These Mizzou, K-State & KU football players made the East-West Shrine Bowl Top 1,000

The East-West Shrine Bowl, the nation’s oldest college football all-star game featuring top college seniors, has released a watch list of 1,000 players who are eligible for the 2024 showcase.
Thirty-four players from the Missouri Tigers, Kansas State Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks are included. In all, 100 universities are represented.
The list of 1,000 includes KU quarterback Jalon Daniels, K-State guard and Piper High product Cooper Beebe and Mizzou safety Jaylon Carlies. MU has 14 players on the watch list; KU and K-State have 10 apiece.
The 99th edition of the star-studded annual affair will take place Feb. 1, 2024 at the Dallas Cowboys’ facility in Frisco, Texas, televised nationally on the NFL Network.
Pro scouts will be in attendance as participating players enjoy one of their final opportunities to rep their college colors. Shrine Bowl director of football operations and player personnel Eric Galko described it as “a best in-class opportunity” as players transition out of college and hopefully into a pro career.
“Everyone loves to uncover guys that are not necessarily well-known yet,” Galko said. “It’s a great opportunity for people who are fans of college football, maybe just fans of the NFL, to meet these guys before they’re NFL stars.”
Galko said the watch list of 1,000 will be pared down to 130 selections for the February game in Texas. KU offensive lineman Earl Bostick Jr. was the only player from KU, K-State or Missouri to make the final cut this year.
In the week leading up to the game, players typically participate in practices and go through interviews. Galko said the event benefits the nonprofit Shriners Hospital for Children, noting that 100% of proceeds from the game go to the organization.
“That’s the real genesis on why we do the event,” he said. “The benefit of having the game on NFL Network (and) at the Dallas Cowboys’ facility (is that) all major media is there; every NFL team and all the top players are there.”
The process of winnowing the Shrine-Bowl watch list from 1,000 to 135 roster selections is already underway. Evaluators spend months, sometimes years, observing possible players. From there, Galko said he and his staff focus on two to three questions they are curious about with each player — perhaps how they bounced back from an injury or changing positions or schools — and then work to answer those questions as quickly as possible.
Galko said looks for players with the “right mental makeup to be successful pros.”
It’s no coincidence that the game takes place shortly before the NFL Draft. NFL general managers and scouts use players’ performances in practices and the game itself as tools for analyzing pro prospects.
Last year, Baltimore Ravens first-round draft pick Zay Flowers, a wide receiver from Boston College, and San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy (Iowa) took part.
“We want to make sure we give NFL teams guys that not only they like on film, but they’re really going to like in person,” Galko said. “There’s a lot of talented athletes around the country ... but the guys who really have a mental makeup are guys we try to really uncover for NFL teams.”
It remains to be seen how many K-State, MU and KU players will make the final rosters for the 2024 game. But Galko had this to say on the matter.
“We’ll have at least one Jayhawk on the Shrine Bowl roster, and hopefully multiple (players) based on how intelligent they are,” he said. “Between the two of them (KU and K-State), there will be seven Kansas college-based players that are drafted this year, which is a testament to those two programs doing a great job.”
Here are the MU, KSU and KU players on the Shrine Bowl watch list:
Missouri (14): CB Kris Abrams-Draine, LB Chad Bailey, S Jaylon Carlies, S Joseph Charleston, QB Brady Cook, G Xavier Delgado, T Javon Foster, LB Ty’Ron Hopper, T Marcellus Johnson, K Harrison Mevis, CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr., DL Darius Robinson, RB Cody Schrader, WR Theo Wease.
Kansas (10): WR Lawrence Arnold, T Logan Brown, LB Craig Young, QB Jalon Daniels, CB Ra’Mello Dotson, TE Mason Fairchild, WR Luke Grimm, S Kenny Logan Jr., C Mike Novitsky, G Dominick Puni.
K-State (10): G Cooper Beebe, WR Phillip Brooks, G Christian Duffie, edge Khalid Duke, LB Daniel Green, QB Will Howard, G Kaitori Leveston, LS Randen Plattner, TE Ben Sinnott, RB Treshaun Ward.
Also on the Shrine Bowl 1,000 is Southeast Missouri State University safety Lawrence Johnson.