Eku Leota will get to play with Derick Hall at least one more time thanks to the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

“I haven’t played since Week 5, so I’m just itching to get out there and play with my brother and play in my Auburn helmet one more time,” Leota said.

Hall will seek to put an exclamation point on his Auburn career during Senior Bowl week. With 12 more tackles for loss and seven more sacks in the 2022 season, Hall left the Tigers tied for fourth in sacks and tied for 10th in tackles for loss on the school’s career charts.

But Leota comes to the Senior Bowl as something of question mark. He suffered a pectoral injury in Auburn’s 21-17 loss to LSU on Oct. 1 and had surgery the next week.

Attending the Senior Bowl’s roster announcement on Monday with Hall, Leota said his invitation to Mobile’s annual all-star game pulled him out of his post-injury depression.

“I didn’t get the invite until probably Texas A&M week,” Leota said, “so it was really a dark time for me until that time. I had Derick on my side keeping my head up, then once I got the invitation, then I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is what I’m looking forward to.’ …

“It put a big smile on myself after that.”

Leota had five tackles for loss and two sacks when he went down in the first quarter of Auburn’s fifth game of the 2022 campaign. The linebacker is eager to reassure NFL talent evaluators that he has returned to form.

“It’s really huge for me,” Leota said of his chance at the Senior Bowl. “I thank (Senior Bowl executive director) Jim (Nagy) every day – well, not every day, but I thank him just for putting me in this game and believing in me because I’m ready to show I haven’t been sitting on my butt these last 13 weeks or however long it’s been. I’m real excited for this opportunity to show the 32 teams what I can do.”

Hall and Leota have been training at the EXOS facility in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Their former Alabama rivals DJ Dale, Emil Ekiyor Jr. and Bryant Young also are training there.

They’ll be teammates in the Senior Bowl on the American squad.

RELATED: SENIOR BOWL DELIVERS NFL PROSPECTS TO MOBILE AGAIN

“It’s different, of course, especially facing those guys every year and having to go through that,” Hall said. “It really started coming over to Pensacola and training at EXOS at that facility and being there with those guys you’ve always kind of disliked, I wouldn’t say one another but the place that each other were.

“To get over there and work with those guys, it’s been really fun. We’re all there, we’re all trying to push in one direction, and that’s getting better to help ourselves and help our families in the near future.”

Alabama has eight players in the 2023 Senior Bowl.

Hall and Leota were scheduled to have more of their college teammates as Senior Bowl teammates. But an injury will prevent linebacker Owen Pappoe from playing, and defensive backs D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett decided to return for another season with the Tigers after receiving Senior Bowl invitations.

Hall still will have a crowd of supporters around him. Instead of coming from Auburn’s 2022 defense, they’ll make the 75-mile trip east on Interstate 10 from his hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi.

“A lot plan to be here,” Hall said. “I have a lot of family. I’m big on family. That’s something that’s near and dear to my heart. My family never missed a game during my college career from Penn State to wherever we went. My family was always there.”

This won’t be Hall’s first trip to the Senior Bowl. He still has his ticket to the 2016 game, when he saw Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott win the MVP Award.

It was around that time that Hall began to realize that he could play in the Senior Bowl, too.

“Around the time, I would say, ninth grade, late eighth grade, early ninth grade, I really started to see my game progress and I really started to fall in love with the game of football,” Hall said. “I knew it was something that I really wanted to do. …

“I kind of figured going through high school and things like that that I would have an opportunity to play in this game, and it’s reality.”

The 74th Reese’s Senior Bowl will kick off at 1:30 p.m. CST Feb. 4 at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile. NFL Network will televise the game. Tickets can be purchased online.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.