The National roster delivered some of the cleanest flashes of Day One, and a lot of that light came from names that didn’t enter the week with much margin for error. Diego Pavia and Charles Demmings both walked off the field with arrows pointing up. The challenge now is to turn those arrows into a line that keeps climbing.
For Pavia, this morning isn’t about chasing a highlight. He already delivered the kind of throw that makes people straighten up in their seats, the type that will be clipped and shared as “pass of the day.” That’s how quarterbacks make noise on a Tuesday afternoon in Mobile. What wins the week for him is everything that happens between those moments. Day Two is about pocket command when the defense has more in the call sheet. It’s about timing when windows tighten, not loosen. It’s about repeating the same base, the same posture, and the same rhythm when the coverage picture spins after the snap.
He’s going to see more disguise today — safeties late‑rotating down, linebackers mugging and bailing, fire zones that test his ability to identify where the ball should go before and after the snap. The way he stacks days is by shrinking the number of “just late” reps. If the ball is out on time, to the right guy, under control, the conversation around him starts to change. The more he looks like he’s running an offense instead of chasing plays, the less oxygen is left for anyone to talk about height or background. In an all‑star setting like this, efficiency is a personality trait.
Demmings faces a different, but equally unforgiving, test. Small‑school corners don’t get much benefit of the doubt in this environment. When they win early, the immediate question in the back of every evaluator’s mind is, “Can he keep doing it when the receivers figure him out?” On Day One, he did the job: trusted his length, disrupted at the line, competed through routes, and stayed in phase often enough to stand out. That performance bought him more attention. Now he has to live with it.
Today is about winning without panic. Coaches and officials alike are paying close attention to hand use in Mobile, and the margin for error is thin. Demmings has to show he can still get that first jam without grabbing cloth, that he can mirror through the break without clutching, and that he can find the ball late without tackling a receiver. The more advanced route runners on the National roster will almost certainly test him with double moves, tempo changes at the stem, and stacked releases designed to cloud his leverage. If he stays disciplined, trusts his technique, and continues to compete without piling up flags, he’ll take a big step toward answering the level‑of‑competition question that always clings to FCS prospects.
Bryson Eason and Cole Payton round out the national storylines on your board, and both enter Day Two with arrows pointed the right direction. Eason did his damage inside with a rush move that popped on tape and enough juice off the ball to earn more reps. Today, much like with Crawford, is about what he brings when the first move gets sat on. Does he have a counter ready? Can he string his rush into a second effort that still affects the quarterback even if he doesn’t win clean off the snap? Defensive tackles separate themselves here by proving that their disruption is repeatable against players who’ve spent a night game‑planning for them.
Payton’s mission is to show that his confidence isn’t tied to a limited script. He looked comfortable cutting it loose on Day One, and that earned him his “Up” notation. Wednesday raises the degree of difficulty. More install means more responsibility at the line. Red‑zone work tends to tighten up decision‑making windows. If he can handle protections, work through full progressions in scoring areas, and still fire on time into contested windows, you start viewing him through a different lens — not just as a talented thrower, but as a potential operator.
What makes this National group so compelling is that they’re all living in that space where one good practice is enough to change the tone, but not enough to change the verdict. Pavia’s poise, Demmings’ discipline, Eason’s counters, Payton’s command — those are the axes today. You’re not asking them to be perfect; you’re asking them to look like the same players with more on their plates and more eyes on their every snap.
As the second practice day kicks off, the framing is simple and honest. Day One got them noticed. Day Two offers them a chance to prove that Tuesday wasn’t a one‑off, but the opening chapter of something real. For a quarterback from Vanderbilt, a corner from Stephen F. Austin, and their National teammates trying to punch above their reputations, that’s the whole ballgame right now.
The question that will hover over Hancock Whitney Stadium all afternoon is the same one you can lead with on every platform: will these players stack days, or did we already see their high‑water mark? Today, we start to find out.
4 Star Sports Media is proud to partner with the Chris Hope Foundation for all written coverage of the 2026 Panini Senior Bowl.
This collaboration supports CHF’s ongoing mission to provide hope and assistance to families facing serious illness, while spotlighting the nation’s top college football talent in Mobile, Alabama. Together, we’re uniting purpose and passion—celebrating excellence both on and off the field throughout Senior Bowl week.
