Since this page and my Youtube channel have been very NFL-centric and it’s still where my main focus lies, I wanted to take a look at the college football landscape and talk about some players that have stood out to me so far this year and how I project their ascent to affect their status for the 2022 NFL Draft. Therefore, I decided to only include players, who will be eligible for it next April.

At this point, there is no way I can watch every single college game of course and it’s not as easy to grab the All-22’s anyway, but I do however spend 13-14 hours every Saturday watching multiple games and take at least one other day per week to study players individually. So there may be more complete lists and I’m not able to offer as many deep sleepers as I can during actual draft season, but these are the guys that have moved up my early rankings and/or put their names on the watch list.

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Quarterback – Matt Corral, Ole Miss

Back in 2018, this was the number seven quarterback in a loaded class with Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and others. However, he did not have the same story as those guys, as he backed up Jordan Ta’amu as a freshman and then was benched midway through his second season. When Lane Kiffin came in ahead of the 2020 season, he made it clear to Corral that he’s his guy and he certainly had some explosive moments, in particular lighting up Alabama’s defense for 48 points. With that being said, there are were some pretty bad down-moments as well, throwing 11(!) combined interceptions in the Arkansas and LSU games, where he showed that he has to become a more mature decision-maker. This season he has played pretty much as well as any quarterback in the country, completing 66.3 percent of his passes for 288 yards per game, 14 touchdowns and he only just tossed his first interception this past Saturday at Tennessee, along with 450 rushing yards and another eight TDs on 88 carries. The Ole Miss offense was held to seven points through three quarters in their rematch in Tuscaloosa (AL), but they’ve averaged 48.2 points in the other five contests.

There has never been a question about Corral’s arm-talent and he’s shown that off on several occasions. He has excelled in that RPO-heavy offense for the Rebels, where he finds leverage advantages and cushions to exploit, but the reason there’s so much space underneath is how this guy attacks defenses vertically at the same time, as he leads college football with 45 completions on throws of 20+ (air) yards since the start of the 2020 season. At the same time, he’s gotten much better at realizing when defenses are flooding those shallow areas and when it’s to hand the ball off or pull it down himself. So there are some wide-open throws in Lane Kiffin’s offense, but Corral also delivers some absolute bullets into tight windows and beats defenders, that seem to be in pretty good position, with pin-point accuracy. Coming into this season, I thought the issue with his game was that he seemingly had no “off button”, meaning he would throw some balls in windows that others wouldn’t even think about. And while I appreciate the way he challenges defenses to defend every blade of grass on the field and some of the incredible plays he can make off-script, he’s gotten much better at understanding when he doesn’t have to force the issue. He’s also shown a lot of toughness this season, getting up after some big hits, and he has impressed as a runner, when defenses presented light boxes, as he just went for nearly 200 yards on 30 carries against Tennessee.

 

Also considered: Jake Haener (Fresno State) & Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh)

Running back – Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State 

Right now, Bijan Robinson is arguably the most exciting skill-position player in college football, but we’ll have to wait another year for him to become eligible. So instead, we’ll go with somebody who went from an afterthought as a transfer to potentially a top-five back in the 2022 NFL draft – Kenneth Walker. The big story for Michigan State has been the culture head coach Mel Tucker has established in East Lansing and how they are now looked at as a place college players want to transfer to. After rushing for exactly 579 yards in each of his two seasons at Wake Forest – even though the touchdown total did increase from four to 13 – Walker has already blown those numbers out of the water, as he is just three yards short of 1000 through seven games (which leads the nation), averaging 6.6 yards per attempt and finding the end-zone a total of ten times.

The former two-star recruit has seemingly exceeded expectations his entire career, but he’s now become the bell-cow for the Spartans, which was apparent right away, when he rushed for 264 yards and four(!) touchdowns in a dominant season-opening performance against Northwestern. Walker didn’t necessarily benefit from Wake Forest’s weird option run game, where the quarterback rides the mesh point for forever, but now at MSU he’s been very effective in the zone run game, with just hesitating a little bit and then finding the cutback. He has impressive short-are quickness, but he can can also drop those hips and make cuts at a large radius, often times to bounce out to the edge. I thought you saw Walker bounce off some tackles and keep his balance, but now he actually runs through those and gains yardage after contact. And while he doesn’t look as big, when he has momentum built up, he can make defenders feel it, when he finishes his runs by lower that shoulder. As we project him forward to the NFL, with only six career receptions coming into 2021 and just five so far this year, his value will depend on what he can still show on third downs.

