One sure sign of the talent level in a college football program is the number of players getting serious consideration to play professionally.

South Alabama had five players on the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List, which was released Wednesday. That’s a Jaguars program record, according to the school’s athletic department.

RELATED: Some additional observations after South Alabama’s second preseason scrimmage

Quarterback Carter Bradley, running back La’Damian Webb, wide receiver/kick returner Caullin Lacy, defensive lineman Wy’Kevious Thomas and defensive back Yam Banks are now officially on the Senior Bowl radar, and by extensive being watched by the NFL. The Jaguars have placed 10 players in the Senior Bowl over the years, including wide receiver Jalen Wayne and defensive back Darrell Luter last year.

“Part of building a great program is that you’re producing NFL potential and I think we’re moving in the right direction in that,” head coach Kane Wommack said. “Obviously, talent is a large piece of it in recruiting, but also development within your program. And so for a Group of 5 program to have both talent and to be able to develop players within our program to get recognized and noticed by the Senior Bowl, is really special. We have a great bond and a great relationship with the Senior Bowl and (executive director) Jim Nagy and their representatives. And yet at the same time, we’ve got a number of guys that are probably deserving for a look in that game.”

The 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl takes place Feb. 3 at Mobile’s Hancock Whitney Stadium, also the Jaguars’ home field.

• Bradley has a hammerlock on the Jaguars’ starting quarterback job, with veteran back-up Desmond Trotter clearly the No. 2 option under center. However, both are sixth-year seniors who have no eligibility remaining after this season, meaning South Alabama coaches have begun to do a little planning for the future.

True freshman Gio Lopez has gotten extensive reps with the second-team offense throughout camp, including in last Saturday’s scrimmage. Lopez has also been battling redshirt freshman Bishop Davenport — a Utah State transfer who arrived over the summer — for the No. 3 quarterback job.

Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said he learned while head coach at Houston in 2015 that nothing can be taken for granted in a violent game like football, particularly at the quarterback position.

“We’re just trying to rep Bishop and Gio as much as humanly possible,” Applewhite said. “I was in a situation in ‘15 where we got early in the season and our third-team quarterback got in (a game), but he tore his knee and so we were without a third-team quarterback the whole year. And then we get to Week 11 and (starter) Greg Ward gets hurt and we’ve got to play our backup, and now our slot receiver is our backup quarterback. And so it’s just spending that time in the fall, spending that time in the spring with Gio to get him available and ready and be able to go function. And then the same thing once Bishop got here in June — just to make sure we don’t find ourselves in that situation again.”

Assuming Bradley takes the first snap Sept. 2 at Tulane, he’d be the first South Alabama quarterback to do so in two straight season-openers since Cole Garvin in 2017-18. All told, the Jaguars have had nine different opening-day starting quarterbacks in the 10 years from 2013-22, including Trotter in 2020 and Jake Bentley in 2021.

• One relative newcomer to the South Alabama team who showed intriguing potential during last Saturday’s scrimmage was defensive end Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge, who came up with a pair of “touch” sacks while splitting time between the first- and second-team defenses.

Rawlins-Kibonge joined the South Alabama team last fall as a transfer from Oklahoma, but between injuries and veteran depth at his position played only sparingly in 2022. However, Wommack said the 6-foot-6 former Oregon high school basketball star can be a real asset at the Jaguars’ “Bandit” end position.

“I recruited Nate out of high school when I was at Indiana,” Wommack said. “He’s a talented player, a really great basketball player, but from a developmental standpoint he has the makings of a great defensive end. He has really flashed as he continues to get more comfortable in our scheme. I think his fundamentals have tremendously improved. He’s in a group with Jamie Sheriff and Brock Higdon, and yet at the same time I think he’s working himself into a potential player for us.”

Indeed, Sheriff and Higdon are two of more productive veteran players on the South Alabama defense. Sheriff, a sixth-year senior, led the Jaguars with six sacks a year ago, while Higdon, a fourth-year junior who at 6-7 is even taller than Rawlins-Kibonge, added four.

• Webb set single-season program records with 1,063 yards and 13 touchdowns a year ago, but that’s only part of the story.

Webb missed one game and parts of three others due to injury, sitting out all of the Southern Miss game, getting hurt on the second play vs. Louisiana-Monroe, playing hurt vs. Troy and missing the second half vs. Texas State. All told, he was only healthy for about 9 ½ of the Jaguars’ 13 games.

If you extrapolate Webb’s rushing totals out over 13 “healthy” games, he’d have rushed for something like 1,400 yards and 18 touchdowns, with another 300 yards and four touchdowns receiving. Keeping Webb — a preseason All-Sun Belt pick — healthy this season is obviously a priority, though the Jaguars have more depth at the running back position than they have ever had.

Sophomore Braylon McReynolds is back this season after working at Webb’s primary understudy a year ago, as is short-yardage specialist Marco Lee. New to the fold are Ole Miss transfer Kentrel Bullock — perhaps the best combination of size and speed at the position for the Jaguars — plus freshmen PJ Martin and Jarvis Durr.

• From the ‘We Are All So Old’ files: South Alabama offensive lineman James Robinson had a puzzled look on his face after being asked if anyone had ever called him “Hollywood.”

Robinson, a Montgomery native, is not only no relation to former Alabama basketball star James “Hollywood” Robinson, he’s never even heard of him. That makes some sense, given that the younger James Robinson was born in 2002, while “Hollywood” Robinson last played at Alabama in 1993 and in the NBA in 2004.

James Robinson the younger, who played his high school football at Carver in Montgomery, transferred to South Alabama from Tennessee in 2022. He’s ticketed to be the Jaguars’ starting left guard this season.

• South Alabama is back on the practice field Thursday morning, then holds its annual “mock game” walkthrough on Friday. The Jaguars will then take the weekend off from practice before beginning game week preparation on Monday.