My EARLY top 50 Rankings. This is not a mock draft, my rankings of the Top 50 players. Lots of underclassmen that may not declare. Robert Quinn is my best ranked player.....I believe he's easily a top 5 player. North Carolina has 6 Top 50 ranked defensive players...incredible. I know many may disagree with my early rankings. A few defensive players have a lower ranking for some offfield shit....if they stay clean, they will rise. This list will be very fluid and will change once the season starts in September. 01) Robert Quinn, DE, North Carolina 02) AJ Green, WR, Georgia 03) Marcell Dareus, DL, Alabama 04) Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford 05) Gabe Carimi, OT, Wisconsin 06) Cameron Heyward, DE, Ohio St 07) Ryan Williams, RB, Virginia tech 08) Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU 09) Julio Jones, WR, Alabama 10) Jake Locker, QB, Washington 11) Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame 12) Greg Romeus, DE, Pitt 13) DeAndre McDaniel, S, Clemson 14) Marvin Austin, DL, North Caroilina 15) Jurrell Casey, DT, USC 16) Deunta Williams, S, North Carolina 17) Joseph Barksdale, OT, LSU 18) Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama 19) Jonathan Baldwin, WR, Pitt 20) Von Miller, DE/OLB, Texas A&M 21) Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas 22) Ras I Dowling, CB, Virginia 23) Akeem Ayers, DE/OLB, UCLA 24) Adrian Clayborn, DE, Iowa 25) Aaron Williams, CB, Texas 26) Jared Crick , DL, Nebraska 27) Travis Lewis, OLB, Oklahoma 28) DaQuan Bowers, DE, Clemson 29) Anthony Castonzo, OT, BC 30) Prince Amukamara, CB, Nebraska 31) Greg Jones, ILB, Michigan State 32) Allen Bailey, DL, Miami 33) Sam Acho, DE, Texas 34) Kris O'Dowd, C, USC 35) Kyle Rudolph, TE, Notre Dame 36) Mike Pouncey, OG/C, Florida 37) Jerrell Powe, NT, Ole' Miss 38) Bruce Carter, OLB, North Carolina 39) Nate Solder, OT, Colorado 40) Evan Royster, RB, Penn St 41) Mark Barron, S, Alabama 42) Donta Hightower, ILB, Alabama 43) Lee Zimba, OT, Auburn 44) Rahim Moore, S, UCLA 45) Jack Crawford, DE/OLB, Penn St 46) Dion Lewis, RB, Pitt 47) Stephen Paea, DT, Oregon St 48) Quan Sturdivant, ILB, North Carolina 49) Jason Pinkston, OT, Pitt 50) Kendric Burney, CB, North Carolina Just Missed list: Jeremy Beal, DE, Oklahoma Mark Herzlich, OLB, Boston College Christian Ponder, QB, Florida St Terrell Pryor, QB, Ohio St Jerrod Johnson, QB Texas A&M Noel Devine, RB, West Virginia Austin Pettis, WR, Boise State Terrance Tolliver, WR, LSU Stefen Wisniewski, C, Penn St Brandon Harris, CB, Miami Derek Wolfe, DE, Cincinnati Weslye Saunders, TE, South Carolina Chris Galippo, ILB, USC Quiz Rodgers, RB, Oregon St Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma Christian Anthony, DE, Grambling (Sleeper Alert)
Can't really say much in terms of disagreement, I have pretty much the same players but slotted a little differently. The one player I still strongly disagree with you on is Dion Lewis. I know the history of backs below 5'9 not going as high as they should, but I do think that after what we've seen in recent years with the shorter backs emerging as some of the best from each class we'll see them get more of a look in the first. He might not get drafted above Ryan Williams, but I think he'd go no below where DeAngelo Williams went at 27.
I really love Dion Lewis, he's a rare talent. I just can't pull the trigger to rate him higher at this time. Dion Lewis is measured by Pitt at 5'8".......very good chance he's shorter. Difficult to give a 1st rd grade to a player possibilly under 5' 8".
Awesome list WW - I like how things are getting started early around here. No Chris Culliver or Cliff Matthews? I really think Culliver will have a hell of a year at corner. He's much more physically gifted than former Gamecock defensive backs like Jonathan Joseph and Dunta Robinson. Cliff Matthews is a very good pass rushing prospect. I agree with GH on Dion Lewis. I think he's a special player. AJ Green is my top rated player, if he decides to come out. Andrew Luck is very close behind him.
Appreciate the comments. AJ was so close to be my #1 player. Robert Quinn is a rare talent, I'm not betting against the kid. Quinn overcame a brain tumor in High School and is a terrific kid. Locker and Luck are very close, Luck may not declare. I know you and GH disagree with my rankings of Lewis. I've never denied the guy's talent, just difficult to rank him in my top 32. I can't overcome the height of Lewis and how NFL teams will think twice. Difficult to get all players ranked in the Top 50. 2011 is a very strong draft class, especially if most of these underclassmen declare. DE, WR, RB, 3-4OLB, QB....seeem to be the strenght at the top few rounds of 2011's draft.
