Texas A&M Aggies vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs NFL Draft Prospect Watch
Oct 20, 2012; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A
This is a big Saturday for college football fans, especially fans in the SEC. To start off a great slate of games, we have Texas A&M vs. Mississippi State, which promises to be an exciting matchup.
Mississippi State was clobbered last week by the Alabama Crimson Tide, while Texas A&M embarrassed Auburn. The Mississippi State defense is led by cornerback Johnthan Banks, who is considered one of the best corners in the country. Texas A&M boasts a high-powered offensive attack, but their best prospect may be pass rusher Damontre Moore, who is having a monster season.
We have an inside look at each team’s top prospects for the 2013 NFL Draft here at NFL Mocks:
Here is a preview of the kind of analysis you’ll be getting:
13 Johnthan Banks, Cornerback, Senior 6’1″ 185 pounds
Johnthan Banks is probably one of if not the top cornerback prospect available in the entire crop of players available in 2013. He has height, weight, speed, and he can really do it all. He’s a leader on the Mississippi State defense, a team that is competing for a national title in 2012. He has excellent length and overall quickness, but it’s his ability to create turnovers that will attract NFL scouts the most. Banks forced three fumbled and picked off five passes as a junior when he could have easily declared for the draft and been one of the first CBs taken, and as a senior, he already has four interceptions. He’s been playing well since he was a freshman, where he wasn’t a highly recruited player but has always overachieved and become one of the top defenders in the nation. As a freshman, he had four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. On his career, he has picked off 16 passes and counting, and he really offers some versatility in terms of his ability to return punts and play multiple positions on the defense. You kind of get a “poor man’s” Charles Woodson vibe out of him. He can make plays all over the field, and I think he’ll hear his name called in the first 32 picks barring some kind of injury.