#38 DANIEL CARLSON K AUBURN 6’4/218 Great kickers come along about once a decade, if that. Just look around the NFL at the multiple teams who bring in 2-3 kickers per season in an attempt to shore up their K slot. CARLSON is this decade’s Star Kicker. He has the leg, the form, the psyche to withstand the… Read More »
#8 BRAXTON BERRIOS WR/RS MIAMI (F). 5’9/186 The time has come to accept the reality that between quickness and good hands almost every NFL roster has room for 1 or 2 “slot-type” receivers/return men on their roster. Used in a creative scheme they are just too productive and clutch to discount because they are 5’11 or shorter. BERRIOS… Read More »
#20 OREN BURKS OB VANDERBILT 6’3/230. You have to be a real Draftnik to really know much about BURKS, but I highly recommend you watch him in action for the Commodores as the season progresses. BURKS has toiled in relative obscurity but has been a significant factor in making the Vandy team competitive in the tough SEC. He’s… Read More »
SAQUON BARKLEY/RB #26 PENN STATE 5’11/228 JR. My first thought watching the Iowa game was what a great player BARKLEY is. My second thought was that JAMES FRANKLIN is going to use him up by sometime in late October. How can BARKLEY not declare for the 2018 NFL Draft before he’s beaten to a pulp? This guy is… Read More »
Happy to say that I got power back in time to watch pretty much a full slate of games last weekend. It was another week of solid game match-ups and some significant performances by 2018 NFL Draft prospects. Here are some notables from games I was able to watch. DEONTAY BURNETT/WR #80 SOUTHERN CAL 6’0/175 JR Please allow… Read More »
#1 JERMAINE CARTER LB 6’0/235 MARYLAND CARTER returned to the Terps this past Spring with a slimmed down body and seriously improved speed in pads. He is a o-it-all LB who can blitz, drop in coverage and his coaches wisely use him in multiple locations and roles. He needs to improve his wrap-up tackling skills. Right now he… Read More »
Just when you thought we might be through with prospect thumbnails I have dusted off my notes from the second half of the Bowl season. By this time next week I’ll be deeply immersed in prep work for Shrine Week. But I did find some impressive work from prospects during the past couple of weeks, and wanted to… Read More »
It’s our last chance to see prospects in live game action as the Bowl season trudges on. In some cases the games are bereft of serious prospects to thumbnail because almost 150 were done during the regular season play. But in some cases there are also previously injured players who are returning to action. On the downside the… Read More »
This pretty much wraps up our weekly prospect thumbnails of the week since the 2016 College football season is now over. But wait, in a couple of weeks the Bowl season gets underway and will provide us with more prospect play to review. TARELL BASHAM/DE/OHIO 6’4/265 OHIO #93 There may be almost as many questions about BASHAM’s pro… Read More »
DANIEL CARLSON/PK/AUBURN 6’4/215 #38 JR It is not very often that I look to Kicker underclassmen as prospects for declaring early for the NFL Draft, but after watching CARLSON again this season I think he is as close to being a dominant player at the position as we can get right now. And for way too many NFL… Read More »
DANTE BARNETT/S/KANSAS STATE 6’1/195 #22 Team leader who lost his 2015 season to a shoulder injury in Sept. He was 2nd Team All Big-12 back in 2014. Is back looking as good as ever. He is a fine all-around player who is effective in coverage and is aggressive in run support. He’s always around or on his way… Read More »
BRANDON BELL/LB/PENN STATE 6’1/233 #11 One has to start to pay attention to a school’s players when the team wins on a regular basis, and is a Top 15 team in weekly polls. So I decided to really concentrate on one of Penn State’s most productive defenders in BELL. I taped the game and then checked the stat… Read More »
RODNEY ADAMS/WR/SOUTH FLORIDA 6’1/190 #87 This guy doesn’t put up huge catch numbers because he plays in an Offense where the QB is their best run option. So passing plays quickly turn into running plays when QB/FLOWERS takes off. But when you watch him for a whole game, as I did against NAVY his size and smooth running… Read More »
