Washington-Stanford 2014 NFL Draft Prospect Preview
Sep 28, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies quarterback Keith Price (17) passes against the Arizona Wildcats during the first quarter at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
One of the top games on the college slate this week pits Stanford against Washington in a battle of two Pac 12 unbeaten teams.
Stanford, led by junior quarterback Kevin Hogan, will have to deal this week with one of the most talented running backs in the entire country, Washington’s Bishop Sankey.
If any defense is built to slow down Sankey, it’s the Stanford front seven, which is big, mean, nasty, and smart. The Cardinal have allowed just two rushing touchdowns all season long, and are holding opposing running backs to under 3.5 yards per carry on the season.
Sankey has been dominant for the Huskies, running for 607 yards and five touchdowns through just four games. He’s going to be a load for the Cardinal to handle on Saturday.
Stanford QB Kevin Hogan is really starting to rise as an NFL prospect for me. He has the ability to beat you both throwing the ball as well as running it, and he has great size at 6’4″ 228 pounds. He’s only a junior and is still pretty raw, so I think he’ll be back for one more season at Stanford but there’s nothing wrong with getting an early look at one of the top QB prospects potentially for the 2015 draft.
Washington QB Keith Price is one of the least-talked about QBs in the country right now, and I’m not quite sure why. He’s completed 72.3 percent of his passes this season (four games) and has 1,044 yards, nine touchdowns, and just two interceptions.
Price doesn’t have elite size at 6’1″ 202 pounds but people said the same thing about Russell Wilson. I’m not saying Price is as good a player as Wilson was his senior season with Wisconsin, but the Price we are seeing in 2013 looks a lot more like the Price of 2011 than the Price of 2012.
Here are the top prospects that I have evaluated for Stanford so far this season:
David Yankey, OG
Trent Murphy, DE/OLB
Ed Reynolds, S
Shayne Skov, LB
Tyler Gaffney, RB
Ben Gardner, DL
Kevin Hogan, QB
Here are some of the top prospects for the Washington Huskies:
Keith Price, QB
Bishop Sankey, RB
Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, TE
Sean Parker, DB
Kasen Williams, WR
Here’s a sample scouting report for Stanford DB Ed Reynolds:
29 S Ed Reynolds (6’2″ 205 pounds, SENIOR)
Simply put, Reynolds is a defensive back who knows how to get his hands on the ball. He picked off six passes as a junior in 2012 on his way to third-team All-American honors and first-team All-Pac 12 honors as well. He returned three of his six picks for touchdowns, and a fourth one he returned to the one yard line. His breakout season last year came out of nowhere to the scouting community, as Reynolds didn’t play a down in 2011 due to injury, and only recorded six tackles as a freshman in 2010. Had just 47 tackles in 2012, but plays on a stacked defense so there aren’t a ton of tackles to go around. Does a great job of following the quarterback’s eyes and reading where he is going with the ball. Knack for beating receivers to the ball and obviously has no problem catching it, and is better running after the catch than a lot of receivers in college football. Not an overly physical safety, and doesn’t play in the box a whole lot.