Bonus coverage … For those that didn’t get their fill of football on Thanksgiving Day and can’t wait for the really big college rivalry games Saturday including Ohio State at Michigan for all the marbles in the Big Ten East, there are a number of decent college games on Friday worth a look. It all starts with a Mountain West contest between #22 San Diego State and Boise State at Noon ET on CBS. (And for those that care about these things that’s actually a 10 AM KO local time.) Hopefully everyone gets an early wake up call as both teams have aspirations of making the conference final next weekend. San Diego State, in particular, has one of the deepest 2022 draft classes of any non-Power 5 team in the country outside Cincinnati. In fact, folks in the NFL scouting community can’t stop buzzing about SDSU P Matt Araiza (#2, 6-2, 200) who leads all of football this fall with a 51.8 yards per punt average, which if it holds up would set an NCAA single-season high. Araiza, who also kicks FGs, has 6 punts longer than 70 yards this fall, whereas no one else has more than two. He’s currently listed as the 55th best prospect overall on the GBN Big Board. And Araiza actually isn’t the Aztecs’ top-rated prospect. That honor belongs to rising DE Cameron Thomas (#99, 6-5, 270), who is among the top edge rushers in college football with 9.5 sacks; he’s currently #27 on the GBN board. Meanwhile, other SDSU players to watch with some later round potential include RB Greg Bell (#34, 5-11, 200), LT Zach Thomas (#76, 6-5, 300), TE Dan Bellinger (#88, 6-6, 255), DT Jonah Tavai (#66, 6-4, 305), LB Caden McDonald (#54, 6-3, 235), CB Tayler Hawkins (#9, 6-1, 205) and safety Trent Thompson (#18, 6-2, 200.) Meanwhile, Boise State isn’t likely to have anyone selected all that early this year, but might have a later prospect or two including WR Khalil Shakir (#2, 6-0, 190), LT John Ojukwu (#70, 6-5, 310), C Jake Stetz (#68, 6-2, 310), DE Shane Irwin (#55, 6-3, 260) and DB Kekaula Kaniho (#28, 5-10, 190).