 

Also considered: Zach Charbonnet (UCLA) & Kennedy Brooks (Oklahoma)

Wide receiver – Drake London, USC 

There were some good choices at the wide receiver position and guys that I’d like to talk about here, but you can argue no other player’s stock has risen more than the one of this 6’5”, 210-pound junior for USC. We’ve seen Michael Pittman Jr. and Amon-Ra St. Brown come out of that program the last two years, but I would almost call this London a mixture between the two with higher upside than both of them. Through his first 14 games (two years), he hauled in 72 passes for 1069 yards and eight touchdowns. He has already crushed his previous career-highs in just six games, catching 64 passes for 832 yards and five touchdowns. However, it’s not all about the numbers and the Trojans certainly haven’t been a very impressive team this season – sitting there at 3-3 with fairly mediocre numbers on both sides of the ball – but rather how his role in the offense has changed and the improvement he’s shown in several areas.

After almost exclusively being as a big slot receiver up to this point, often times taking on the job of a detached tight-end almost, lining up as the number three in trips sets, London is now splitting snaps pretty much evenly between inside and out in 2021. We knew about his ability to gain ground with those long strides, take advantage of those unimpeded releases in the slot and then use his basketball-size and skills in contested catch situations. Yet, what has made him a hot name in draft circles is what he has shown in terms of consistently being able to separate in one-on-one situations, on top of being able to hold onto catches through contact. He may not be super-explosive, but he really understands how to threaten vertically off the snap, use body-language to deceive defenders and then can break off routes without having to slow down a whole lot. Once the ball is in his hands, he goes North instantly and becomes a tank to bring down, dragging smaller DBs on his back and even stumbling forward when he’s tripped up. Because of that, we see the Trojans throw him a bunch of screen passes, since they know he’ll gain good yardage for them. Against Utah in particular, they threw him about ten different variations of those. What I’ve fallen in love with however is the passion he brings as a blocker, where he can stun defenders with his punch, establishes good position and keeps driving his legs.

 

Also considered: Treylon Burks (Arkansas) & David Bell (Purdue)

Tight-end – Isaiah Likely, Coastal Carolina 

The TE position in college football is always a tough to figure out, because there’s so many H-backs and glorified big slot receivers that put up big numbers, while those more prototypical in-line guys might be stuck in more traditional run-heavy offenses, that don’t feature them much as pass-catchers. So while the names I mention here may not become superstars at the next level, they have impressed with their production and big play, to put themselves on the radar, just like the guy I want to discuss here. Unless he gets hurt down the stretch, Likely will most likely have increased his numbers every single season for the Chatincleers. Last year he just cracked the 600-yard mark on 30 receptions and scored on five of those in ten games. Over six contests this season, he’s almost matched those numbers, still averaging 19 yards per grab on 27 of those and reaching the end-zone eight times. That includes an absolutely ridiculous performance against Arkansas State, hauling in eight passes for 232 yards and four(!) touchdowns.

Being part of this option-run heavy Coastal Carolina offense, you see Likely line up at wing or H-back quite a bit and execute insert or wrap-up pulls, but he also puts in good work as stalk-blocker from the slot, cutting off angles for safeties and providing ball-carriers with room to work. The 6’4”, 245-pound senior is built much more like a move tight-end than your typical Y, but I really like the attitude he brings to the table in that area of his game and how he consistently keeps that leg-drive going through contact. However, what he has done as a receiver is obviously more intriguing to scouts, where you see him run a lot of slide and crossing routes off those run-fakes, to make use of his skills after the catch. He eats up a lot of ground once he gets going and uses his off-arm exceptionally well to swipe down the reach of defenders and not allow them to grab any part of him. He may not be the most precise route-runner, where I want him to not round off his breaks as much, but he can threaten down the seams with those long strides and he really works those intermediate areas of the field with his quarterback Grayson McCall, who trusts him to come through.

