Insight Bowl NFL Draft Preview: Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Oklahoma Sooners

Every year, Iowa and Oklahoma send a few guys to the NFL and this year will be no different. The difference this year is, one of the best players–arguably THE best player–will not play in this game. Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Ryan Broyles has been out for a few weeks, and will remain on the sidelines for the Insight Bowl as his team takes on the Iowa Hawkeyes, who won this game against Blaine Gabbert and Missouri last year.

Since Broyles went down, Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones has not thrown a touchdown pass (three games) and has thrown five interceptions. He went from being one of my most highly rated players to being a fringe third round prospect at this point with his junior season, and I fully expect him to return to Oklahoma for a senior season to try and improve his standing with NFL scouts.

On the other side of the ball, I really like a couple of guys for Oklahoma. Ronnell Lewis who plays outside linebacker/defensive end could be an intriguing edge rushing prospect for the NFL, and I have always liked linebacker Travis Lewis, who makes plays all over the field defensively but is having a bit of a down senior season, going into the game with a career-low 80 tackles.

Iowa boasts their best wide receiver in school history in Marvin McNutt, who has been absolutely dominant at times this season and has a very interesting matchup against Jamell Fleming, who is a very good athlete in his own right.

Probably the best overall prospect in this game is Iowa offensive tackle Riley Reiff, who many expect to declare shortly after this game his intention to head to the NFL. He is a top 10-15 prospect at this point.

Iowa also has a couple of really good defensive backs in Shaun Prater and Micah Hyde, who also double as punt returners every now and again.