New Years Eve bowls

December 30, 2014

New Year’s Eve

#9 MISSISSIPPI (9-3) vs. #6 TEXAS CHRISTIAN (11-1); Peach Bowl; Atlanta; 12:30 PM ET; ESPN … Pretty good game to start your New Year’s Eve celebrations with a couple of Top 10 teams with a little something to prove. Ole Miss, for example, had visions of playing for the national championship after upsetting Alabama earlier in the season, but kind of ran out of gas down the stretch. Meanwhile, TCU is still seething about the fact that the once-beaten Horned Frogs went from 3rd in the national playoff standings to 6th – and on the outside looking in – on the final week of the year, all that despite winning their season finale by 52 points. Unfortunately, while the game could be very competitive, neither team is exactly loaded with top prospects for the 2015 draft. In fact, neither team has anyone close to being a first round candidate for 2015, although Ole Miss at least has a couple of DBs with second-day potential in FS Cody Prewiit (#25, 6-2, 215) and ball-hawking CB Senquez Golson (#21, 5-9, 180). The Rebels also have several later roud prospects including veteran QB Bo Wallace (#14, 6-3, 205) and DB Serderius Bryant (#14, 5-9, 185). However, Ole Miss does have several future first-round candidates in LT Laremy Tunsil (#78, 6-5, 315) and DT Robert Nkemdiche (#5, 6-4, 280), although the NFL will have to wait at least a year as both are true sophomores.

TCU is even less likely than Ole Miss to have anyone selected at this year’s draft until the third-day, however, the Horned Frogs may still have the best player on the field in junior QB Trevone Boykin (#2, 6-1, 215), an athletic dual-threat who threw for over 3,700 yards and 30 scores this fall, while running for another 642 yards and 8 scores; however, Boykin may not have the prototype size and arm strength to rate as more than a marginal pro prospect at the position, but will enter the 2015 college season as one of the early Heisman Trophy favorites. Boykin’s favorite target is junior WR John Dotson (#9, 6-3, 190) who could be a bit of a sleeper if he were to enter this year’s draft. And while they don’t have much in the way of top senior talent for the upcoming draft, the Frogs do have a number of solid mid-round types including DT Chuckie Hunter (#96, 6-1, 300), CB Kevin White (#25, 5-9, 175), OLB Paul Dawson (#47, 6-2, 230), SS Sam Carter (#17, 6-1, 215), and OT Tayo Fabuluje (#58, 6-6, 315).

#20 BOISE STATE (11-2) vs. #10 ARIZONA (11-2); Fiesta Bowl; 4 PM ET; ESPN … You know something’s changed when they play a ‘BCS’ game on New Year’s Eve. Indeed, you know something’s changed when they play a ‘BCS’ game between Boise State and Arizona. And you’ll know things have really changed when they play a ‘BCS’ game and nobody cares. Welcome to the brave new world of playoff college football! And to complicate matters in this particular game is that there also really isn’t much in the way of 2015 draft talent. Indeed, Boise State junior RB Jay Ajayi (#27, 5-11, 220), who has already declared for the draft, is the only player on either team that looks to be a sure first or second day pick. Ajayi, though, is good one with second round potential who had over 2,200 yards from scrimmage this past season when he ran for almost 1,700 yards and 25 TDs and added another 536 yards and 4 scores on 45 receptions. Ajayi will be going up against Arizona sophomore MLB Scooby Wright (#33, 6-1, 245), arguably the most impact defensive player in the country this season when he had 153 tackles including 14 sacks and 14 other tackles for loss; as a true soph, though, Wright has at least one more year in Arizona. In fact, Arizona’s best players are underclassmen including redshirt freshman QB Anu Solomon (#12, 6-1, 200) and true freshman RB Nick Wilson (#28, 5-9, 200). However, Arizona does have at least one interesting senior prospect in WR Austin Hill (#29, 6-2, 210) who looked like an emerging elite prospect in 2012 when he caught 81 passes for almost 1,400 yards, but hasn’t been the same since suffering a serious knee injury prior to the start of the 2013 campaign. Hill, though, should still et some mid-round interest this coming May, while LT Mickey Baucus (#68, 6-7, 305) and safety Tra’mayne Bondurant (#21, 5-9, 200) are later round or free agent types.

#7 MISSISSIPPI STATE (10-2) vs. GEORGIA TECH (10-3); Orange Bowl; 8 PM ET; ESPN … New Year’s Eve wraps up with this year’s other non-playoff BCS bowl when Mississippi State plays Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl in one of football‘s most celebrated non-conference rivalries. Trust us; it really is! And what sets this year‘s Orange Bowl apart from the earlier bowls today is that it may actually have a potential first-round prospect for the upcoming draft in Mississippi State MLB Bernardrick McKinney (#50, 6-4, 245), a freakish athlete who the Bulldogs line up all over the field. Junior QB Dak Prescott (#15, 6-2, 225), a poor man’s version of Tim Tebow, but with a better arm, could also be an intriguing second round prospect for team’s looking for a developmental QB; developmental though could be the operative word as he really could stand another year in school to polish his skills. Mississippi State also has an underrated DE candidate in full-sized Preston Brown (#91,6-5, 270) who had 9 sacks this fall. Brown works on a unit that also includes veteran DT Kaleb Eulls (#92, 6-3, 305), another third-day prospect. Meanwhile, other Bulldogs with late-round or free agent grades include WR Jameon Lewis (#4, 5-9, 185), OG Ben Beckwith (#66, 6-3, 305), OT Blaine Clausell (#75, 6-6, 315), C Dillon Day (#63, 6-3, 300), and FS Justin Cox (#9, 6-2, 190). On the other hand, pro scouts will be excused if they go for a snack when Georgia Tech is on the field, as the Yellow Jackets have one of the thinnest potential draft classes of any program in the country outside the academies. Indeed, the only GT player even remotely close to being a draftable prospect is SS Isaiah Johnson (#1, 5-11, 195) and even he‘s barely a late-round candidate, while OG Shaq Mason (#70, 6-1, 310) and MLB Quayshawn Nealy (#54, 6-1, 236) could get a free agent call.