Buckeyes-Missou in Cotton classic … Friday’s Cotton Bowl (8 PM ET; ESPN) between Ohio State and Missouri could just as well be called the ‘will he or won’t he’ bowl with the HE played by Buckeyes’ star WR Marvin Harrison (#18, 6-4, 205), the consensus best non-QB prospect in the entire draft class who isn’t likely to make it must past the 3rd or 4th pick overall next April who is with the team in Dallas, but not really practising and in fact has yet to declare for the upcoming draft. However, while we’ll have to wait until closer to KO on Friday to know whether Harrison will play – and the expectation is that he won’t just about every other Buckeyes’ prospects could be in uniform including WR Emeka Egbuka (#2, 6-1, 210), another first-round candidate, who struggled down the stretch after undergoing surgery for an ankle injury, but is now reportedly pretty close to 100%. And he should be joined in the Ohio State line-up by RB Tre’Veyon Henderson (#32, 5-10, 215), who should be one of the first RBs off the board next April if he declares, DEs J.T. Tuimoloau (#44, 6-4, 275) and Jack Sawyer (#33, 6-4, 265), DTs Michael Hall (#51, 6-2, 290) and Tyleik Williams (#91, 6-2, 290), LBs Tommie Eichenberg (#35, 6-2, 240) and Steele Chambers (#22, 6-1, 235), CB Denzel Burke (#10, 6-1, 195), S Josh Proctor (#41, 6-1, 205), TE Cade Stover (#8, 6-4, 255), and OGs Donovan Jackson (#74, 6-3, 320) and Matt Jones (#55, 6-3, 315).
There is a similar story for Missouri, one of the great stories in college football as the Tigers won ten games to rank 9th on the season and make a big-time bowl for just the third time since the mid-1960s. Unfortunately, neither star CB Ennis Rakestraw nor LB Ty’ron Hopper will be able to play because of injuries but otherwise it appears that it will be all hands on deck for the Tigers. That includes RB RB Cody Schrader (#7, 5-9, 215), arguably the best individual story in college football as the transfer from DII Truman State ended up a consensus All-American after he ran for almost 1,500 yards. The Tigers best prospects for 2024 though are rising CB Kris Abrams-Draine (#7, 5-11, 170) who isn’t all that big, but is a ball-hawker, OT Javon Foster (#76, 6-5, 320) and rugged DE Darius Robinson (#6, 6-5, 300) who can get after the QB, while QB Brady Cook (#12, 6-2, 205) is a steady veteran who does a nice job running the Tigers’ wide-open offence that also includes sophomore WR Luther Burden (#3, 5-11, 215) one of the best young players in the country who had 1,200 receiving yards this season, but won’t be draft eligible until 2025.
