Bowl watch: December 20th

December 19, 2017

FRISCO BOWL: Southern Methodist (7-5) vs Louisiana Tech (6-6); 8 PM ET; ESPN

If they held a bowl in Frisco would anyone know where to go? I, for one, initially assumed the game was in San Francisco. Not so; it turns out, Frisco is a community north of Dallas. And indeed they are having a bowl game there this year cleverly called the Frisco Bowl between 7-5 Southern Methodist and 6-6 Louisiana Tech. Normally a bowl game between a couple of barely .500 teams from Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference wouldn’t draw a lot of pro scouts. These aren’t normal times though and this game actually offers up several very intriguing prospects starting with SMU junior WR Courtland Sutton (#16, 6-3, 220), potentially the first receiver to be selected at the 2018 draft. Sutton is a big receiver with the ability to stretch the field such that he could conceivably go as high as the top 10 this coming April if he runs well at pre-draft testing. For the record, Sutton averaged 16.4 yards on 62 receptions this fall including 12 for TDs. Amazingly, though, Sutton isn’t the Mustangs’ leading receiver; even more amazingly it’s not even close as fellow junior WR Trey Quinn (#18, 6-0, 205) led the entire country with 102 catches this fall, although he is more of a possession receiver who isn’t rated as highly by the NFL. For good measure, SMU also has an outstanding edge rusher in DE Justin Lawlor (#99, 6-4, 265), a late-round prospect who had 9.5 sacks this season. SMU also features a pretty good cover corner in junior Jordan Wyatt (#15, 6-0, 195), who had 4 picks this year, while C Evan Brown (#63, 6-3, 310) could get some premium free agent interest.

Louisiana Tech also has a very good edge rusher in junior DE Jaylon Ferguson (#45, 6-5, 270), who had 6 sacks this fall and could get some mid-round consideration this spring. The Bulldogs also have a solid safety in veteran SS Secdrick Cooper (#2, 6-0, 210), who could get some late-round interest this year, while RT Josh Outlaw (#58, 6-5, 310); RBs Jarred Craft (#3, 5-11, 222) and Boston Scott (#6, 5-6, 205); DE Del Cantry (#50, 6-2, 270); MLB Russ Farris (#51, 5-11, 235) and PK Jon Barnes (#10, 5-9, 185) are free agent candidates.