By Bob Sturm
Follow @sportssturm sturm1310@me.com
Today’s exercise during the bye week is draft related. So, for some of you, this is either a topic that is not interesting at all and for others, it is not interesting at this moment. I totally understand both groups who either ignore the draft until that weekend or at least wait until the Cowboys season is done.
But, for the many of us who really love the draft and try to follow it throughout the year, today’s list will hopefully be of interest to you.
Every year, I go through the exercise of trying to really study the top half of the draft. That means trying to formulate a personal opinion (not read a magazine review) by watching at least 3 games of each of the “Top 100″ players. You could try to do all 250, but I have too many other responsibilities to go deeper than the 1st 3 rounds.
Personally, I pick a player a day and try to see 200 snaps or so of him doing his job and then compare and contrast him with others in his positional group and by April, I hope to have some level of comprehension about the significant names in a draft. There are players on this list who will not get drafted, but we want to try not to miss to many who will.
So, in the previous summer and fall, all I am trying to do is collect names. This requires a fair amount of using resources – both available to the public and not – to cast a very wide net and list every player who seems to be in the mix for Rounds 1-3. Then, between the Bowl games and the NFL combine, we will chisel things down to eliminate those who are no longer on that radar (by consensus) and that is when we start breaking each player down as much as possible.
Again, it may not be the perfect system and I may not be a scout, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth learning these players for yourself (too many in the media just parrot what they read) and seeing if you can learn anything about what type of player they might be and how they might fit on your favorite team.
So, below, find the 165 players right now who at least one of my resources have indicated need to be considered for the “Top 100″ list. This is very early and players will come and go. Some on this list (Devonte Fields, Dorial Green-Beckham are two) haven’t even played this year. Others have played poorly. Others have been injured. Still others won’t enter the draft this spring and will stay in school. But, this is a very early rough draft of the names I will be looking at as we get to the Senior Bowl and beyond.
I also realize that there are other names who will be in the Top 100 who are not listed below, but not many. This is a pretty large group. And to this point, I have not started to work on more than 25 of these players, so we are far from rankings. But, this is a starting point for those of you who wish to browse the database while watching college football. Feel free to add more to the bottom and I will give them consideration for the December update.
Here are the 165 names we are looking at, listed by position:
Quarterbacks – 9
Petty, Bryce – Baylor
Carden, Shane – East Carolina
Winston, Jameis – Fla State
Cook, Connor – Mich St
Prescott, Dak – Miss St
Mannion, Sean – Ore State
Mariota, Marcus – Oregon
Hogan, Kevin – Stanford
Hundley, Brett – UCLA
Running Backs – 10
Yeldon, TJ – Alabama
Ajayi, Jay – Boise St
Williams, Karlos – Fla State
Gurley, Todd – Georgia
Coleman, Tevin – Indiana
Johnson, Duke – Miami
Abdullah, Ameer – Nebraska
Davis, Mike – So Carolina
Allen, Javorius – USC
Gordon, Melvin – Wisconsin
Wide Receivers – 23
Cooper, Amari – Alabama
Hill, Austin – Arizona
Strong, Jaelen – Arz State
Coates, Sammi – Auburn
Goodley, Antwan – Baylor
Norwood, Levi – Baylor
Davis, Titus – Central Mich
Hardy, Justin – E Carolina
Greene, Rashad – Florida State
