American by PFF. He built on this with another great year in 2022 that saw a historic season for the team as a whole. Luter helped the Jags reach their first 10-win regular season in program history and an appearance in the New Orleans Bowl. Check out some of the best plays from Luter’s Jaguars career:

Current Draft Projection:

Luter is most likely going to be a Day 3 pick in April’s NFL Draft. While he has put a lot of really good football on tape, it is a deep group of defensive backs and there are a lot of guys that will be drafted ahead of him. That being said, I think it is very unlikely that Luter goes undrafted, as he has an ideal frame for the position as well as elite ball skills. He is extremely gifted when it comes to the technical aspects of playing the position, and will earn a spot on an NFL team because of this. The bottom line is that Luter has a chance to blossom into a solid professional player one day.

How the Senior Bowl Could Help Him:

With an extremely talented group of both DBs and receivers, Luter gets a chance both to measure himself and have scouts get a look at him against much better competition than he faced during his college career. The Senior Bowl is the perennial NFL pre-draft all star game, and Luter has certainly earned his spot. If he can excel in his home stadium, don’t be surprised if he creeps up into a very early Day 3 selection.