#1 MICHIGAN versus #4 ALABAMA; 5 PM ET; ESPN: It really doesn’t get much better than this in college football with two of the games longtime powerhouses going at in the Rose Bowl for the right to play in next week’s national championship. Of course, Alabama has been a regular in the national title game in recent years, while Michigan is still desperately trying to get over the hump. It certainly also should be an interesting afternoon/evening for pro scouts with all kinds of top prospects on display. And no one will be more under the microscope in the Rose Bowl than Wolverines QB J.J. McCarthy (#9, 6-2, 205), who has another opportunity to show pro scouts that he is more than just a very efficient game manager who lacks elite physical tools. In fact, Michigan doesn’t appear to have anyone who is necessarily a lock to be picked in this year’s first round, although both DT Kris Jenkins (#94, 6-2, 305) and rising WR Roman Wilson (#1, 6-0, 195) are close along with McCarthy. Michigan, though, does feature one of the best RB tandems in the country in Blake Corum (#2, 5-8, 215), who has made a nice comeback from a knee injury last season, and Donovan Edwards (#7, 6-0, 210) who is arguably the better athlete, but whose carries are way down this fall with Corum back in uniform. The Wolverines also have one of the better interior line groups around including veteran OG Trevor Keegan (#77, 6-5, 320) and C Drake Nugent (#60, 6-2, 305), but the loss of OG Zak Zinter (#65, 6-5, 325), the unit’s best player, to a gruesome leg injury in last month’s win over arch-rival Ohio State thins out the unit. The Wolverines also have a solid pair of ILB’s in Junior Colson (#25, 6-2, 245) and Mike Barrett (#23, 6-0, 240) who are 1-2 on the team in tackles, although neither makes a lot of impact plays. Meanwhile, other Michigan players to watch include WR Cornelius Johnson (#6, 6-2, 210), OT LaDarius Henderson (#73, 6-4, 315), DT Karsen Barnhart (#52, 6-5, 315), DE Josaiah Stewart (#5, 6-1, 245), and DB Mike Sainistril (#0, 5-10, 180)
While Alabama won yet another conference championship this year, it has not necessarily been the kind of dominating season that people have come to expect in Tuscaloosa. However, the Tide, who have had at least one player selected in the opening round for a record 15 straight years as well as at least one top ten pick in each of the past 5 years, still figure to be a major player at the 2024 draft. In fact, there is every chance in the world that Alabama will be back in the top ten again this coming spring as they have at least a couple of prospects with top 10 potential in ER Dallas Turner (#15, 6-4, 245) and CB Kool-Aid McKinstry (#1, 6-0, 195), both of whom are currently considered to be the top prospects at their respective positions, while hulking OT JC Latham (#65, 6-5, 360), CB Terrion Arnold (#3, 6-0, 195), and LB Chris Braswell (#41, 6-2, 255) may not be all far behind. Meanwhile DE Justin Eboigbe (#92, 6-4, 295), TE CJ Dippre (#81, 6-5, 260), RB Jase McClellan (#2, 5-11, 215), WR Jermaine Burton (#3, 6-0, 195), S Jaylen Key (#6, 6-1, 210) and NB Malachi Moore (#13, 6-0, 200) are all later round candidates, although truth be told, the Alabama draft class won’t necessarily have the same kind of depth it has had in recent years. While it hasn’t always been pretty for Alabama this fall, the Tide has played much better of late thanks in large part to improvement in the play of QB Jalen Milroe (#4, 6-2, 220), an athletic dual-threat type who completed 66% of his passes this fall, including 23 for scores, while running for another 12 scores.
