NFL Draft: 3 college football prospects to watch Thursday night

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ATLANTA, GA – JANUARY 07: Detail of the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy, along with the helmets of the 2 competing teams, University of Alabama (left) and University of Georgia (right) on January 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /

College Football is back, which also means the start of the NFL Draft evaluation season

College football and NFL Draft scouting season returns in whole this weekend and UCF will be the first ranked team to play a game this season. The “National Champions” will be one of 24 FBS teams on the field Thursday night along with storied programs such as Utah, Oklahoma State, Northwestern, and Texas A&M for NFL Draft evaluators to dive into.

Utah lost eight players to the NFL Draft two years ago and another one last year, while Oklahoma State lost quarterback Mason Rudolph to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We also get an early Big Ten showdown with Northwestern at Purdue and an AAC matchup with UConn hosting UCF.

Friday night the games get even better with three ranked teams (Stanford, Michigan State, Wisconsin) taking the field before the flood gates open Saturday afternoon. There we get two top-10 matchups with Washington at Auburn and Michigan at Notre Dame.

Week one of the college football season rounds out with Miami and LSU on Sunday and Virginia Tech at Florida State, all four being top-25 programs to start the season.

But as we start the season, here are three NFL Draft prospects to watch for on Thursday night in the motley of games available.

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