Players to Watch For the 2013 NFL Draft
Last night on twitter, I proposed a question to my followers: who is a player to watch for the 2012 College Football Season (for the 2013 NFL Draft).
Here are some of the responses and my thoughts on the players.
@NFLMocks Dion Jordan on the Oregon Ducks - he's an athletic FREAK who should play his way into the first round this year if he keeps it up!
— Bud Hardcastle, CPAP (@FletcherJohnson) May 16, 2012
Dion Jordan is a nice pick. A name that is fairly well known because of the school he plays for. A very athletic player with good size at 6’7. Jordan had 13 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks last year. Jordan is still learning the position, he played Tight End for the Ducks initially. Jordan has pretty good football awareness, but needs to work on a lot of the fine points of playing defensive end.
@NFLMocks James Gayle and Margus Hunt. Both could be top fifteen picks
— CJ Milner (@cmilner2) May 16, 2012
Gayle and Hunt are both defensive ends. Gayle is listed at 6’4 260 pounds. Gayle is a red-shirt Junior who came on last year to post 7 sacks and 12.5 sacks. Gayle has been timed fast in the 40 yard dash (4.45) and also has a big vertical 38 inches. Now, the Hokies are notorious for having really fast 40 yard dash times so in all likelihood the numbers are bit inflated, but still impressive. Gayle also has a lot of functional strength and is an interesting prospect to watch.
Margus Hunt is a guy who could compete to make the Olympics as a discus thrower and was named to CBS Freak list because of his cartoonish athleticism. Hunt has blocked a ridiculous 14 kicks. Hunt is big, insanely strong, and fast. He loves football so much that he has put his life-long dream of making the Estonia Olympic Team to focus on football (much to the dismay of his fellow countrymen).
@NFLMocks You want lesser known guys? I really like Derek Carr at Fresno State. Loaded with talent. I think he's going to move up big time
— Pete Smith (@_PeteSmith_) May 16, 2012
Derek Carr is the only non-defensive linemen projected as a player to watch in 2013 by our followers. Carr put up pretty good numbers for the Bulldogs last year. The quarterback threw 26 touchdowns to only 9 interceptions, while completing about 63 perent of his passes. Carr has solid, but not great size (6’3″) and a good athlete, but he’ll have to play better against the toughest competition. Carr’s two worst games last year were against Nebraska and Boise State–and it looked ugly against Boise State. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it is David Carr’s younger brother.
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