As has been the case in past years, we’ll be looking at which players have reportedly talked to the Atlanta Falcons during the week of practices for the Senior Bowl, a collegiate all-star game that will be played on Saturday, January 28, 2012.

Sources for this information, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Twitter.

• CB Brandon Boykin, Georgia
• TE Ladarius Green, Louisiana-Lafayette
• WR Brian Quick, Appalachian State

As more information becomes available, we’ll continue to update this list.

Owens at the Senior Bowl

We’ll be tracking which prospects the Falcons will be looking over the course of the time that NFL coaches and scouts descend on the city of Mobile, Alabama for a week of Senior Bowl practices. These prospects will come from a variety of sources, which include the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Scout.com, Draft Countdown, and others.

• QB Jarrett Brown, West Virginia
• CB Perrish Cox, Oklahoma State
• TE Dorin Dickerson, Pittsburgh
• FB Rashawn Jackson, Virginia
• WR Donald Jones, Youngstown State
• DE Brandon Lang, Troy State
• CB Trevard Lindley, Kentucky
• DT Jeff Owens, Georgia
• LS Mike Windt, Cincinnati

We’ll continue to update this list as information becomes available throughout the week.

Using various sources including but not limited to NFL.com, Scout.com, New Era Scouting, Football.com, KFFL.com, NFL Draft Countdown, and various local newspapers covering schools and individual prospects, we have compiled a list of prospects that the Falcons have worked out, interviewed, or reportedly shown mild interest in.

Private Workouts
Each NFL team is limited by the number of official visits it can have with draft prospects. Here is a list of players that according to various sources have been visited by the Falcons or have visited the Falcons for such. Dates if specified are included in parentheses:

QB John David Booty, USC
QB Brian Brohm, Louisville
QB Joe Flacco, Delaware (Mar. 28)
QB Chad Henne, Michigan
QB Josh Johnson, San Diego
QB Matt Ryan, Boston College
QB Andre Woodson, Kentucky
RB Jamar Brittingham, Bloomsburg
RB Jamaal Charles, Texas (Apr. 8-9)
RB Tashard Choice, Georgia Tech
RB Matt Forte, Tulane (Mar. 17)
RB Chris Johnson, East Carolina (Apr. 11)
RB Kalvin McRae, Ohio (Apr. 10)
RB Ray Rice, Rutgers
FB Mike Cox, Georgia Tech (Apr. 10)
WR Adrian Arrington, Michigan (Mar. 28)
WR Eddie Royal, Virginia Tech
WR Mario Urrutia, Louisville
TE Scott Kuhn, Louisville
TE Martin Rucker, Missouri (Mar. 28)
TE Craig Stevens, California
OT Nate Garner, Arkansas (Apr. 16-17)
OT Jake Long, Michigan (Mar. 27)
OT Jeff Otah, Pittsburgh (Apr. 16)
OT Jeremy Zuttah, Rutgers
DE Lawrence Jackson, USC
DE Kendall Langford, Hampton
DT Glenn Dorsey, LSU
LB Cliff Avril, Purdue
LB Dan Connor, Penn State
LB Curtis Lofton, Oklahoma
LB Brandon Miller, Georgia (Apr. 8)
CB Charles Godfrey, Iowa
CB Leodis McKelvin, Troy State (Apr. 10-12)
CB Aqib Talib, Kansas
CB Terrell Thomas, USC
CB Jack Williams, Kent State
S Tyrell Johnson, Arkansas State (Apr. 14)

Reportedly Interested in:
Some of these players were among many the Falcons spoke with at either the Senior Bowl or the Combine, or have been players that the Falcons have been on hand to see at their pro days. It’s quite possible that many of these players have also worked out privately for the Falcons, but that has yet to be confirmed. If so, they will be moved to the above list accordingly.

QB Erik Ainge, Tennessee
QB Colt Brennan, Hawaii
QB Dennis Dixon, Oregon
QB Paul Smith, Tulane
RB Thomas Brown, Georgia
RB Justin Forsett, California
RB Rafael Little, Kentucky
RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas
RB Dantrell Savage, Oklahoma State
RB Steve Slaton, West Virginia
RB Jonathan Stewart, Oregon
RB Chauncey Washington, USC
FB Owen Schmitt, West Virginia
WR Adarius Bowman, Oklahoma State
WR Harry Douglas, Louisville
WR James Hardy, Indiana
WR Andrew Hawkins, Toledo
WR Dexter Jackson, Appalachian State
WR Darius Reynaud, West Virginia
TE Gary Barnidge, Louisville
TE Brad Cottam, Tennessee
TE Fred Davis, USC
TE Matt Mulligan, Maine
TE Jacob Tamme, Kentucky
OT Mike Butterworth, Slippery Rock
OT Gosder Cherilus, Boston College
OT Anthony Collins, Kansas
OT Carlton Medder, Florida
OT Chad Rinehart, Northern Iowa
OT Barry Richardson, Clemson
OT Chris Williams, Vanderbilt
OC John Sullivan, Notre Dame
DE Johnny Dingle, West Virginia
DE Chris Ellis, Virginia Tech
DE Greyson Gunheim, Washington
DE Bryan Mattison, Iowa
DE Hilee Taylor, North Carolina
DT Dre Moore, Maryland
DT Carlton Powell, Virginia Tech
DT DeMario Pressley, N.C. State
DT Pat Sims, Auburn
DT Lorenzo Williams, Missouri
LB John Lee, Charleston Southern
LB Wesley Woodyard, Kentucky
CB Dwight Lowery, San Jose State
S Josh Barrett, Arizona State
S Thomas DeCoud, California
S Brad Mueller, Slippery Rock
S Tom Zbikowski, Notre Dame
K Brandon Coutu, Georgia

