My second mock draft is coming right off the heels of a very entertaining NFL Combine. I’m not going to go into the details of the weekend. Instead, I’ll just jump right into the mock draft and point some things out as I go forward.
The NCAA football season is over and it ended in thrilling fashion. Congratulations to the Florida State Seminoles for their dramatic win over the Auburn Tigers. But the celebration can’t last too long because its almost time to get right back to work. For some, its time to rest up, get back on the recruiting trail and bring in some more of the talent that made them successful in 2013. For others, its time to think about the future of their professional careers. Here are the top five players at each position going into the East-West Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl. I’ll be updating these rankings as we get closer and closer to the NFL Combine and ultimately, I’ll have my mock drafts ready to go.
1. On any given Saturday…apparently anyone can lose a game. In a week of shocking upsets, top 25 casualties included No. 12 Oklahoma losing to Texas, No. 7 Georgia losing to Missouri, No. 5 Stanford losing to Utah and No. 18 Michigan losing to Penn State in quadruple overtime. Expect a huge shakeup in the rankings and should set up a possible huge matchup between Miami and Florida State, who will both likely be in the top 10 together for the first time since 2005.
2. It wasn’t just upsets…some teams got some scares too. Johnny Football and the Texas A&M Aggies got past Ole Miss, Clemson survived against Boston College and Baylor took care of business against Kansas State.
3. Lame…I mean, Lane Kiffin admits mistakes. Former USC head coach Lane Kiffin admitted to ESPN’s Chris Fowler that he made some mistakes in his coaching career. There is your 2013 Understatement Of The Year.
4. Mack Brown might have saved himself from getting fired. And the best part of the whole thing might be Skip Bayless boldly predicting that his Oklahoma Sooners would win and hoped they didn’t cause the firing of Mack Brown. “Thanks to Mack, I no longer fear Texas” were his words on twitter. It was great to see Skip eat his words. Congrats to the Longhorns for keeping their season alive.
5. The Heisman race is heating up. Johnny Manziel has some competition in the Heisman voting this year with some other guys having stellar seasons like Oregon’s Marcus Mariota, FSU’s Jameis Winston and Ohio St’s Braxton Miller. Interestingly enough, there aren’t many candidates outside of the quarterback position. Georgia’s Todd Gurley has been injured and Alabama’s TJ Yeldon isn’t putting up the numbers that his predecessors (Mark Ingram and Eddie Lacy) had put up by this point in the season.
1. If you give Nick Saban enough time to prepare, he will destroy you. Johnny Manziel and the Aggies got off to a really fast start but the Crimson Tide same roaring back and proved their number one ranking. It wouldn’t surprise me if Saban planned it that way like the taskmaster that he is. What better way to take the wind out of Texas A&M’s sails than to bait them into thinking they’d win like they did in Tuscaloosa…then rip it away in dramatic fashion?
2. Like I said last week, Mack Brown needs to go. After a second straight loss, this time to #25 Ole Miss, its time for Mack Brown to go. They already fired defensive coordinator Manny Diaz after their loss to BYU but its not enough. Under Greg Robinson, the Longhorns looked more aggressive this week but they still couldn’t stop the run. Rebels running back Jeff Scott racked up 164 yards rushing on 19 carries…most of which came on the same play. Mack Brown’s seat might be the hottest in the country.
3. Maybe its really the Big 1 and the Little 9. For a while, a lot of people suggested that Ohio St and Michigan were the two best teams in the Big 10 and no one else came close. Seeing the way Michigan has been playing the last two weeks, including a near loss to Akron, maybe Michigan really isn’t that good. While Kenny Guiton started at quarterback in place of Braxton Miller and led the Buckeyes to a 52-34 win over Cal, Devin Gardner was throwing three interceptions to the Akron Zips. At the end of the day, they’re 3-0 but its not a very impressive 3-0.
4. The luck of the Irish shows up once again. Last season, Notre Dame got more than its fair share of lucky breaks en route to the national championship game. It appears the #21 Fighting Irish have luck on their side again. Down 17-10 to Purdue, Tommy Rees and the offense managed to rattle off 21 straight points and won 31-24 and survived a late upset bid. Fans have to wonder how many times they’ll survive these close games.
5. Rutgers did a classy job today. The Scarlet Knights picked a good kid to make their first player ever to have his jersey retired. Eric Legrand has been an inspiration all around the country and I’m glad he was able to be honored the way he has. I wish him all the best and I’m glad Rutgers took the time to do something special for such a special person.
Prev