2022 NFL Mock Draft and NCAA College football notes from Week 2
2022 NFL Mock Draft and NCAA College football notes from Week 2
What happened in college and what will happen in the draft?
More College Football Thoughts
Arkansas trolling:
Players of the Week: QB Matt Corral and Arkansas LB Hayden Henry. Arkansas entered the top-25 at 20th this week. Henry had 15 tackles, 2.5 TFL in a win over Texas. Henry used his extra year of eligibility to come back for another year and he probably wasn’t a draft prospect, as he was only a backup prior to now. He may have been a special teams player consideration in the NFL. This helps him a little bit in that regard.
Jacksonville State’s insane win over Florida State:
A story on the comeback and hail mary victory.
LB Nate Landman, Colorado:
Landman recorded 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 passes defensed, but it was his leadership that stood out most. His film study shows up on a weekly basis for Colorado, and he tends to know what the opposing offense is doing before anyone else. He showed great communication to his teammates, which played a huge role in stifling Texas A&M’s offense this weekend.
S Matt Hankins, Iowa, LB Cameron Goode, Cal, WR Calvin Austin, Memphis, RB Jerome Ford, Cin, RB CJ Verdell, Oregon, QB Seth Henigan, Memphis also made the list.
QB Grayson McCall leads the country in Y/A and adjusted Y/A and passing efficiency….by a lot.
Ole Miss WR Dontario Drummond replaced Elijah Moore as the slot receiver and through two games he has 15 catches for 284 yards and three TDs. Drummond was a transfer from East Mississippi Community College and he’s 6’1, 220 lbs.
Memphis WR Calvin Austin III is 5’9, 165 lbs, and he has 12 catches for 286 yards, four TDs through two games. Austin had 1,053 yards and 11 TDs as a junior in 2020. He’s a track star, so speed is “probable.”
2022 NFL Mock Draft…we haven’t gone over one of these in a while. Here’s one from CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson and I’m happy to say I’m now actually familiar with many of these players thanks to writing this blog. So thank you for reading it so that I was motivated to keep it.
Wilson has Carson Strong going first and while I do have McCall ranked first, I also accept and acknowledge that right now nobody agrees with me. And I also acknowledge that maybe the NFL won’t agree! But I’ve had Strong as my number two for a while and so any time he’s ranked first, I still kind of agree with it.
Wilson has Alabama OL Evan Neal (6’7, 350 lbs) going third.
Notre Dame S Kyle Hamilton goes fourth. Hamilton had two TFL in Notre Dame’s most recent game against Toledo.
LSU CB Derek Stingley, Jr. has long been considered a top-5 talent, but I read someone’s criticism of him on reddit this year (and posted it somewhere here) and it stuck with me. And an SEC Network host ripped him for how he played in LSU’s loss to UCLA. It hasn’t been a strong start for anybody on LSU really.
Texas A&M G Kenyon Green (6’4, 325 lbs) goes seventh.
A player I’m not yet that familiar with is LB Kingsley Enagbare out of South Carolina, who goes 10th here. Enagbare had two sacks in the most recent game against East Carolina. He had six sacks in eight games last season. Highly-ranked recruit, was in the same top-10 for pass rushers as Odafe Owe in 2018.
Iowa C/G Tyler Linderbaum goes 13th and he’s 6’3, 290 lbs.
Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson has 3.5 sacks in the first two games against Western Michigan and Washington. He’s a top-15 pick in this mock.
WR Treylon Burks of Arkansas was insanely productive in a lot of games last year but has 10 catches for only 79 yards in two games this year.
I’m not yet familiar with DB Derion Kendrick out of Georgia, but I am familiar with the splendid marks for Georgia’s recent recruiting.
Well, well, well…. he wasn’t recruited by Georgia. Kendrick was actually an elite five-star wide receiver prospect out of South Carolina and he went to Clemson initially. As a sophomore, he temporarily played some cornerback but was so good that he became a starter immediately. He was named All-ACC in 2020 but transferred to Georgia and is starting on the number one defense. When it comes to the draft, his 2021 arrest for “gun and drug violations” will become a talking point among coaches and media.
NC State T Ikem Ekwonu goes 24th in the mock draft. Yes, I’m intentionally listening all of the offensive linemen, otherwise won’t you just forget their names?
Cincinnati DE Myjai Sanders is 6’5, 255 lbs, and he goes 26th. Sanders had 10.5 TFL and seven sacks in 2020, but none yet in 2021.
Georgia LB Nakobe Dean is 28th on the mock. As I kind of expected when I saw the low sack totals prior to 2021, Dean was a five-star elite prospect and number one in the state of Mississippi in 2019. He had two sacks against Clemson in Week 1.
Minnesota tackle Daniel Faalele is 6’9, between 380 and 400 lbs, was born in Melbourne, Australia, and after opting out in 2020 could be a first round pick in 2022. Started playing football in 2017.
First RB is Isaiah Spiller at 30.
First Washington defensive player is DB Trent McDuffie, who goes 31st. Another cornerback, Ahmad Gardner of Cincinnati, goes 32nd. That’s not the first Cincinnati defensive player in this mock.
It is the end of it however.
Wow, Yahoo Sports Eric Edholm just put Grayson McCall in his QB rankings, tied for 10th and final spot with Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Is this the beginning?
Ed Helms also mentioned QB Kaleb Eleby, Western Michigan and that’s my first acknowledgment of Eleby. He did have McCall-like numbers at Western Michigan in 2020: 11.2 Y/A, 18 TD, 2 INT.
In this ProFootballNetwork mock draft, Clemson CB Andrew Booth goes fifth overall. Rare territory for a corner. More shocking: Kentucky QB Will Levis goes 12th. This is the first time I’m seeing Levis get any first round mention and I had only been including him on my top-25 because, well, there’s 25 spots! I guess I’ll have to keep a closer eye on him.
Nicholas Petit-Frere, OT, Ohio State goes in the first round mock. So does Michigan S Daxton Hill. Texas Tech WR Erik Ezukanma is in the first round here and Ezukanma currently leads the nation in receiving yardage. Obvious skepticism: at Texas Tech. First mention here of DL Colby Wooden of Auburn. And QB Bo Nix goes 31st. PFN says, “We don’t think he’s rated this highly yet” and we know that’s true. I’m just not sure how he’ll ever fix what he needs to fix to become a first round pick.
CBS Sports compares Carson Strong to 2020 Burrow or 2021 Wilson, but I just can’t see how that’s true. Strong has long been among the leaders to be the first QB drafted. Grayson McCall is the “out of nowhere” QB prospect. He’s not the only one, but at least he’d be a candidate. Strong was a two-star prospect in 2018 but this is his third year as Nevada’s starter and he’s clearly been on the radar since his redshirt freshman season. Even CBS says they had Strong going ninth in their first mock draft of the year.
More on Daxton Hill:
Hill (6-foot-0, 195 pounds) is a pure free safety with the coverage skills to play in the slot and potentially at outside corner. Not only does Hill possess 4.3-second speed, but he is a sure tackler who is comfortable operating in space. His ability to be a hybrid player would be awfully appealing for Lions’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who has a history of developing position versatile defensive backs.
More top-25 teams have lost in the first two weeks than ever before. My first thought is “How much does this have to do with super seniors and the added year of eligibility?” as well as the transfer portal.
I’ll be back with more soon.