During their annual Senior Bowl coverage, Scout.com also tracks which NFL teams show particular interest in certain players during the course of the week. Teams conduct formal and informal interviews with players during the day. Here are the players that Scout.com has reported that the Falcons have shown interest in, and the date of the report:

Jan. 21: QB Joe Flacco, Delaware
Jan. 22: QB Erik Ainge, Tennessee; QB Colt Brennan, Hawaii; RB Tashard Choice, Georgia Tech; TE Fred Davis, USC; RB Matt Forte, Tulane; DT DeMario Pressley, N.C. State; RB Dantrell Savage, Oklahoma State; OT Chris Williams, Vanderbilt
Jan. 23: DE Chris Ellis, Virginia Tech; RB Justin Forsett, California; QB Chad Henne, Michigan; OT Barry Richardson, Clemson; TE Martin Rucker, Missouri
Jan. 24: K Brandon Coutu, Georgia; CB Terrell Thomas, USC; RB Chauncey Washington, USC; LB Wesley Woodyard, Kentucky

NFL Draft Countdown also lists several players the Falcons spoke to or were looking at during the week:

Jan. 22: WR Harry Douglas, Louisville; RB Rafael Little, Kentucky; C John Sullivan, Notre Dame
Jan. 23: S Thomas DeCoud, California; DE Bryan Mattison, Iowa; OT Chad Rinehart, Northern Iowa; TE Jacob Tamme, Kentucky

Draft Daddy.com reported in their Senior Bowl draft blog on Monday evenning that the Falcons talked to Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye. Okoye at age 19, is the youngest player to ever play in the Senior Bowl.

Not surprisingly, Okoye conversed with his former head coach and new Falcons head man Bobby Petrino during Monday’s practices. In his draft diary on AL.com, he noted that he took notice of many of his former coaches from his collegiate days at the Senior Bowl practices, now members of the Falcons coaching staff. In that diary, he noted joining the Falcons would be a good fit due to the presence of Kevin Wolthausen, his former position coach and now the Falcons defensive line coach.

Okoye is an interesting story, since upon relocating to this country from Nigeria, he skipped middle and entered high school at age twelve. He enrolled at Louisville at age sixteen and earned his degree in psychology in three and a half years.

Okoye measured in at the Senior Bowl at 6’2″ 287, significantly less than his listed playing weight of 317 pounds. With the significant drop in weight, Okoye has been better able to showcase the quickness that allowed him to record 8 sacks this past season.

Okoye is widely considered to be the second best defensive tackle prospect available in this draft, and is the most highly touted prospect that various draft sources have indicated the Falcons have looked and spoken to midway through Senior Bowl week. Some experts project him to be a top ten draft pick, which would make him a legitimate target of the Falcons in the first round this year, considering they hold the tenth overall draft pick.

The NFL Experts at Scout.com, reported that the Falcons showed interest in Baylor punter Daniel Sepulveda, interviewing him during Tuesday’s practices at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, AL.

Sepulveda won the Ray Guy Award this past season, awarded to the nation’s best punter, making him the only two-time winner ever after winning the award in 2004 as well. Sepulveda tore the ACL in his non-kicking knee in April prior to the season, making his accomplishment all the more significant. He had originally suffered a partial tear of the ligament in his knee in 2004, but it was not caught on the MRI at the time.

Sepulveda is widely considered to be this year’s top punter in the draft, and is considered a potential late round pick. Many reports out of Mobile have remarked on his impressive 6’2″ 228 physique and that he is built like a linebacker. Notably, Sepulveda contemplated a position change to that position earlier in his career at Baylor.

If the Falcons are seriously interested in drafting Sepulveda, it might indicate that the team is prepared to try punter Michael Koenen again at kicker in 2007, instead of re-signing Morten Andersen.

Koenen began 2006 as in the dual role as both punter and kicker, but struggled in the latter duties, only making 3 of 9 field goal attempts in the first two games. The team then signed Andersen, who made 20 of his 23 attempts. Andersen is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent on March 2.

NFLExperts.com reports in their daily coverage of the Senior Bowl this week, the Falcons showed interest in the following prospects during Monday’s practices: Miami defensive tackle Kareem Brown, N.C. State cornerback A.J. Davis, Arkansas offensive tackle Tony Ugoh, Pittsburgh middle linebacker H.B. Blades, and Wake Forest safety Josh Gattis.

The Senior Bowl is an annual all-star game featuring many of the top seniors from college football, and is often considered the first major event in the scouting process leading up to the NFL Draft in April. A week’s worth of practices will be followed by a game between the North and South squads on Saturday, January 27. But for several reasons, the week’s worth of practices are more important to teams and scouts than the game itself. It gives teams a chance to interact with players, and study their work habits and ethic.

All the prospects the Falcons were reportedly eyeing are considered potential first day picks. ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Ugoh ranked 16th on his board of the Top 25 prospects in this upcoming draft.