 

Also considered: Trey McBride (Colorado State) & Greg Dulcich (UCLA)

Offensive line – Ikem Ekwonu, N.C. State 

Before, we get to this player, let me just apologize to all offensive linemen for making this the one group I kind of lumped together, rather than at least talking about offensive tackles and interior linemen, like I would usually during draft season. However, it’s much harder to watch guys in the trenches on the broadcast angle and actually pay attention to them throughout games. Now, every year there seems to be that one huge offensive tackle prospect from the ACC that emerges as one of the top guys at his position the following April. And with Ekwonu, I’m still not totally sure where I think he’s fit better, because he could probably kick ass at guard as well, but he has certainly helped his draft stock by what he’s shown on the edge this season. I mean after all he did start at left tackle and guard in 2020 and earned second-team All-ACC honors at BOTH spots, which is why he makes even more sense as the choice here.

There’s no other way to describe this than saying Ekwonu is a total ass-kicker in the run game. On the front-side of zone run plays, he can really widen the B-gap by relentlessly driving edge defenders into the sideline. I feel like his short-area agility to work across the face of interior linemen and cut off the back-side has really improved, but you want to get him working vertically on combo-blocks and have him bury linebackers, as he comes off those. You watch some of the stuff he’s tasked with, leading the way on power plays or peeling off on run-fakes, where they throw a screen back to the single-receiver away from the original action and Ekwonu has to get out to the corner, he’s not just phonebooth-type of guy at all.  Among all offensive linemen in the country, he has the most positively-graded run blocks all season right now according to Pro Football Focus. With that being said, his growth in pass-protection is what has impressed me the most. He always had the length and powerful base, to force rushers to widen their arc, but he gets more depth in kicks now and has just refined his technique in a major way, which starts with how much more balanced he is and how he keeps his weight centered. You saw some high hands and overextension really makes difficult for him and there’s still room upwards, but also his awareness for games up front has taken a step forward and watching him absolutely level guys from the side, when he’s not tasked with anybody, is a blast.

 

Also considered: Sean Rhyan (UCLA), Alec Lindstrom (Boston College) & Nicholas Petit-Frere (Ohio State)

Edge – Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan 

As much as people wanted to make about the 2021 edge class lacking top-tier talent, I thought all the medical concerns aside, Jaelan Phillips was close to an elite prospect and we’ve seen a few of those gifted athletes like Gregory Rosseau or Odafe Oweh make an impact right away in the NFL. Yet, I feel pretty good about saying that this upcoming class will be a lot better in terms of the names that will be selected over the first two days. Obviously, Kayvon Thibideaux came into the season as the front-runner and there’s some other highly athletic guys that we’ll discuss down the road, but I don’t think anybody on the edge has played at as dominant a level as Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson. As a sophomore, he looked poised to become a first-round pick, when he recorded 69 tackles, ten of those for loss, 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and six passes batted down. The following season, he had a strong showing in the season-opener against Minnesota, but was lost for the year a week later. So far through six games of 2021, he’s put up six TFLs and 4.5 sacks already, with one of them including a strip. But to me the numbers don’t nearly reflect how good he’s been, because when you put on the tape, no other defensive player has been winning his matchups at a higher rate it feels like.

Hutchinson may not be the kind of dynamic athlete on the edge like Thibs from Oregon, but the one thing that you see routinely on tape for him is the balance issues he causes for blockers, because of how he sets them up and the power he brings to the table. That was apparent against Bucs’ first-round pick Tristan Wirfs in their 2019 matchup already and he’s only gotten better from that point on. In the run game, he plays with heavy hands and can dislodge guys, especially when matched up against tight-ends, to establish first contact with the ball-carrier. His backside pursuit is so ferocious that he can take plays, where the offenses wants to leave him unblocked, completely out of the play-book, but he also won’t hesitate with taking on pulling guards at the center of the action. And what stands out to me every single week I watch him is the motor, to keep chasing after the ball until the whistle blows. On passing downs, he displays outstanding snap anticipation and makes great use of his length, with the high-swim being one of his go-to moves. What has surprised me this year is the quick-twitch he has shown to cross-face blockers, when he realizes they overset to the outside and he can take the inside lane. And we’ve some showcase some versatility in alignment, moving around on longer downs. If there’s one tape to watch in 2021 for Aidan, it would be him routinely beating a potential first-round left tackle in Jaxson Kirkland, at times running right through that guy’s face.

