J’Mond Tapp named to the 2027 Panini Senior Bowl Top 300 Watch List
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Memphis defensive lineman J’Mond Tapp was named to the 2027 Panini Senior Bowl Top 300 Watch List on Thursday. Tapp joins former Tigers Chris Adams, Seth Henigan and Roc Taylor as players who have made the list, and it’s the third consecutive season a Tiger has appeared on the list.
According to their website, the Panini Senior Bowl “is the premier college football all-star game and the official first step in the NFL Draft process.” The numbers don’t lie about it either.
106 total senior bowl players were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, which is 55 more than any other all-star game. 50 senior bowl players were selected in the top three rounds, and 99 percent of those that participated in the senior bowl were either drafted or selected as an undrafted free agent.
Chris Johnson, Clay Matthews, Patrick Willis, Von Miller and Cam Jordan are just a few of the high-level players who have participated in the game.
Tapp was one of only eight players from a non-Power Four school to appear on the list, and only two teams from the American Conference were represented in the list. Tulane linebacker Evan Crenshaw was the only other player from the American in the top 300.
The Tigers will also see Boise State edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan, who appeared on the list.
Tapp began his career at Texas, but he played in only two games as a freshman, taking a redshirt. As a redshirt freshman, he recorded eight tackles in seven games with the Longhorns.
He transferred to Arizona State, but he only played two snaps and entered the transfer portal again. He landed at Southern Miss, and he ended the year with 70 tackles, 7.5 sacks and two pass deflections.
When Huff took the job at Memphis, Tapp entered the transfer portal again, and followed his head coach to the Bluff City. The defensive lineman has received a ton of preseason hype, and he appears on nearly every preseason All-Conference First Team.
ESPN even named him as one of the top “non-QB playmakers” in the 2026 season. There are high expectations around Tapp, and he should be one of the leaders for the Tigers’ defense that features a handful of players from Southern Miss.
Memphis begins the season in Week Zero against UNLV in Las Vegas. The game will mark a massive non-conference game between two Group of Six teams with College Football Playoff expectations.
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