Illinois vs UCLA Bruins Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
Today the fighting Illni will take on the UCLA Bruins in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. There are a fair amount of prospects to watch for in this game.
Illinois
The Top prospect in this game is the Fighting Illni’s DE Whitney Mercilus. Mercilus has had an insanely productive season this year and could see himself drafted into the first round. The question is whether or not Mercilus is as good a pro prospect as he has been a College Football player this year, and to that I’m not convinced. Whitney has a great motor and makes a lot of plays, but he lacks elite athletic ability and should be considered a DE only in the N.F.L. I think teams looking to make him in a 34 OLB will be disappointed.
Jenkins has good enough size and a lot of athletic ability. He is a player who could see his name called on day two of this draft. He’s had another productive season and should eclipse the 1200 yard receiving mark today.
Jeff Allen
I haven’t spent enough time focusing on on the offensive linmen for this draft class, but today I’ll take a chance to take a look at a pretty good one Illinois OL Jeff Allen. Allen has good size at 6’5 315 pounds. Does Jenkins have enough athletic ability to play outside? From what I’ve seen of him so far I’d answer yes. I’d like to see a good game today.
UCLA Bruins
Jones is a guy who has ideal build and athletic ability to play defensive end in the N.F.L. The problem is he just hasn’t put it all together yet. He doesn’t make enough splash plays, but he has a world of ability, strength, length, athletic ability. Will he take a step forward and put it together today?
Jonathan Franklin Running Back
Franklin is quick adn explosive and makes big plays. He also has a problem holding onto the football and he needs to improve his running between the tackles.
With the emergence of Jimmy Graham, huge athletic targets will get a longer look now. One of those targets could be Fauria. Fauria is athletic, and has a huge target. He’s 6’8, but athletic. He needs to continue to improve his blocking.
Rosario is another big target on the Bruin. He’s a 6’5 WR who was on the track and filed team as a long jumper. He’s finally putting it together this year and is having a really nice season. He could still stand to get more aggressive and he doesn’t have elite speed.
Dye is a nice prospect who has just had an awful year. I know he recently got injured badly too so I don’t even think he’ll be playing in this game. Dye had the potential heading into the season to be a top 100 pick, but now looks like a 6th or 7th rounder.
Click on the names and it’ll bring you to our scouting report page for that player. If’ you’re interested in other prospects in today’s game check out our scouting report page which has nearly 200 scouting reports.