Harper, Josh – Fresno St
Waller, Darren – Georgia Tech
Greenberry, Deontay – Houston
Lockett, Tyler – Kansas St
Parker, Devante – Louisville
Diggs, Stefon – Maryland
Dorsett, Phillip – Miami
Green-Beckham, D – Oklahoma
Montgomery, Ty – Stanford
Shipley, Jaxson – Texas
Agholor, Nelson – USC
Anderson, Dres – Utah
Williams, Kasen – Washington
White, Kevin – West Virgina
Tight Ends – 5
O’Leary, Nick – Florida State
Funchess, Devin – Michigan
Koyack, Ben – Notre Dame
Heuerman, Jeff – Ohio St
Kroft, Tyler – Rutgers
Center – 4
Dismukes, Reese – Auburn
Galik, Andy – Boston College
Finney, BJ – Kansas St
Grasu, Hroniss – Oregon
Guards – 8
Kouandijo, Arie – Alabama
Tomlinson, Laken – Duke
Jackson, Tre – Florida State
Matias, Josue – Florida State
Humpheries DJ – Florida
Cann, AJ – South Carolina
Harrison, Jarvis – Texas AM
Walker, Aundrey – USC
Tackles – 15
Drango, Spencer – Baylor
Sambrailo, Ty – Colorado State
Erving, Cameron – Florida State
Schreff, Brandon – Iowa
La’el Collins – LSU
Flowers, Ereck – Miami
Stanley, Ronnie – Notre Dame
Thompson, Tyrus – Oklahoma
Williams, Daryl – Oklahoma
Fisher, Jake – Oregon
Clemmings, TJ – Pittsburgh
Robinson, Corey – So Carolina
Hickey, Sean – Syracuse
Peat, Andrus – Stanford
Ogbugei, Cedric – Texas AM
Defensive Ends – 26
Flowers, Trey – Arkansas
Oakman, Shawn – Baylor
Beasley, Vic – Clemson
Crawford, Corey – Clemson
Edwards, Mario – Florida State
Fowler, Dante – Florida
Orr, Leon – Florida
Jenkins, Jordan – Georgia
Dupree, Alvin – Kentucky
Smith, ZaDarius – Kentucky
Mauldin, Lorenzo – Louisville
Hunter, Danielle – LSU
Chickillo, Anthony – Miami
Calhoun, Shilique – Michigan St
Golden, Markus – Missouri
Ray, Shane – Missouri
Gregory, Randy – Nebraska
Gwacham, Obum – Oregon State
Armstead, Arik – Oregon
Anderson, Henry – Stanford
Fields, Devonte – TCU (not ’2014)
Reed, Cedric – Texas
Odighizuwa, O – UCLA
Williams, Leonard – USC
Orchard, Nate – Utah
Kikaha, Hauoli – Washington
Defensive Tackles – 14
Wright, Gabe – Auburn
Jarrett, Grady – Clemson
Goldman, Eddie – Florida St
Davison, Tyeler – Fresno St
Davis, Carl – Iowa
Bennett, Michael – Ohio St
Tapper, Charles – Oklahoma
Covington, Christian – Rice
Raciti, Travis – San Jose St
Surratt, JT – So Carolina
Hunter, Chucky – TCU
McCarthy, Ellis – UCLA
Shelton, Danny – Washington
Brown, Malcom – Texas
Linebackers – 17
Depriest, Trey – Alabama
Floyd, Leonard – Georgia
Wilson, Remik – Georgia
Hodges, Zach – Harvard
Perryman, Denzel – Miami
Jones, Taiwan – Mich St
Ryan, Jake – Michigan
McKinney, Benardrick – Miss St
Spence, Noah – Ohio St
Grissom, Geneo – Oklahoma
Striker, Eric – Oklahoma
Washington, Tony – Oregon
Johnson, AJ – Tennessee
Kendricks, Eric – UCLA
Pullard, H P – USC
Tavai, JR – USC
Thompson, Shaq – Washington
Cornerbacks – 23
Jones, Byron – Connecticut
Darby, Ronald – Florida State
Williams, PJ – Florida State
Smith, Djoun – Florida Atlantic
Gaines, Charles – Louisville
Collins, Jalen – LSU
Mills, Jalen – LSU
Waynes, Trae – Mich St
Golson, Senquez – Mississippi
Riggs, Cody – Notre Dame
Russell, Keivarae – Notre Dame
Grant, Doran – Ohio St
Nelson, Steve – Oregon State
Ekre-Olomu, Ifo – Oregon
Carter, Alex – Stanford
Lyons, Wayne – Stanford
Diggs, Quandre – Texas
Doss, Lorenzo – Tulane
Shaw, Josh – USC
Rowe, Eric – Utah
Johnson, Kevin – Wake Forest
Peters, Marcus – Washington
Thomas, Cam – West Kentucky
Safeties – 10
Collins, Landon – Alabama
Smith, Derron – Fresno St
Holliman, Gerod – Louisville
Drummond, Kurtis – Michigan St
Prewitt, Cordy – Mississippi
Richards, Jordan – Stanford
Eskridge, Durrell – Syracuse
Harris, Anthony – Virginia
Joseph, Karl – West Virgina
Tartt, Jaquiski – Samford
That should keep you plenty busy as we start the long march to April 30th in Chicago. 165 names and 163 days to go! No problem, right?
