Players to Watch for During the 2012 College Football Season: Margus Hunt SMU

Over the summer I’ll highlight some players who are not well known that you should keep an eye for during the 2012 College Football season. These players will likely hear their names called during the 2013 NFL draft and are not players that are generally considered picks for the first three rounds at the present time.

Today we’ll focus on Margus Hunt who plays for the Southern Methodist University  Mustangs. Hunt is a native Estonian who was on track to make the Olympics team in the shot put and discus. He originally went to Southern Methodist for precisely that reason, but when the school lost it’s track and field program Hunt turned to football. Hunt is a phenomenal athlete who is listed at 6’8 and 295 pounds and possess a ridiculous 82 inch wing span. Hunt has been clocked in the forty yard dash at a 4.7 forty and has repped 35 bench press reps at 225 pounds. He also has a 36 inch vertical jump and can clean well over 350 pounds at his size. He is an absolute monster.

The ridiculous part of the equation is that Hunt only has a few years experience training for a football program and has insane raw athleticism to mold. Hunt reportedly has developed a love for the game and put his Olympic aspirations on hold to play football full time.

Hunt does not yet possess tremendous production last year he only had 28 tackles, 7.5 tackles for  loss, and 3 sacks, but he has been a wonder on special teams.

Freshman (2009): Set a new NCAA record with seven blocked kicks on the year, coming within one block of the NCAA record… Nearly doubled the old SMU record of four… Named Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week after blocking two field goal attempts in SMU’s 28-21 win over defending C-USA Champion East Carolina, one of which led to a 65-yard touchdown return… Named honorable mention All-C-USA by the league’s coaches… Earned a pair of ESPN Helmet Stickers on the year… Played in all 13 games… Improved throughout the season, making his biggest impact later in the season… Had four tackles at Marshall… Notched a sack in SMU’s Hawaii Bowl win.

He added four blocked kicks in 2011.

You have not heard about Hunt and I did not know too much about him prior to being tipped off by CBS the Freak List. There is a lot to like about Hunt. Hunt has great size, tremendous length, athleticism is off the charts and has weight room strength. I’ll have to watch him closely this year and see how he plays with his hands, how active he is, and what kind of natural football instincts he possess. Clearly his upside is tremendous. This is a guy who has only played three years of organized football-and has only recently dedicated his training toward football. He has tremendous aspirations (as anyone who is training rigorously for the Olympics would have) and has a new-found passion for the game. Teams will have to decide how committed he is over the long run, how tough he is, and whether his raw skill set can ever be more than a tantalizing special teamer dripping with upside.

Watch out for Margus Hunt.

And be sure to follow us on twitter @NFLmocks