 

Also considered: George Karlaftis (Purdue) & Tre’ Williams (Arkansas)

Interior defensive line – Jordan Davis, Georgia 

One guy from this dominant Georgia defense had to make the list here. I mentioned another one with the next category, but in terms of how I looked specifically at that player from 2020 compared to this season, Jordan Davis has stood out to me the most. It’s not always easy to understand the impact a nose-tackle can have, but even when you watch the broadcast of those UGA games, this monster in the middle for the Bulldogs clearly stands out. At 6’6”, 340 pounds, this is a behemoth of a man. His size and natural strength were always on display, but it didn’t really translate to production or splash plays, as more of an immovable object right over the snap, being asked to line up shaded to one side of the center or two-gapping head up on that guy. His numbers still won’t pop off the screen at any point, combining for 6.5 tackles for loss and five sacks over his first three seasons, missing some time last year. This year, he’s already at three TFLs and 1.5 sacks in six games, but what had me go from thinking he’s more of a pure two-down run-plugger to believing he’s the best pure defensive tackle prospect heading into 2022, is the different level of energy he brings to the table.

It didn’t take long for me to realize who this massive guy was, when I saw Davis straight-up bench-press guards and centers into the backfield and swallow double-teams in the run game. For a guy his size, Davis can really run when he’s in chase-down mode and you see him pursue guys to the sideline a lot. However, his motor has been revving at a completely different level in 2021, not getting caught on the wrong side of blocks and routinely getting hands on the ball-carrier in the backfield. I’ve been really impressed with the quick hands to work off blocks and swallow running backs, as they try to get through the hole. He went from being last quite a bit to now often first off the snap for Georgia. While he still comes off the field on third downs more often than not, simply due to the depth of that Bulldog front and how they involve guys in their pressure-packages, he’s been in attack-mode when going after the quarterback way more. He’s clearly still a valuable asset, with the way he can drive blockers into the depth of the pocket and then pull them off, as they lean too much into him.

 

Also considered: Logan Hall (Houston) & Calijah Kancey (Pittsburgh)

Linebacker – DeMarvion Overshown, Texas

Just looking at the stat sheet, I always thought linebacker was one of those position that can be the most deceiving, because high tackling numbers are rarely any indication of how good a player actually is. Filling run fits, matching guys in zone coverage and executing blitzes in appropriate fashion are things that you can only judge when you dive into the tape. And a guy that has just been flashing to me all season long, whether it’s the broadcast or All-22 angle has been the Longhorns’ DeMarvion Overshown. This certainly shouldn’t come as a surprise for somebody around the top-50 overall recruits in 2018 and while he only appeared in six total games over his first two years, he already put his name on the map as a highly productive junior. With that being said, he was more of a projection to me as an undersized run-and-chase player to me and I wanted to see him show growth playing the linebacker position, especially in-between the tackles, as a former safety, as Overshown himself noted that he didn’t get a chance to really learn it until fall camp last year. This season he has already recorded 56 total tackles, four of those for loss, 1.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries.

At 6’4”, 220 pounds, Overshown obviously presents a pretty slender frame and that doesn’t allow him to actually stack big offensively linemen head-on as a run-defender in the box. However, while he does give up around 100 pounds a lot of times to those interior guys, the Texas backer doesn’t hesitate to shoot downhill and you see it in particularly on some outside-oriented runs his direction, where he attacks the edge and forces the ball-carrier to cut inside. While from the back-side, where he finds himself a lot of times as the WILL for that defense, he’s become more patient at tracking the running back and taking away cutback lanes. In the pass game, Overshown is an incredible easy mover, with loose hips and light feet to cover ground. In UT’s 2-4-5 defense, he is often tasked with carrying number three receivers from trips on crossers in their cover-three and with those long arms, quarterbacks have to put the ball a little further out in front or put that extra bit of arc on the ball, for him to not get a hand on it. Overshown’s been flying around the field for a while, but he actually started turning those into big plays and finds himself around the ball constantly now. He was all over the field in the Red River Showdown against Oklahoma, even if the Longhorns found a way to give up a huge lead.

