Go pro young man … Every year there is something of a debate around the NFL whether as a general principle, so many underclassmen should be turning pro with college eligibility still on the books. The results from the 2018 draft offer something of a mixed bag of support. On the one hand, this year’s opening round was dominated by underclassmen as 7 of the first 10 players selected this year were underclassmen as were 22 of the 32 players chosen in the opening round. Overall, a total of 81 juniors and redshirt sophomores were selected this past weekend accounting for just over 30% of all players taken this week. At the same time, almost one in three of the 123 underclassmen who entered this year’s draft were not selected at all. And while some of the 42 not selected were relative unknowns who were fringe prospects at best, a rather shocking number of underclassmen who figured to be taken at least somewhere in the 7 rounds were not selected at all including Arkansas QB Kyle Allen; Notre Dame RB Josh Adams; WRs Simmie Cobbs of Indiana, USC’s Deontay Burnett, Byron Pringle of Kansas State, and Korey Robertson of Southern Miss; Clemson OG Taylor Hearn; Washington State ER Hercules Mata’afa; Georgia DT Trenton Thompson; and CBs Kevin Toliver of LSU, Florida State’s Tarvarus McFadden, and Holton Hill of Texas. Of course, those players are now likely to be signed as free agents, but it would be nice to see them have the option of returning to school. Meanwhile, several other top junior prospects including Texas OT Connor Williams, LSU ER Arden Key, LSU RB Derrius Guice, Kansas DE Dorance Armstrong, Notre Dame WR Equanimeous St Brown, Clemson WR Deon Cain and Florida State DE Josh Sweat each went considerably later than they probably thought they would go when they originally entered the draft.
