After a warm opening day here in Mobile, AL at the Senior Bowl, Xavier Hutchinson from the American roster was someone who impressed. Hutchinson is 6-foot-1 and 207 pounds with a 74 6/8″ wingspan. Hutchinson hauled in 107 receptions for 1,171 yards and six touchdowns for Iowa State in 2022. He appeared in 12 games. We saw some of the talent that allowed him to construct such a productive collegiate career on the field Tuesday in Mobile.

During one on ones at the beginning portion of practice, Hutchinson was struggling to get separation, but he continued to work hard. Hutchinson set himself up with an opportunity to catch the ball down the field that was just out of his reach, but the play was there to be made in the endzone.

During 11v11, Hutchinson was calm and savvy, finding spots in the zone and making plays on short drag routes across the middle of the field. Hutchinson also wasn’t able to turn his head around quickly enough on a diagonal route, and the coach on the field made it clear to turn his head around faster. Later in practice, Hutchinson was able to get his head around quicker during his diagonal route and make the play for a short gain.

Xavier Hutchinson had a good day here in Mobile, Alabama. Very strong hands and a great ability to high point the ball. Also, I liked what I was seeing from him during 11v11 and his ability to be savvy in the zones and find holes #Cover1SeniorBowl #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/o7xjBv9ndw

— Ajay Cybulski (@AjayCybulski) February 1, 2023

After practice, I was able to talk to Hutchinson and how he thought he performed on his first day of practice.

“I got a lot of rust to get off. I really haven’t played football in two months. Just trying to get back to shape and everything,” Hutchinson said. “But you know, I’m excited about it. I made plays when I had the opportunity, so you know, I can’t beat myself up too much about it.”

Hutchinson has prepared for this moment by focusing on his training and continuing to develop his game to get to the next level.

“I’m just really working with my position work while I been training,” he said. “That’s really about it. Honestly, just trying to sharpen up on a few things that I know I need to work on, and I felt like I did good on the things I was trying to work on.”

Moving forward to the rest of the week, Hutchinson is ready to prove he can be a deep threat and make those contested catches.

“I definitely want to show my deep threat ability,” he said. “I did miss a contested catch in one on ones that I felt like I should’ve had. So, working on catching those more consistently like I know I can, and hopefully that shows a lot.”

As the practices continue throughout the week and with the game this weekend, Hutchinson will continue to be a guy that is looked at for his stature and size, along with his ability to high-point the ball with his strong hands and big play ability that he knows he has.

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