Fiery, troubled Noah Spence zooming upward with big Senior Bowl
It didn’t take Noah Spence long to make a first impression on NFL scouts at the Senior Bowl.
On Day 1 of practice, there was the 6-2 5/8, 254-pound Spence — the Eastern Kentucky pass rusher who was kicked out of Ohio State — mixing it up with 6-6 5/8, 317-pound Georgia OT John Theus, with the two having to be separated afterward, during one-on-one drills and not backing down in the least.
One NFL talent evaluator actually liked to see Spence scrapping.
“That was a good thing,” he said. “He’s got some fire. Besides, it’s better than the other stuff.”
The other stuff? Part of it includes the reason he was kicked out of OSU — Spence has admitted to be addicted to the drug, Ecstasy, and he failed two drug tests — which will be the hardest impression on Spence to change. He’s been labeled a character red flag by many teams, and it will take a lot of good interviews to alter the narrative there.
One can only imagine what might have been with a Buckeyes D-line of Joey Bosa, Adolphus Washington and Spence. He ended up at Eastern Kentucky, and though Spence was arrested for public intoxication last May, he mostly has kept his name clean and has helped his stock immensely.
“I know that scouts aren’t just here to watch me play,” Spence told Shutdown Corner. “They want answers. I get that.”
With a strong week of practice, Spence has solidified his stock — check out what Yahoo’s Charles Robinson said about him in his Senior Bowl Winners and Losers piece — and now has the look of a top-20 pick in April.
For his part, though, Spence is trying the humble routine.
“It’s not for me to say whether or not I helped myself,” Spence said and yet, smiling for the first time during the interview, added: “But I think I did pretty well.”
Asked about his scraps with Theus and the other South offensive linemen, most of whom Spence torched with regularity during one-on-one drills in practice this week, Spence said he hoped to show “that consistent fire” in his game and that he didn’t fear anyone down there, even as he respected the players he went up against.
Spence’s former teammates at Ohio State still have his back and have been asked about him. They said they had nothing but good things to tell NFL teams.
“Yes, I was [asked about Spence], and I told them the truth: He’s a good dude,” Washington said. “We all have our questions we have to face. And we have tried to do it like men. He’s paying now, I am paying now, but we are moving on from who we were.”
“I never felt like those guys didn’t have my back,” Spence said. “They were always texting me, sending their love, showing support. Still are. That’s why I love those guys. I’m happy we’re all here again.”
And Spence put on a show, easily the best edge rusher at the Senior Bowl, for them and everyone else watching. As Robinson wrote, he could be the top defensive player down in Mobile taken in the draft, and it wouldn’t be stunning to see him slip into the back end of the top 10 picks. Spence still has some questions he’ll have to answer about his past indiscretions, and whether he’ll slip into old habits again, but the early returns have been very positive so far.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