RYAN ANDERSON/ER/LB/ALABAMA #22 6’2/253 Much of what I have to say about ANDERSON as a prospect is similar to what I have said previously about TIM WILLIAMS his Alabama teammate. His two biggest attributes are ball pursuit and pass-rush pressure both of which he does with extreme speed and energy for a guy his size. I’m still not… Read More »
DALVIN COOK/RB/FLORIDA STATE #4 5’11/206 JR May be the most explosive RB prospect in college football. Has great burst to and through the hole. Once under way he shows excellent balance powered by legs that never stop moving. Has good strength for his size. Despite a bad drop on a screen pass in the 1st Quarter, he normally… Read More »
Now that Hurricane Matthew has ended his unwelcome visit to Florida I am getting back on track and giving you 2 weeks of thumbnails in one column. I have indicated in each instance what game performance I am referring to. BEN BOULWARE/ILB/CLEMSON #10 5’11/235 Another example of a less than ideal athlete who is too hard core of… Read More »
KENDELL BECKWITH/ILB/LSU #52 6’3/247 Another tackling machine from the LSU program, but in this case he’s a full sized ILB. Second leading tackler on the 2015 team, 2nd to NFL draftee DEION JONES. He looks to be well on his way to leading the team in tackles this season. He was all over the field in the loss… Read More »
Once again some rather surprising results came rolling in off the scoreboard wire this week in College Football. Notre Dame & Oklahoma can be crossed off your Top 10 list for this season. And when was the last time that all 3 service academies were undefeated thru Week 3? Now let’s get on to some player evaluation thumb-nails.… Read More »
JONATHAN ALLEN/DE #93 6’3/294 ALABAMA The Crimson Tide looks like a serious contender for a national title once again after 2 convincing victories to open the year. And their Defense will be expected to carry the bulk of the load as usual as a new QB is broken in … again. Now here is the real surprise, despite… Read More »
#4 CHDOBE AWUZIE/CB COLORADO 6’0/205 Might be the best senior prospect that hardly anyone knows about. He has excellent speed and agility for his size and hits like a ton as a sure tackler. His stats from 2015 give you idea how versatile his skill set is. He had 84 tackles, 4 sacks, 8 TFL, 2 INT &… Read More »
GERONIMO ALLISON/WR/ILLINOIS 6’4/200 #4 Much like his Apache Chief namesake, who kept the US/Mexican cavalries chasing him around, opposing secondaries spend a lot of time on gameday trying to keep this wily WR under control. The JC transfer caught 41 balls last season for the ILLINI, and already has 40 catches through 6 games in 2015. He has… Read More »
I still have at least a dozen Bowl Games recorded so you can count on several more prospect reports over the next few weeks until I head over to St. Pete to watch Shrine action. Here are a bakers dozen additional prospects Who Caught My Eye. MICKEY BAUCUS/T/ARIZONA/6’7/305 #68 BAUCUS recorded his 52nd career start in the Fiesta… Read More »
‘BUCK’ ALLEN RB SOUTHERN CAL JR 6’1/215 #37 vs Nebraska/Holiday Bowl … It seems hard to believe in this day and age that any college players fly under the perverbial radar just because they play most of their games when folks East of the Mississippi River are in bed. But how else do we explain the seeming indifference… Read More »
We are not far at all from the Bowl Season, but lack of college game action this past Saturday made me hungry for more. So I dug into my game recording archives and unused game notes to conjure up a few more 2015 Draft prospect thumbnails for your perusal. DAVID ANDREWS/OC/GEORGIA #61 6’2/295 … It takes more than… Read More »
SAM ARNESON/TE/WISCONSIN #49 6’4/250 … This just in… the Badgers have an NFL TE prospect for the next NFL Draft. Well, that shouldn’t be a bulletin in light of names like DANIELS, GRAHAM, KENDRICKS, etc. But it is news of a sort because ARNESON is a true inline, blocking TE, who can catch the ball in his spare… Read More »