Follow @sportssturm sturm1310@me.com
Today’s exercise during the bye week is draft related. So, for some of you, this is either a topic that is not interesting at all and for others, it is not interesting at this moment. I totally understand both groups who either ignore the draft until that weekend or at least wait until the Cowboys season is done.
But, for the many of us who really love the draft and try to follow it throughout the year, today’s list will hopefully be of interest to you.
Every year, I go through the exercise of trying to really study the top half of the draft. That means trying to formulate a personal opinion (not read a magazine review) by watching at least 3 games of each of the “Top 100″ players. You could try to do all 250, but I have too many other responsibilities to go deeper than the 1st 3 rounds.
Personally, I pick a player a day and try to see 200 snaps or so of him doing his job and then compare and contrast him with others in his positional group and by April, I hope to have some level of comprehension about the significant names in a draft. There are players on this list who will not get drafted, but we want to try not to miss to many who will.
So, in the previous summer and fall, all I am trying to do is collect names. This requires a fair amount of using resources – both available to the public and not – to cast a very wide net and list every player who seems to be in the mix for Rounds 1-3. Then, between the Bowl games and the NFL combine, we will chisel things down to eliminate those who are no longer on that radar (by consensus) and that is when we start breaking each player down as much as possible.
Again, it may not be the perfect system and I may not be a scout, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth learning these players for yourself (too many in the media just parrot what they read) and seeing if you can learn anything about what type of player they might be and how they might fit on your favorite team.
So, below, find the 165 players right now who at least one of my resources have indicated need to be considered for the “Top 100″ list. This is very early and players will come and go. Some on this list (Devonte Fields, Dorial Green-Beckham are two) haven’t even played this year. Others have played poorly. Others have been injured. Still others won’t enter the draft this spring and will stay in school. But, this is a very early rough draft of the names I will be looking at as we get to the Senior Bowl and beyond.
I also realize that there are other names who will be in the Top 100 who are not listed below, but not many. This is a pretty large group. And to this point, I have not started to work on more than 25 of these players, so we are far from rankings. But, this is a starting point for those of you who wish to browse the database while watching college football. Feel free to add more to the bottom and I will give them consideration for the December update.
Here are the 165 names we are looking at, listed by position:
Quarterbacks – 9
Petty, Bryce – Baylor
Carden, Shane – East Carolina
Winston, Jameis – Fla State
Cook, Connor – Mich St
Prescott, Dak – Miss St
Mannion, Sean – Ore State
Mariota, Marcus – Oregon
Hogan, Kevin – Stanford
Hundley, Brett – UCLA
Running Backs – 10
Yeldon, TJ – Alabama
Ajayi, Jay – Boise St
Williams, Karlos – Fla State
Gurley, Todd – Georgia
Coleman, Tevin – Indiana
Johnson, Duke – Miami
Abdullah, Ameer – Nebraska
Davis, Mike – So Carolina
Allen, Javorius – USC
Gordon, Melvin – Wisconsin
Wide Receivers – 23
Cooper, Amari – Alabama
Hill, Austin – Arizona
Strong, Jaelen – Arz State
Coates, Sammi – Auburn
Goodley, Antwan – Baylor
Norwood, Levi – Baylor
Davis, Titus – Central Mich
Hardy, Justin – E Carolina
Greene, Rashad – Florida State
