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Ross Blacklock locking in first-round status at Scouting Combine

By Sayre Bedinger

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - FEBRUARY 27: Ross Blacklock #DL02 of the TCU Horned Frogs speaks to the media on day three of the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 27, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - FEBRUARY 27: Ross Blacklock #DL02 of the TCU Horned Frogs speaks to the media on day three of the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 27, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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TCU defensive lineman Ross Blacklock could be locking in a first-round status with his work at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine.

The Scouting Combine is always a great way for prospects who aren’t getting enough national hype to get a spotlight for a few hours. It has proven to be particularly beneficial in this regard for TCU defensive lineman Ross Blacklock, one of the top interior defensive linemen in the 2020 NFL Draft that pretty much no one is talking about.

No one, that is, except NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1233862652071489538

Jeremiah has Blacklock as a top 20 player in this year’s class, and he certainly did nothing throughout his Combine workout to prove DJ wrong.

First and foremost, Blacklock’s 40-time of 4.91 (second attempt) at 6-foot-3, 290 pounds is absolutely outstanding.

Second, Blacklock’s field work was excellent and he showed off his quickness and explosiveness. Although he’s not receiving quite the same fanfare of other players in the class, Blacklock has one of the best first steps of any player in the class.

Over the last two seasons, he had 67 total tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks.

Blacklock’s career at TCU was a fairly short one after he starred his redshirt freshman season in 2017 after taking a redshirt in 2016. He then missed his sophomore season in 2018 with an Achilles injury during practice.

In 2019, he looked as explosive as ever and it’s apparent that he’s not lost any explosiveness from a pretty devastating injury.

Blacklock is firmly in the mix with other interior defenders like Derrick Brown out of Auburn and Javon Kinlaw out of South Carolina to be taken within the draft’s first 20 selections.

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Team’s needing a powerful, quick interior player who can play with leverage and make a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage will covet Blacklock somewhere in round one. His workout at the Combine showed the world what few have been saying — this guy is a first-round talent.

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