 

Also considered: Nakobe Dean (Georgia) & Devin Lloyd (Utah)

Cornerback – Riley Moss & Matt Hankins, Iowa 

This is the one position I felt the need to list two names – actually teammates – because both deserve to have their names called here. This may not be as well-received as if Iowa was still the number two team in the country like last week, before they got upset by Purdue and actually lost by 17 as a double-digit favorite. Still, that defense has played as well as any other unit not named Georgia and they are still number one in the country with 20(!) total takeaways. The entire group has been impressive, creating negative plays in the run game up front, those safeties barreling down in a lot of their two-high shells and stopping plays for minimal yardage and in particular those two senior corners turning the ball over. Riley Moss and Matt Hankins have each missed one game, but have still combined for seven interceptions (four and three respectively) and Moss took two of those back to the house in the season-opener against Indiana, to really set the tone. Yet, it’s not been all about the numbers they have put up, but also their engagement in the run game and taking away potential big plays through the air.

From a physique perspective, Moss is the more solidly built among the two, at 6’1”, 195 pounds, while Hankins brings a more skinny frame to the table at six feet, 185 pounds. They both got onto the field right away for the Hawkeyes, in particular Hankins, who came to campus in 2017 already, and while they did receive baptism by fire to some degree early on, that experience is now paying off with their heady play. To me Iowa has the two best edge-setting corners in the country, who both actively approach or get around and try to disengage from blockers. Moss is a highly reliable tackler, clutching around the legs of ball-carriers to make sure they go to the ground, while with Hankins, the thing that stands to me the most is his toughness to bang big running backs out of bounds, even when he’s in a compromised position, as that guy is coming in with some momentum. In terms of coverage, Moss to me is at his best in off-zone, where he can layer in-between routes and drive on the ball, not wasting any time once he sees the quarterback set his feet. Hankins on the other end does still excel in zone, staying attached on vertical routes, but he also displays some impressive ability to stab at the chest of guys in press-man and re-routing them. They have both certainly boosted their draft stock this season, even if that Hawkeye scheme protects their corners to some degree.

 

Also considered: Mykael Wright (Oregon) & Jermaine Waller (Virginia Tech)

 

Safety – Jaquan Brisker, Penn State

Man, I don’t think there’s anybody I’ve enjoyed watching more than this guy all season long. Brisker was the number one safety recruit in the nation back in 2019 and he quickly become a key piece to that Penn State defense. So his rise as a college player and in regard to his potential future in the NFL shouldn’t be surprising to anybody, but he’s played at such a high level, that he deserves to be talked about. Over his first two years (22 games), he recorded 88 total tackles, four for loss, three picks and nine more passes broken up. Through six games this season, he’s collected 25 tackles, 3.5 for loss, two INTs and three more PBUs. However, it’s been his instincts, energy and leadership for that Nittany Lions defense, which has held opponents to just 13.8 points per game (fourth-fewest in college football), that has really stood out to me and what’s kind of crazy is that it has done on the broadcast angle already, which is pretty rare for a safety.

This guy constantly plays downhill, steps down and fills against the run, where he brings physical style of play in the box that you don’t even see from many linebackers. He’s first to initiate contact for the most part and plays with extension through blocks. You can trust him as an edge-setter and he can lower to boom on guys in front of him, but he’s also been extremely reliable at bringing ball-carriers to the ground, missing just one of his 60 tackling attempts in 2020. He’s coming in at fzull speed as a blitzer and doesn’t slow down when he meets offensive tackles either, taking them off balance at times. Despite being built to play closer to the line of scrimmage I would saw, he’s been deployed as a single-high free safety quite a bit, especially as a sophomore, where he has the range to make plays at the sideline and you see him punish receivers for trying to high-point the ball on several occasions. But what is apparent in that regard is his outstanding awareness for where everybody is on the field. And he’s been trusted in a lot more man-coverage this season, keeping active feet and dictating route stems a lot of times. Brisker was all over the field in Penn State’s 2021 season-opener against Wisconsin, coming up with several key plays, including pretty much a game-sealing pick, where he was in man-coverage on the back and with that guy staying in protection, had the freedom to float underneath a streaking tight-end.

 

Also considered: Jalen Catalon (Arkansas) & Verone McKinley III (Oregon)