Harper, Josh – Fresno St
Waller, Darren – Georgia Tech
Greenberry, Deontay – Houston
Lockett, Tyler – Kansas St
Parker, Devante – Louisville
Diggs, Stefon – Maryland
Dorsett, Phillip – Miami
Green-Beckham, D – Oklahoma
Montgomery, Ty – Stanford
Shipley, Jaxson – Texas
Agholor, Nelson – USC
Anderson, Dres – Utah
Williams, Kasen – Washington
White, Kevin – West Virgina
Tight Ends – 5
O’Leary, Nick – Florida State
Funchess, Devin – Michigan
Koyack, Ben – Notre Dame
Heuerman, Jeff – Ohio St
Kroft, Tyler – Rutgers
Center – 4
Dismukes, Reese – Auburn
Galik, Andy – Boston College
Finney, BJ – Kansas St
Grasu, Hroniss – Oregon
Guards – 8
Kouandijo, Arie – Alabama
Tomlinson, Laken – Duke
Jackson, Tre – Florida State
Matias, Josue – Florida State
Humpheries DJ – Florida
Cann, AJ – South Carolina
Harrison, Jarvis – Texas AM
Walker, Aundrey – USC
Tackles – 15
Drango, Spencer – Baylor
Sambrailo, Ty – Colorado State
Erving, Cameron – Florida State
Schreff, Brandon – Iowa
La’el Collins – LSU
Flowers, Ereck – Miami
Stanley, Ronnie – Notre Dame
Thompson, Tyrus – Oklahoma
Williams, Daryl – Oklahoma
Fisher, Jake – Oregon
Clemmings, TJ – Pittsburgh
Robinson, Corey – So Carolina
Hickey, Sean – Syracuse
Peat, Andrus – Stanford
Ogbugei, Cedric – Texas AM
Defensive Ends – 26
Flowers, Trey – Arkansas
Oakman, Shawn – Baylor
Beasley, Vic – Clemson
Crawford, Corey – Clemson
Edwards, Mario – Florida State
Fowler, Dante – Florida
Orr, Leon – Florida
Jenkins, Jordan – Georgia
Dupree, Alvin – Kentucky
Smith, ZaDarius – Kentucky
Mauldin, Lorenzo – Louisville
Hunter, Danielle – LSU
Chickillo, Anthony – Miami
Calhoun, Shilique – Michigan St
Golden, Markus – Missouri
Ray, Shane – Missouri
Gregory, Randy – Nebraska
Gwacham, Obum – Oregon State
Armstead, Arik – Oregon
Anderson, Henry – Stanford
Fields, Devonte – TCU (not ’2014)
Reed, Cedric – Texas
Odighizuwa, O – UCLA
Williams, Leonard – USC
Orchard, Nate – Utah
Kikaha, Hauoli – Washington
Defensive Tackles – 14
Wright, Gabe – Auburn
Jarrett, Grady – Clemson
Goldman, Eddie – Florida St
Davison, Tyeler – Fresno St
Davis, Carl – Iowa
Bennett, Michael – Ohio St
Tapper, Charles – Oklahoma
Covington, Christian – Rice
Raciti, Travis – San Jose St
Surratt, JT – So Carolina
Hunter, Chucky – TCU
McCarthy, Ellis – UCLA
Shelton, Danny – Washington
Brown, Malcom – Texas
Linebackers – 17
Depriest, Trey – Alabama
Floyd, Leonard – Georgia
Wilson, Remik – Georgia
Hodges, Zach – Harvard
Perryman, Denzel – Miami
Jones, Taiwan – Mich St
Ryan, Jake – Michigan
McKinney, Benardrick – Miss St
Spence, Noah – Ohio St
Grissom, Geneo – Oklahoma
Striker, Eric – Oklahoma
Washington, Tony – Oregon
Johnson, AJ – Tennessee
Kendricks, Eric – UCLA
Pullard, H P – USC
Tavai, JR – USC
Thompson, Shaq – Washington
Cornerbacks – 23
Jones, Byron – Connecticut
Darby, Ronald – Florida State
Williams, PJ – Florida State
Smith, Djoun – Florida Atlantic
Gaines, Charles – Louisville
Collins, Jalen – LSU
Mills, Jalen – LSU
Waynes, Trae – Mich St
Golson, Senquez – Mississippi
Riggs, Cody – Notre Dame
Russell, Keivarae – Notre Dame
Grant, Doran – Ohio St
Nelson, Steve – Oregon State
Ekre-Olomu, Ifo – Oregon
Carter, Alex – Stanford
Lyons, Wayne – Stanford
Diggs, Quandre – Texas
Doss, Lorenzo – Tulane
Shaw, Josh – USC
Rowe, Eric – Utah
Johnson, Kevin – Wake Forest
Peters, Marcus – Washington
Thomas, Cam – West Kentucky
Safeties – 10
Collins, Landon – Alabama
Smith, Derron – Fresno St
Holliman, Gerod – Louisville
Drummond, Kurtis – Michigan St
Prewitt, Cordy – Mississippi
Richards, Jordan – Stanford
Eskridge, Durrell – Syracuse
Harris, Anthony – Virginia
Joseph, Karl – West Virgina
Tartt, Jaquiski – Samford
That should keep you plenty busy as we start the long march to April 30th in Chicago. 165 names and 163 days to go! No problem, right?
