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Cover 3: What the Giants can get out of college all-star week

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The Giants.com crew breaks down what to look for during college all-star week and what the team can get out of it.

John Schmeelk: How much time do you have?

The first thing we get are the player measurements. College measurements that are published on team websites can be very different than what they officially are at the all-star games and then at the NFL Scouting Combine. Is Jalen Milroe really 6-2? What's the arm length of some of these would-be offensive tackles? How much do some of these edge rushers really weigh?

Once that's out of the way, it is time to focus on practice with all eyes on one-on-one drills. The wide receiver/tight end vs. defensive back drills with the quarterbacks draw the most attention, but smart eyes are on the trenches where the defensive linemen and offensive linemen battle for supremacy. If a pass rusher cannot win individual battles where he has all the advantages, it is a strike against him. Especially for players who didn't have great individual matchups against top competition in the regular season, these drills are essential to show how they might perform against even better NFL players.

The game is useful for the running backs and linebackers where they actually have to tackle, avoid tackles, read their opponents, and actually play their position. Safeties are also evaluated better in games where you see how fast they read and react to offenses.

In this particular draft class, pay close attention to the defensive tackles and edge players, which should dominate the early portions of the draft. Most of the best players at these positions, spare a handful at the very top, will be there. The offensive linemen at the game will play multiple positions and some will have a chance to show they deserve to be left out at offensive tackle instead of being moved inside. Will any wide receivers stand out and push themselves up the board in a year where the position is not being discussed as much?

Then you have the quarterbacks. Shedeur Sanders is at the Shrine Bowl, and it is unclear how much he will do there. Cam Ward isn't going to be at either game. The rest of the class is up for grabs with different analysts having the next group in a variety of orders. Quarterbacks can separate themselves at these events, not only with their play on the field but how they absorb an NFL offense and interact with teams. Will a quarterback emerge as a clear-cut No. 3 in the class? Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart, Dillon Gabriel, Will Howard (if he participates) and Kyle McCord are all names to pay attention to.

Dan Salomone: When you hear about the lengthy pre-draft process for prospects, they aren't training for just the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, bench press, and other events in the Underwear Olympics. They finely tune their interview skills, both for NFL clubs and the media. And rightfully so. It is the ultimate job interview, one that is public with very high stakes for all involved.

But this is where the benefit of having coaches on a college all-star staff comes in. They get to be with these players around the clock, not just during a pre-packaged interview.

"You get to see just how they operate from the minute they wake up," said inside linebackers coach John Egorugwu, who is serving as defensive coordinator at the Shrine Bowl while Shane Bowen is head coach of the West Team. "You'll see them getting breakfast. What do they do? What does their routine look like? You get a lot of that information that you don't necessarily see. A lot of times they tell you what their routine is, whether or not that's true or not. But here you get to see it in action. You get to see how they learn in the meeting rooms, how they handle walk-throughs, all those things. So, you get a lot of inside information on these guys and how they tick."

They also witness how prospects interact with coaches and teammates.

"I think that's really important," Egorugwu said. "You get to see those guys, if they're around other people or are they always sitting by themselves, things of that nature. I'm not saying that either one is bad, but you just get to see what's the real personality going to be like, how are they going to mesh with our current group in New York."

Matt Citak: This will hardly come as a surprise, but the biggest thing I'm looking for will be the performance of the quarterbacks. One of the top prospects in this year's draft, Cam Ward, is not attending either game, while the other top signal-caller, Shedeur Sanders, went to the Shrine Bowl but did not participate in any on-field activities. While it would have been great to see Ward and Sanders slinging the ball up and down the field against some of the top defensive backs in the nation, their absence allows the other quarterbacks attending the two games to step up and show NFL teams what they can do.

The Shrine Bowl features just one quarterback that's generating some real NFL buzz – Syracuse's Kyle McCord. The former Ohio State Buckeye transferred to Syracuse and put together the strongest campaign of his collegiate career, throwing for a whopping 4,779 yards, the most in the nation and a new ACC record, along with 34 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. McCord was one of NFL.com's standouts from Shrine Bowl practices this past week as he displayed great accuracy moving to both his left and right while showing the ability to change his arm angle in order to complete certain passes. McCord can put an exclamation point on his strong week in Texas with a dominant performance in Thursday night's game at AT&T Stadium. He likely already played his way into being drafted somewhere in the first four rounds.

Unlike the Shrine Bowl, this year's Senior Bowl features numerous quarterback prospects, many of whom are competing for the QB3 spot in this year's draft. The group took a bit of a hit last week when it was announced that Ohio State's Will Howard was bowing out of this year's festivities due to the Buckeyes' championship run. Howard's performance in the College Football Playoff might have moved him up to a Day 2/early Day 3 pick. But even with Howard out, there are still numerous intriguing quarterback prospects participating in Mobile this week. Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart and Alabama's Jalen Milroe are the two most likely candidates to eventually earn that coveted QB3 spot, at least as of now. Some draft analysts believe either Dart or Milroe, or even both, could end up hearing their names called before the end of the first round. A strong showing in Mobile would certainly help the draft stock of both signal-callers and could help solidify their first-round status. On top of them, Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, Notre Dame's Riley Leonard and even Louisville's Tyler Shough are all going to get drafted at some point, although as of now they are more likely to be closer to Day 3 picks. But as we see every year, quarterbacks tend to rise up draft boards as we get closer to April. The Senior Bowl is just the first step of the pre-draft process for these young quarterbacks, but a strong first impression in front of NFL decision-makers could go a long way in helping boost their draft stock.

View photos of every NFL player selected with the third overall pick since the first draft in 1936.

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