2022 NFL Draft notes, College Football, Week 5

More Need-to-Know stuff in regards to next year's draft.

College Football / 2022 NFL Draft Thoughts

• Players of the Week for Week 4 in the MAC: QB Matt McDonald, Bowling Green; LB Brock Horne, Bowling Green; QB Rocky Lombardi, NIU; Qb Ben Bryant, Eastern Michigan; DL Ali Fayad, Western Michigan.

• Bowling Green’s massive upset over Minnesota was led by it’s defense, and the defense was led by LB Brock Horne: 9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TF.

• A scouting profile on Arkansas WR Treylon Burks. Here’s what MIP Scouting had to say:

  If you follow the talking heads that cover the NFL draft, you will see Burks mocked anywhere from the late first round to the mid second round. I myself have been high on Burks ranking him as my WR4 and 21st overall prospect in my preseason big board. By the time I update that big board at the halfway point of the season, he will be much higher.
  If Burks rises to the occasion against the #2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs vaunted defense, he will be firmly inside of the top 20; and possibly WR1 in the 2022 draft. Any team with a need at wide receiver will find Burks as intriguing as any prospect in the country. I can only hope my Philadelphia Eagles are in striking distance to use one of their many high draft picks to pair him with DeVonta Smith.

• Pac-12 Players of the Week: RB B.J. Baylor, Oregon State won the award for offense. Also nominated were UCLA WR Kyle Philips, ASU QB Jayden Daniels, Utah RB TJ Pledger, Arizona RB Drake Anderson, Oregon QB Anthony Brown, and Stanford QB Tanner McKee.

• Oregon S Bennett Williams won the award for defense. I mentioned that the Ducks might have the most NFL players in the Pac-12, if not contending for the most period, and we didn’t even mention Williams. That’s because prior to 2021, Bennett Williams had only played in seven games over three years. The former Illinois transfer is just getting his feet wet and he’s eligible to return in 2022.

• Also nominated: LB Avery Roberts, OSU; LB Devin Lloyd, Utah; CB Kyler Gordon, UW; EDGE Ron Stone, WSU; DB Qwuantrezz Knight, UCLA; and LB Kyle Soelle, ASU.

• Kyle Philips won Special Teamer of the week. He’s an NFL prospect, no doubt about it.

• Oregon State C Nathan Eldridge won OL of the week, helping OSU rush for 322 yards against USC. Eldridge went to Arizona, started as a freshman, then again in 2017, got hurt, transferred to Oregon State in 2019, and he’s been the starter since. Maybe Eldridge is a prospect?

• Arizona G Donovan Laie, Arizona State C Dohnovan West, and Oregon G T.J. Bass were nominated. We mentioned all those guys in the Pac-12 post.

• DL of the Week: DE Van Fillinger, Utah, who had three sacks against WSU. Also nominated: OLB Ryan Bowman, UW; Mo Diallo, AZ; DL Keonte Schad, Oregon State; DT Brandon Dorlus, Oregon; DE Thomas Booker, Stanford; DL Anthonie Cooper, ASU; EDGE Ron Stone, WSU.

• Pac-12 Freshman: LB Karene Reid, Utah. His 15 tackles was the most by a freshman at the FBS level this season.

• All of the Pac-12 weekly winners so far:

  

• Here’s an argument for Jake Haener’s Heisman bid and…not a single mention of Grayson McCall. To be clear: McCall’s team is ranked higher, Fresno State is not a “Power 5” school either, and McCall leads the nation in comp%, y/a, and passer rating.

• How Arkansas revived its football program, via FiveThirtyEight.

• Alabama true freshman CB “Kool-Aid” McKinstry signed an NIL deal with…Kool-Aid.

• McKinstry and Jojo Earle, who I wrote about on here recently, are listed on this article of 247’s top true freshman so far this season. So is Georgia TE Brock Bowers, Oklahoma NB Billy Bowman, Florida CB Jason Marshall, Ohio State RB Treveyon Henderson, Oklahoma State WR Jaden Bray, UCLA DB Devin Kirkwood, Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter, Texas WR Xavier Worthy.

• FiveThirtyEight projects Coastal Carolina to have a 22-percent chance of going undefeated, but only a 3.5-percent chance of making it to the CFP.

• I haven’t posted my Week 5 QB rankings yet, but here is a post ranking them at USAToday. Their list includes players who won’t be eligible in 2022, while mine doesn’t, so that is one difference: Bryce Young, Alabama, Matt Corral, Ole Miss, J.T. Daniels, Georgia, Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati, Kenny Pickett, Pitt, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA, Jake Haener, Fresno State, Tanner Mordecai, SMU, Sam Hartman, Wake Forest, and Sean Clifford, Penn State.

• I honestly would have never guessed that if Grayson McCall had led Coastal to a top-15 ranking and leading the nation in so many categories, I still wouldn’t be seeing him get the respect and acknowledgment he deserves for it. I don’t know why people keep doing this to McCall — he’s been overlooked since his H.S. days — but I think it is only a matter of time. The media is going to point to Kenny Pickett this week, maybe Mordecai next week, and Hartman the week after that…but eventually trust me, they’ll find out what we already know.

Now I’ll get to my QB rankings….

Kenneth