#1 ALABAMA at #11 FLORIDA; 3:30 PM ET, CBS … The SEC schedule gets off with a bang with defending national champion Alabama travelling to Florida to take on the 11th ranked Gators. Alabama did take some hits this year after 6 former Tide players were selected within the first 24 picks at the 2021 draft, including QB Mac Jones. But this is Alabama which doesn’t rebuild, just reloads. And reload they have done starting with true sophomore QB Bryce Young (#2, 5-10, 195) who is already generating some Heisman chatter after taking over for Jones.
And the Tide will almost assuredly make it 14 years in a row with at least one player selected in the opening round this coming April, although Alabama may not produce the record number of early picks that we saw in the past 2-3 years. Massive LT Evan Neal (#73, 6-6, 350), in particular, looks to be a first round lock; in fact, he may be a top 10 lock. Meanwhile, both veteran ILB Christian Harris (#8, 6-2, 235) and sophomore OLB Will Anderson (#31, 6-4, 235) are both mid-first round candidates, while Canadian WR Jon Metchie (#8, 6-0, 195), safety Jordan Battle (#9, 6-0, 210), DT D.J. Dale (#94, 6-3, 310), DE LaBryan Ray (#18, 6-5, 295), CB Josh Jobe (#28, 6-0, 195), and TE Jahleel Billingsley (#19, 6-4, 230) are all solid second day prospects.
Florida is also reloading at QB with the graduation of long-time starter Kyle Trask, but don’t have quite the riches at the position as Alabama and in fact likely will rotate junior Emory Jones (#5,6-2, 200) and redshirt freshman Anthony Richardson (#2, 6-3, 225) until one claims the job. While the Gators try and figure that out, they do have one elite prospect for the upcoming draft in CB Kaair Elam (#5, 6-1, 195), a top 15 candidate with nice length who is generally considered to be the #2 corner in this year’s draft class after LSU’s Derek Stingley. Meanwhile, other Gators to watch include OLB Brenton Cox (#1, 6-4, 250), and DE Zachary Carter (#6, 6-3, 275).
SOUTH CAROLINA at #2 GEORGIA; 7 PM ET; ESPN … Georgia will obviously be heavily favored in their conference opener against South Carolina, but it will actually be one of the Gamecocks – DE Kingsley Enagbare (#52, 6-4, 260) – one of the top emerging edge rushers in this year’s draft class who had 6 sacks in 8 games last fall and is 2 for 2 so far this year.
PURDUE at #12 NOTRE DAME; 2:30 PM ET; NBC … And speaking of defense you get a twofer when Purdue travels to Notre Dame to renew that old in-state derby. Indeed, both teams have potential top 10 picks in All-American safety Kyle Hamilton (#14, 6-3, 220) of the Irish and Boilermaker DE George Karlaftis (#5, 6-4, 275). Hamilton, who is built more like a LB, but has sideline-to-sideline range, is considered to be one of the top half dozen or so prospects overall for the upcoming draft, while Karlaftis is another emerging edge rusher.
