4 White QBs, 2 DEs that are locks. Probably a few OL. We might reach double digits, in an Early outlook. Neither of the Quotas is very good. Willis has faced subpar competition. Ridder has some game manager QB in him. Not consistent throwing though I agree @Leonardfan .
Mel Kipers position rankings as of today. QB 1. Kenny Pickett 2. Matt Corral 5. Sam Howell 6. Phil Jurkovic 7. Carson Strong 9. Tanner McKee RB none FB/HB 2. Tanner Conner (track star WR and he’s in the fullback category, what a joke) 5. Case Hatch 8. Monte Pottebaum 10. Clint Ratkovich WR none TE 1. Trey McBride 3. Cade Otton 5. Charlie Kolar 9. Will Mallory 10. Jeremy Ruckert OT 3. Trevor Penning 6. Kellen Diesch 7. Jaxson Kirkland 10. Bernhard Raimann OG 7. Logan Bruss 8. Andrew Vorhees 9. Nick Broeker C 1. Tyler Linderbaum 2. Jarrett Patterson 4. Alex Forsyth 7. Alec Lindstrom 9. Doug Kramer 10. Michael Maietti EDGE 2. Aidan Hutchinson 3. Cameron Thomas 4. George Karlaftis DT none OLB none ILB 4. Jack Campbell 7. Mike Rose 9. Jack Sanborn 10. Leo Chenal CB 9. Riley Moss S none
Quick take on Kiper's rankings. First off these rankings are meaningless until the players actually declare. My money is on Jurkovec and McKee returning to school. Both of them have limited college experience. If Jurkovec remained healthy this year and replicated his 2020 success than it would make sense for him to declare. Hopefully he decides to return to BC and ends up having a really strong 2022. McKee only has 6 collegiate starts, he needs to play at least one if not two more seasons at Stanford. Early returns have been good but I feel that he needs to be consistent and have more success at Stanford. Surprised Kiper leaves JT Daniels off the list. Daniels has more starting experience than either McKee or Jurkovec (has 19 total starts). Injuries have been his issue so he is another player that will hopefully start and play at a high level the rest of this season. If he comes back to play the final 5 games for UGA and the end up in the playoff/winning the National Championship I believe he will have cemented his status as a first rounder. If he does decide to come back he should be QB #1 in 2023. Borghi is a top 10 RB....ridiculous. As mentioned before in this thread WR Alec Pierce is probably the most positively talked about White WR since Cooper Kupp. No Chad Muma on the LB list? No Reed Blankenship, Nolan Turner or Jack Koerner on the safety list? BS.
Tanner Conner, a hurdler by trade on the track, has a personal-best of 10.51 in the flat 100-meters and ran a 10.83 100m this past spring at 6-foot-3 and still at his football weight. to think this athlete would be considered a “fullback” discredits anything else Mel (((Kiper))) says.
Senior Bowl invites should start trickling out in the next week or so. It actually sounds like Jim Nagy who runs the Senior Bowl is a fan of Nebraska's JoJo Doman - even listed him as a S/LB when mentioning him on twitter so this is a welcome development.
College punter Matt Araiza is a rare punter that might merit 1st round consideration in the NFL draft. He's averaging over 50 yards per punt for San Diego State (54.0). He's also SD State's kicker and kickoff specialist.
Thanks for bringing him up. Smart of San Diego State to utilize him as both a punter and kicker. Opens up another spot on the roster, for another position. Araiza will be a name to remember.
If I was a team I would 100% look for a guy who can handle both punts and kicks unfortunately Doman will be 25 by the time next season starts so that sucks. But the raiders did the same thing with 25 year old shooting threat Damon Arnett so why shouldn’t he get a chance
The Vikings tried that a couple of years ago. OF COURSE it was with a black dude (can't have a White man getting the glory), named Kaare Vedvik. Vedvik turned out to be a failure at both punting and kicking and was promptly cut. Now that strategy could actually work if a team found an athlete that could actually make it work. Matt Araiza may be that guy.
UNI OT Trevor Penning garners the first Senior Bowl invite. A few other small school guys that should be on our radar on the OL: G Cole Strange - Tenn Chattanooga OT Matt Waletzko North Dakota OT Nick Zakelj Fordham
I think Kent State QB Dustin Crum deserves more buzz than he has been getting. Here’s my observations and why I think he will be a steal in the draft. - Good size (6’3” 210lbs) - Accurate thrower (67.1% completion rate in his career) - Smart with the ball (has never thrown more than 2 INT’s in a season, 48/8 TD/INT ratio) - Experience (3 year starter but has contributed each of the last 5 seasons) - Dual threat (1814 rushing yards + 20 TD’s) I’ve also watched his highlights and he throws a pretty ball and excels at throwing it deep.
I like Crum alot too - outperformed Jordan Love head to head in the bowl game a few years ago. The fact Crum is getting no draft buzz but Jordan Love did is one example of the darkening of the QB position. The other more obvious one is the case of Cole Kelly compared to Trey Lance. Crum and Kelly are both being viewed as late rounder/UDFA types while Love and Lance were both viewed as first rounders.
Aidan Hutchinson is a sure fire top 5 pick and many mock drafts also have George Karlaftis in the top 10. Many more are also putting San Diego State DE Cameron Thomas in the 1st round as well. It would be incredible to see 3 white edge rushers go on day 1.
DB Sterling Weatherford, QB Bailey Zappe, and OT Trevor Penning are among the first Senior Bowl invites! No clue where Weatherford will be drafted but he will be a unique NFL player, I really hope they don’t try to move him to LB. He could end up being what I hoped former NY Giant Cooper Taylor could’ve been.
JoJo Doman also with a Senior Bowl invite. A few White OL too. Let's hope Horvath, Pierce and Borghi all get invites.
Weatherford is certainly a surprise. I saw he had a Shrine Bowl invite but it's nice to see him get the Senior Bowl invite. Blankenship, Moss and Turner should all get invites to the Senior Bowl too.
