College Football Playoff: Scouting Alabama-Ohio State Sugar Bowl

The College Football Playoff is an excellent opportunity for NFL scouts to get a look at some of the best young prospects in the country on a big stage as always, none bigger than the Sugar Bowl with Alabama and Ohio State.

Neither team boasts a Heisman Trophy quarterback like Oregon and Florida State, but both have some phenomenal young talent in their own right. Alabama is led by the talented Amari Cooper and Landon Collins, a pair of players on either side of the football that could go in the top 10 of the draft.

Ohio State has some really intriguing players on the defensive front in Michael Bennett and Adolphus Washington, though this is a very young team that might not put a lot of guys in the league in 2015 but will be a pipeline in 2016 and beyond.

More from College Football

Also defensively for the Buckeyes is cornerback Doran Grant, (5’11” 195) who leads the team with five interceptions and nine passes broken up. Grant saw his first action as a full-time starter opposite Bradley Roby in 2013, and while he’s not what Roby was as a prospect, he’s a fine player who in the mid-rounds could provide a team with someone capable of starting at some point.

While Ohio State will have to wait another year to have a ton of guys on the immediate NFL Draft radar, Alabama has no such problem and rarely does these days with two top 10 prospect, and potentially four guys that could be picked in the first two rounds. Cooper and Collins are both excellent prospects at wide receiver and safety respectively, but Alabama also has running back T.J. Yeldon and offensive guard Arie Kouandjio.

The dropoff after that is pretty steep, but ‘Bama boasts a number of seniors that could be bottom of the roster NFL players, or possibly some sleepers late in the draft.

This game will be a showcase for Amari Cooper, the best wide receiver in the nation, going up against Doran Grant who has some nice skills as well. That matchup will be exploited one way or another by how well Alabama quarterback Blake Sims — one of those seniors who could be a sleeper — is able to get him involved early and often. Sims has had a great season, and in fact, this game is as much a showcase for his talents as it is for anyone else. Perhaps even more so for the signal caller, since his NFL stock is sort of on the fringe right now.

This is a really exciting matchup, one that fans won’t be disappointed in in terms of being able to evaluate some young talent. As for the game itself, Ohio State has to overcome all their quarterback injuries, which to this point they have done well. If Cardale Jones plays like he did in the Big Ten championship game, Alabama could get a run for its money.

Home/College Football