I remember when that happened, because South Carolina was one of his top three schools before he committed to UNC. Quinn almost died. He lost all control of his hands and had to learn how to use them again. Great story. I think he'll have a huge year and I'm hoping for UNC to win the ACC. I like a lot of their players.
Quinn looks like he would be a perfect 4-3 DE in the NFL. Some believe he could convert to a 3-4 OLB, I disagree, although he has made some plays in coverage. Quinn has one of the quickest first steps I've ever seen for a DE. Some incredible stats last year... 52 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss and 11 sacks. North Carolina's defense is going to be exciting this year. I hope I get to see some of their games.
Of all those guys which ones fit in with our team? I'd love for Julio Jones to end up in Green and White but my guess is barring injury he'll be one of the top 5 - 10 players drafted.
Akeem Ayers would be an absolute animal in this defensive scheme. The same goes for Von Miller. Michael Floyd, AJ Green, Julio Jones, and Jonathan Baldwin all fit into our offense - this could be the best receiver draft ever when it's all said and done. I think all four will be gone before we pick though. Green's my top rated player. The Jets will have to move up for one of them. We're definitely going to lose Holmes or Edwards, so receiver will be a big need again. All of the 34 ends would be great on this team. I'm really interested to see how Jurrell Casey does this season. I think he's got a chance to be a very athletic nose tackle in the NFL. Right now, he's more a 43 tackle, but he's got the strength and build to play nose. Last season, he played around 295 and he's supposedly around 305 right now.
I hate that Draft talk is so slow lately :sad: It was soo much fun during Feburary- April and now many arent going to care about prospects until the end of the playoffs or if ESPN has some crazy scouting report from Kiper or McShay.
Well just for shits and giggles I've been looking at other mock drafts whether they are from good sources or not and a name I keep running into is Jack Crawford from Penn State. What can our draftniks tell us about him? He seems intriguing from what I've read so far but doesn't seem to have the same potential as Von Miller or Akeem Ayers.
I always have concerns with PSU D-lineman. Crawford will probably be drafted to play 3-4 LB. I have major concerns with Crawford's ability in coverage.....something Ayers does very well. Miller and Ayers are clearly better players....IMO. In fact, I have Acho rated higher than Crawford. Many scouts have Crawford rated higher than my rankings. I had Ayers in my 2011 mock draft to the Jets, he would be the ideal player in Rex's defense. I don't expect Jason Taylor to be around more than a year, his year two contract is prohibitive. Taylor is a one year rental to get to the big game. Jets will probably have to address 3-4 OLB & DE in the 1st 2 rounds next year. The Jets will probably have to have an off year to draft Ayers. Ayers will probably be a solid mid Round 1 pick.
Jack Crawford is a very interesting, potential packed prospect for next year. He's going to be a Jr. next season at PSU, and is only about four years into his football playing career. He's tall and freakishly athletic, and did an admirable job last year stepping in for Aaron Maybin. He does have the fact that PSU DLs have been very disappointing recently working against him, but if he has a big season he could fly up near the top of the rankings. His athleticism and size make him an interesting prospect for either the 34 or the 43. I wouldn't put him ahead of Akeem Ayers or Von Miller, but at the same time they are different kinds of players. Ayers to me is a true linebacker, and Miller is a guy whose only suited for the 34, while Crawford has equal potential with his hand up or down.
Crawford's not fast enough to be an edge rusher. He's freakishly strong, and quick enough, but he doesn't have Aaron Maybin-type speed. He's best disrupting the run and blowing up plays in the backfield as opposed to running down a QB, which is why he's a 4-3 DE and nothing else. Not much of a space eater--he's ridiculously jacked, but not terribly stout. As has been said, crazy raw and immensely talented, but he's the kind of guy who has a 12-year career, starting more often than not, but never makes a Pro Bowl or stands out as a team's best defensive player.
I didn't say he was fast, I said he was athletic. He doesn't have experience dropping in coverage, but with the way he moves I wouldn't be surprised if he could excel doing it. And, not every 34 OLB has to be a 20 sack pass-rushing specialist, guys who have the ability to play in space (which I believe he has), athleticism, and ability to stop the run are needed. Like you said yourself, he isn't the biggest guy in the world, and with the way he's built I'm not sure much could be added to that frame. Not sure how a guy his size would work as a run stopping 43 end prospect.
Looks like you might need to knock a couple guys down a peg pretty soon. http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefoo...s-declared-ineligible-after-agent-trip-072110 Dareus and Weslye Saunders might be in a little trouble. Might be nice if this were enough to allow Dareus to drop to us in the 1st next year.
If he can't play this year, he'll probably just leave Alabama and start working out. I don't know much about Dareus' character, but this will be a huge test for him. If he shows up to the combine in great shape, he'll probably end up as a late first rounder.
Early word is he won't be be stripped of amateur status, just suspended 3-4 games. It's not 100%, but the situation isn't as big as first thought. He is complying and his story is matching up with a few other people's. Now Marvin Austin on the other hand? He can probably kiss college football goodbye...
