Senior moments

MOBILE, Ala. — Familiar faces are everywhere at the Senior Bowl, from the elevator at the headquarter hotel to the grandstands at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
There's Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden watching the North team practice and trying not to smile too much after receiving a contract extension and pay bump. There's Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel scouting the South team later that same day, recording his observations into a small digital recorder.
The point of this week used to be seeing NFL prospects in action three months before the April draft. These days, the Senior Bowl is just as much about being seen.
Patrol the periphery of the stadium during a practice and you'll find a coaching convention in progress. It's a schmooze-fest for the out of work. There's former Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron up in the stands, cozying up to the Oakland Raiders scouts he knows. There's former Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges standing in the end zone, talking to college colleagues.
The oddest aspect of the week is that the game is secondary. Players can make or break their reputations based on how they practice. Most of the 800-some NFL coaches, assistants, scouts, general managers and support personnel were heading out of town after Wednesday's workouts.
"It's kind of weird, but they definitely want to see how we can practice,'' said East Carolina tailback Chris Johnson, who built considerable pre-Senior Bowl buzz with his 4.2 speed in the 40-yard dash and his breakout bowl performance. "The game can't show much really because we'll have only been together for three of four days.''
While the round of interviews with NFL front office folks reached a lull, the players still encounter plenty of folks who want a piece of them. There are more than 1,000 credentialed folks at the Senior Bowl and most of them seem intent on congregating around the escalator on the second floor of the Riverview Plaza Hotel.
There are stockbrokers, investment advisors and mortgage consultants who have all sorts of plans for how the players can put their impending riches to use. The hotel bar is crowded with agents or wanna-be agents who came to town in search of clients. The caste system becomes more jewel-encrusted on the second floor, where more established and client-rich agents like Pat Dye Jr. and Jimmy Sexton hold court and undoubtedly think of dollar signs.
Sexton, who also happens to represent some very rich college coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban and Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, spent nearly all of Monday night with a cellphone pressed to his head.
He's certainly not alone in that regard. When Saban arrived to watch Tuesday's practice, featuring former Alabama players DJ Hall, Simeon Castille and Wallace Gilberry, he devoted most of the next 80 minutes pacing the stadium sideline chatting away on his cell phone.
If he was talking to an offensive coordinator candidate, he could have saved himself some valuable cell phone minutes. There are at least five guys qualified for the job standing within 50 yards of him.