The NFL is built upon what college football provides. Every year, there’s a focus on incoming rookies and players who are going to make impacts for their new teams, but where did those players come from? What did they look like as underclassmen in college? How productive were they? The goal of this article is to help provide analysis that will improve readers ability to identify NFL players who are still in college. Each week, there will be four players evaluated and given an NFL projected draft position based on their current historical indicators.
There are many tidbits and clues the NFL leaves behind pertaining to what they’re looking for in an NFL Draft prospect. The basic strength, speed and athleticism are factors in building a skill position player, but it’s clear there’s more to it than that. When reviewing the NFL Draft over the last two decades, there’s statistical trends and traits NFL teams look for before selecting players as well. This article, which highlights players not yet draft eligible, will highlight those factors.
THE PROSPECTS
Keaontay Ingram (RB, Texas)
Despite having a solid freshman year filled with exciting plays, Ingram viewers couldn’t help but be miffed by his usage. Ingram came into 2018 as a hyped Freshman and provided plenty of reasoning for that. However, Ingram only accumulated 169 touches despite playing 13 games. Texas split the backfield right down the middle between Ingram and graduate-transfer Tre Watson. Thankfully, Watson was a Senior and will not be there to steal touches in 2019. Ingram is built solidly, in the Ronald Jones mold (listed at 6 feet and 205 pounds). 878 yards from scrimmage in a Freshman season is nothing to scoff at, but it felt like it could’ve been more. Ingram will play the 2019 season with running QB Sam Ehlinger, or, will as long as Ehlinger can stay healthy. Ehlinger made a clear positive impact on the running game (and offense in general) in 2018 and will create an incredibly positive offensive environment. Texas is set up to be one of the best offenses in the country in 2019, and Ingram is one of the main reasons why.
PROJECTED DRAFT ROUND: 2nd-to-4th Round – As mentioned, there’s still a lot to project from a production standpoint, but overall the skillset to be a day two selection is there. Ingram will likely receive a featured workload and will need to in order to make this type of projection to come to fruition.
Similar Prospect(s): Ronald Jones
Michael Pittman Jr. (WR, USC)
After coming to USC with high praise, accolades and excitement (Son of former NFL WR Michael Pittman and a four-star recruit), it’s taken Pittman a few years to get going. Thankfully, 2018 was a positive season for Pittman, as he finally broke out in a game-breaker type role, producing 758 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns on only 41 receptions (18.5 per reception). USC wasn’t very good offensively in 2018, but Pittman was a clear bright spot and building block for the future. A lot of his production moving forward will be based on how Sophomore QB JT Daniels will develop. His Freshman season was ugly, though there was potential shown. Pittman will have a crowded depth chart to compete for production with, but as seen with the Ohio State WRs drafted over the last couple of seasons, that type of nuance isn’t lost on NFL decision-makers. WR Tyler Vaughns will be entering his junior season, and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown will be entering his Sophomore campaign. All three should see significant snaps and produce in similar ranges. Pittman’s size stands out, listed at 6 foot 4 and 215 pounds; defenders have a tough time handling the athleticism and size combination he brings to the table. Pittman has spent plenty of time on special teams, creating some punishing hits, blocked punts and punt return touchdowns. His prowess in that area is incredibly unique for his position and size.
PROJECTED DRAFT ROUND: 2nd/3rd Round – Pittman has a real chance to be one of the biggest risers of the 2020 WR class. Not only does Pittman have the prototypical size of a boundary WR, but he plays for a big-time school and should impress at the combine. Final season production could be an issue as far as ceiling is concerned, but ultimately talent evaluators will see through that.
Similar Prospect(s): Donte Moncrief
Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR, Michigan)
It’s hard to make a big impact as a WR on a run-heavy offense, but Peoples-Jones has done his best over his first two seasons. After an uneventful Freshman season, Peoples-Jones broke out in a solid way in 2018, producing 649 yards from scrimmage and 8 touchdowns. Peoples-Jones has also added 570 yards and two touchdowns on punt returns in his young career. There’s plenty of explosiveness and after the catch ability in this skillset. Peoples-Jones has a solid frame (listed at 6 foot 2 and 208 pounds) and has been used all over the formation usage-wise. There have also been multiple deep targets that Peoples-Jones has displayed exciting ball skills, but the Michigan offense has mostly been marred with disappointing QB play in 2017 and 2018. There’s no telling if the passing game will improve, and the offense will almost assuredly be run-heavy in 2019, but if Peoples-Jones continues to develop, he could override his QB play.
PROJECTED DRAFT ROUND: 1st-to-2nd Round – Jones has great size and athleticism, and it would be pretty shocking to see him slip out of the top two rounds. With that said, Peoples-Jones is going to have to deal with the aforementioned bad QB situation from a production standpoint to really leap into the round one discussion.
Similar Prospect(s): Arrelious Benn
TRE TURNER (WR, Virginia Tech)
Turner is a bit of a wildcard. Over the last decade, Virginia Tech hasn’t been known for producing very many WR prospects, but Turner showed enough explosive ability in his Freshman season to warrant everyone’s attention. Turner produced 535 receiving yards, 101 rushing yards and five total touchdowns as a true freshman, setting quite a pace for himself. Turner has a slight build as things currently stand, but should be able to gain considerable bulk over the next two seasons. Turner had an incredibly high yards per reception (YPR) in 2018 despite having a lot of his receptions come close to the line of scrimmage. It’s pretty rare to see a 20+ YPR for a player that receives screen or slot-type routes of any kind. Those types of numbers are usually designated for deep threats. That’s an indicator to get excited about. Turner has a long way to go, and his Sophomore season will tell a lot about what the future will hold, but there’s certainly things to get excited about for now.
PROJECTED DRAFT ROUND: 2nd-to-4th Round – Quite frankly, it’s probably too early to make an actual projection, but based on being a true freshman producer, with solid size, in a power five conference, with unique usage as a rusher and receiver, there’s PLENTY of meat on the bone. Turner has a lot of appealing qualities.
Similar Prospect(s): Mohamed Sanu
