Senior North Carolina cornerback Marcus Allen is one of three Tar Heel seniors to be named to the 2026 Senior Bowl Top 300 List Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Three UNC Seniors Make Senior Bowl Top 300 List

Originally posted on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI
By Grant Chachere | Last updated Aug 25, 2025 1:00 PM ET

North Carolina has a roster that is full of veterans and some really good ones at that.

So, it’s no surprise that the Senior Bowl announced last Wednesday that UNC players Marcus Allen, Thaddeus Dixon and Daniel King have been named to the 2026 Senior Bowl Top 300 List. The Senior Bowl Top 300 features only players eligible for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Allen returns as a third-year starter at cornerback for the Tar Heels. He is coming off a strong 2024 campaign where he recorded 36 tackles, two interceptions and six pass breakups. Throughout his career, Allen has 101 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions and 17 pass deflections.

Dixon brings pedigree and schematic familiarity to North Carolina’s secondary. The Washington transfer played under Steve Belichick in Seattle last season and was a key contributor for a Huskies defense that ranked No. 2 nationally against the pass in 2024. Dixon had an 81.8 PFF coverage rating in 2024, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten among cornerbacks with 100-plus snaps.

Over the past two seasons, Dixon recorded 69 tackles, three tackles for loss, two interceptions, 16 pass breakups and a forced fumble. This will be his fifth season of college football, including time at the junior college level. Dixon was also a starter on the Washington team that was the national runner-up in 2023. Following the season, he was voted UW's defensive skill player of the year.

King was a three-year starter and two-time All-Sun Belt selection at Troy, King allowed just nine sacks in 1,396 pass-blocking snaps throughout his career, including just one allowed last season. He also had a perfect PFF 100 pass block efficiency rating seven times. The Cairo, Ga. native also served as a team captain — a trait that likely caught the attention of head coach Bill Belichick.

What is the Senior Bowl?

The Senior Bowl is the premier postseason college football all-star game, played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama. It showcases top NFL Draft prospects who have completed their college eligibility. Once limited to seniors, the game began allowing draft-eligible underclassmen to participate in 2024, following a rule change announced by the NFL and NFLPA in November 2023.

The Senior Bowl scouting department, which is composed of former NFL scouts, evaluates more than 2,000 college prospects from the FBS level all the way to Division III each year.

The Senior Bowl, which prides itself on scouting and showcasing top NFL prospects, saw 50% of its participants selected in the first three rounds of the 2025 draft.

This article first appeared on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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