NEW ORLEANS – Sun Belt football programs will be well-represented in the first of four collegiate all-star games Saturday.
Six alums will compete in the
78th-annual Caribe Royale Orlando Hula Bowl at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando, Fla., at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Jan. 13. The game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
The group includes six All-Sun Belt honorees from 2023, headlined by a trio of All-Sun Belt First Team performers in Georgia State redshirt senior offensive lineman Travis Glover, Troy senior defensive lineman Richard Jibunor and Troy senior defensive back Reddy Steward.
Marshall All-Sun Belt Third Team senior linebacker Eli Neal, Marshall All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention redshirt senior offensive lineman Dalton Tucker and South Alabama All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention senior quarterback Carter Bradley also made the trip to Orlando.
Sun Belt standouts will also feature in the upcoming Trillion Tropical Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 20; the East-West Shrine Bowl on Thursday, Feb. 1; and the Reese’s Senior Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 3. Complete rosters have yet to be announced for these events.
The Sun Belt has produced multiple NFL Draft selections in 20-of-22 drafts since it began sponsoring football in 2001, including a conference-record nine alumni selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. Three of the Sun Belt's five highest NFL Draft totals have come over the past four seasons with seven selections in 2020, six picks in 2022 and a conference-record nine draftees in 2023.
The Sun Belt has produced six-or-more draft picks on five occasions all-time (2010, 2012, 2020, 2022 & 2023). The conference's four-year total of 26 NFL Draft selections from 2020-23 is the largest four-year tally in conference history, surpassing the prior record of 22 from 2010-13.
Each of last year’s conference-record nine draft picks earned NFL roster spots, with eight seeing game action during the 2023-24 regular season. Defensive back Tre Hawkins III—a sixth-round draft pick by the New York Giants out of Old Dominion—and defensive back Steven Gilmore—an undrafted free agent pickup by the Detroit Lions out of Marshall—saw NFL action this season after competing in last year’s Hula Bowl.
Hula Bowl
Travis Glover, Georgia State (RS Sr., OL – Vienna, Ga.)
Eli Neal, Marshall (Sr., LB – Memphis, Tenn.)
Dalton Tucker, Marshall (RS Sr., OL – Paris, Ky.)
Carter Bradley, South Alabama (Sr., QB – Jacksonville, Fla.)
Richard Jibunor, Troy (Sr., DL – Delta State, Nigeria)
Reddy Steward, Troy (Sr., DB – Decatur, Ala.)