Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl NFL Draft Preview: BYU vs. Tulsa

Just the way you wanted to start your Friday, right? How about a matchup between two teams who will be working against the grain. BYU prides itself on allowing the 7th lowest opposing QB rating and playing opportunistic football offensively while G.J. Kinne and Tulsa like to sling the ball around offensively.

This game doesn’t feature any premiere 2012 NFL Draft prospects, but there are a couple of guys you will want to look out for. BYU offensive tackle Matt Reynolds probably should have declared last year, but I can’t fault him for finishing school. In terms of his NFL options, they are getting slimmer by the day and I remember a year ago at this time he was being put in the first round of some people’s mock drafts, and now today, he’d be lucky if he goes in the fourth. I think you’ll see him move to right tackle or guard in the NFL and likely will have to work his way into a starting role. I’m interested to see how he does today, because BYU might have to throw a lot.

On the other sideline, the best prospect is also the most well-known, quarterback G.J. Kinne. Kinne, as Wes Bunting pointed out, is the son of a coach and is a competitor, so he should be able to crack an NFL roster before all is said and done. He has solid overall size at 6’2″ 234 pounds and has been extremely productive throughout his career. My biggest concern with Kinne is how he played against top competition. You see his one touchdown and four picks against Boise State, and it’s a red flag, and then you see his combined 52 percent completion percentage against Oklahoma and Houston this season, and it’s not overly impressive.

He is going to take time to develop, but I think he is smart enough and good enough that he can make throws and be a third quarterback or at worst be on someone’s practice squad to start the 2012 NFL season.

Probably the top prospect in this game is a guy I did some research on recently, a freshman receiver for BYU named Ross Apo, who was a four-star coming out in 2010 and he supplemented that ranking with nine touchdowns as a true freshman this year. Keep an eye on Apo today, he wears number 11 for BYU.