Shrine Bowl Takeaways: Cade Klubnik Makes Case, WR Group Shows Depth of Draft Class

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Shrine Bowl Takeaways: Cade Klubnik Makes Case, WR Group Shows Depth of Draft Class
Pittsburgh Steelers Cade Klubnik 2026 NFL Draft
Cade Klubnik at practice on Jan. 23, 2026 at Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. — Courtesy East-West Shrine Bowl

FRISCO, Tx. — The first practice of the 2026 East-West Shrine Bowl wrapped up on Friday, with the players taking to the field at Ford Center, the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, in front of dozens of NFL scouts, coaches and executives.

Steelers Now was on the scene, and here’s my standouts from the first day of Shrine Bowl practice:

🏈 Cade Klubnik is by far the best quarterback prospect of the eight in Frisco, and it shows, not only in his passing, but in the way he carries himself. Honestly, Klubnik fired a few high today when he was putting some oomph behind his passes, although he still looked the best of anyone in the building.

But where he really stood out was his command of the huddle and the offense. On his first snap, he drew the defense offside with a hard count. He was making checks at the line of scrimmage, using his eyes to manipulate the defense and just generally looking like a quarterback that’s ready to be a pro.

The big question will be what kind of quarterback Klubnik will be when he gets there. He has tools as a former five-star recruit, but this season did not go well for him or Clemson. He’s probably going to start out as a backup, but a team taking a swing on Klubnik will still be getting some upside as part of the package.

🏈 The rest of the group of passers did not stand out in a good way on Friday, to the point that it was sometimes hard to evaluate the wide receivers. I saw Florida’s J Michael Sturdivant break wide open a half-dozen times, but never got the ball delivered anywhere near him.

🏈 The ongoing Steelers coaching search isn’t slowing down their scouting efforts. The Steelers had their usual tranche of scouts and analysts in place, as well as director of college scouting Dan Colbert.

🏈 Montana wide receiver Michael Wortham is very small, checking in at 5-foot-8 1/4. That’s barely taller than Calvin Austin III. He also seems to get open a ton, with a suddenness to his route-running that not many others possess. He broke a deep route at one point, but didn’t track it all that well. He was a late add to the roster here, but seems like he belongs.

🏈 Probably the most consistent receiver I saw on the day was LSU’s Zavion Thomas. He got open all day and also hauled in some off-target passes.

🏈 Ole Miss wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling, who was one of Derrick Bell’s players to watch for this week, has pulled out of the Shrine Bowl. I believe he’s dealing with a minor injury, as well.

🏈 Let me stop you from wasting your time worrying about things that don’t matter. Every player at the Shrine Bowl meets with every team in rotation, or at least is scheduled to. Sometimes there are conflicts and whatnot, but a player meeting with a team here is not news, the opposite would be.

🏈 Cincinnati defensive tackle Deontay Corleone, who has been one of my favorite players to watch in college football, left West Team practice with what appeared to be an injury of some type.

🏈 Miami linebacker Wes Bissainthe, who basically flew here straight from his College Football Playoff national championship game on Monday, did not practice today.

🏈 Slippery Rock offensive lineman Joe Cooper, who played left tackle at the Division-II level, played left guard for the West Team on Friday. He looked solid in run blocking.

🏈 Penn State tackle Nolan Rucci has had a nice week. At weight in, not only was it established that he’s a legit 6-foot-8 as listed by the Nittany Lions, he added an eighth of an inch. He also looked good in pass-blocking drills, which should be expected. He gave up just two sacks over two seasons at Penn State, per PFF.

🏈 No idea if the Steelers will be looking for a tight end, but Texas’ Jack Endries seems like a quarterback’s best friend. I can’t tell you how many times he was open after the first read wasn’t and provided an outlet. Notre Dame’s Eli Raridon wasn’t open quite as often, but did make some tough catches.

🏈 There are three Georgia wide receivers here, and none of them are No. 1 WR Zachariah Branch. None of them had significant statistical contributions, so I didn’t know what to make of that group. On first sight, Dillon Bell looks like a player. He has a fluid release and gets open easily, and also showed off some burst with some YAC.

🏈 UConn’s Skyler Bell is the consensus top receiver here, and he did nothing to dispel me of that notion. He put Nebraska cornerback Ceyair Wright in a blender on this out route against off coverage.

Wright had a very active day. He’s hyper aggressive, biting too hard on that Bell catch and drawing an easy DPI call against Cincinnati’s Jeff Caldwell, but also making several plays on the ball in 1-on-1s and a team period interception.

Caldwell, who measured 6-foot-4 3/4, 208 pounds, also looked good underneath for a bigger receiver. The quarterbacks struggled to connect with anyone on deeper routes.

🏈 Miami (Ohio) linebacker Jackson Kuwatch also had a leaping interception and looked like he belonged physically.

🏈 When we’re talking about standouts, there’s one easy one. 6-foot-6 3/8, 221-pound USC linebacker Eric Gentry stands out just standing out there. I didn’t see him do anything eye-popping today, but that is a wild frame for an off-ball linebacker.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Shrine Bowl Takeaways: Cade Klubnik Makes Case, WR Group Shows Depth of Draft Class

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