This section breaks down many college football games each week and highlights how 2014 NFL Draft Prospects have performed. Or look at the 2014 NFL Draft Stock page.
By Charlie Campbell.
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Ohio State 60, Illinois 35
This game featured two outside linebacker prospects in Ohio State’s Ryan Shazier and Illinois’ Jonathan Brown. This game showed Shazier’s playmaking ability, while Brown was unimpressive.
To get his day started, Shazier chased down a pass in the flat and made a strong tackle for a five-yard loss. Throughout the first half, Shazier had a number of big tackles, though he did jump offsides once. Shazier made a nice run fill to limit a play to one yard in the third quarter. On a goal-line play, Shazier got lost on a play�action, and that helped a tight end to be wide open in the back of the end zone.
Shazier lined up as a defensive end and burned the right tackle with a speed rush in the third quarter. He blasted the quarterback and forced a fumble in the end zone. Illinois recovered the ball for a safety. Shazier could have had a shot at recovering the fumble if he was more aware rather than looking to celebrate. Late in the fourth, he got in a sack with a teammate. After spying the quarterback, Shazier added another sack after he fired up to take down the scrambling signal-caller.
Overall, Shazier had an excellent performance where he racked up tackles in the run game, was a dynamic blitzer and moved well in pass coverage. This tape will help Shazier in his draft grade.
Brown, meanwhile, did a poor job of reading his keys and ran away from the ball. He finally made a play just before halftime when he filled a hole and tackled Carlos Hyde for no gain on a third�and�1. In the second half, Brown got hit with a personal-foul penalty on a hard hit of Braxton Miller that came late. Overall, this was a disappointing performance for Brown, as Hyde dominated the Illini defense. It will hurt his draft stock.
Hyde didn’t get the start because of a reported academic issue, but that didn’t stop him from having a career day. Early on, Hyde caught a swing pass and charged into the end zone for an 18�yard score. With Ohio State backed up on its own 5�yard line, Hyde ran up the middle for a 30�yard gain. He added an eight�yard touchdown run later in the first half. Hyde later had another powerful touchdown run at the goal line.
In the fourth quarter, Hyde broke away from defenders for two more touchdown runs. One came from 51 yards and the second was a 55� yarder. All day, Hyde (6�0, 235) was running roughshod over the Illinois defense. He was breaking tackles and running north-south for big yards. He totaled 247 yards on 24 carries with four touchdowns on the ground. He also had two receptions for 26 yards and a score. Hyde’s dominant performance should help his draft stock, but he has off-the-field concerns to overcome.
Ohio State junior cornerback Bradley Roby has had a rough season after entering the year as the top cornerback prospect and a projected top-20 pick. He’s been burned for a lot of long passes this season.
Roby made his presence felt early on. A bad throw went into a crowd, and the ball was tipped up in the air. Roby snatched the pass and exploded down the field for a 60-yard pick�six. He added a tackle for a loss after firing into the backfield. Roby added a hard hit on a receiver in the open field.
After halftime, Roby had slammed the quarterback on a blitz that also took out a defensive end. Late in the third quarter, Roby got a little lost in man coverage and let his receiver get open along the sideline downfield for a long gain. Roby later had a hard hit on a blitz and came close to a strip�sack, but the ball was thrown a second before he got the hit. Roby was called for a pass interference midway through the fourth quarter and had allowed another reception for good yardage after he broke late in zone.
Overall, it was a mixed performance for Roby that has been typical of this season. He should consider returning for his senior season if he definitely wants to be a first�round pick. If he enters the 2014 NFL Draft, he could easily fall to Day 2. Roby could be this year’s David Amerson if he comes out.
UCLA 41, Washington 31
UCLA senior outside linebacker Anthony Barr looks like a top-10 pick next April – he’s No. 5 to the Texans in my mock draft – and he was seeing a nice test against the Huskies. Washington’s offense features a senior quarterback in Keith Price (mid-rounder), running back Bishop Sankey (second day) and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins (first-rounder). In what could be the final month of their collegiate careers, they all need to perform well to help their draft stock.
ashington did a nice job of keeping Barr from making any splash plays for the most part in the first half. He was one of a few Bruins to get in on sack of Price that was started by linebacker Eric Kendricks. Barr also got in on a few run tackles of Sankey.
In the fourth quarter, Barr went into beast mode and it began when he came up with a clutch pass rush. He started to the outside before giving the left tackle a shove and then cutting to the inside to tackle quarterback Cyler Miles and force a punt. On the next drive, Barr blew up a run in the backfield to set up a loss on a third-and-short. Washington went for it on fourth down and threw incomplete. Barr came close to another sack and also drew a holding penalty on another rush. Barr finished with seven tackles and a sack. This tape will only serve to confirm his high first-round grade.
On the first drive of the game, Seferian-Jenkins caught a short slant for a conversion on a third-and-4. However, linebacker Jordan Zumult put a nice hit on him and Seferian-Jenkins fumbled the ball away. Seferian-Jenkins then had a nice block to help Sankey run for over 10 yards. After another tough run from Sankey, he broke into the secondary before a hard hit from a safety caused Sankey to fumble the ball away.
Seferian-Jenkins came back to move the chains on a slant. That set up Price to hit a boom for 50 yards on a post, and Sankey ran in with a 2-yard touchdown run. Price dropped in a beautiful 38-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. It was a perfect throw to lead his receiver into the end zone, but a terrible penalty took the touchdown away. Price took a hard hit just before halftime. That resulted in an injured shoulder, and Price was out for the rest of the game.
Seferian-Jenkins came wide open in the end zone on a goal line play early in the third quarter. Seferian-Jenkins lined up next to the left tackle and fired to the back of the end zone before cutting to the outside and being all alone for an easy score. He later made a tremendous leaping catch on the sideline but he couldn’t get a foot down to make a reception of over 20 yards.
Seferian-Jenkins finished with four receptions for 22 yards. Sankey had 91 yards on 27 carries. Each player had a score and fumble. This tape won’t have a big impact on their draft stock. Price was 10-of-18 for 181 yards with a score in one half of play. This tape will help Price to get drafted.
UCLA redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley is also a potential first-round pick (he’s going to the Vikings in Walt’s 2014 NFL Mock Draft). Hundley is considering entering the 2014 NFL Draft and overall has had a strong season for the Bruins.
After a turnover set up UCLA on Washington’s side of the field, Hundley threw to a spot he expected his receiver to be, but the wideout didn’t make it there because of pass interference by safety Sean Parker. The pass was picked off by Parker, but Parker was flagged to take the interception away.
Hundley had a slow start before he threw a bullet on an deep out to convert a third-and-long. It was an impressive NFL throw. To finish that drive, Hundley threw a short touchdown pass to defensive end Cassius Marsh who was in the game as a tight end on the goal line.
Late in the first quarter, Hundley took a bad sack as he scrambled around and held onto the ball too long when he should’ve thrown the ball away. Hundley had some nice runs including one where he hurdled a defender while scrambling downfield. In the third quarter, Hundley showed off a strong arm on another deep out.
Hundley threw a quick out in the final quarter to Devin Lucien, and he exploded down the field for a 40-yard touchdown. It was a great read by Hundley because Lucien’s corner blitzed Hundley and he quickly fired the ball to the open receiver. Lucien made the safety miss and was gone.
Hundley finished the game completing 13-of-22 passes for 159 yards with two touchdowns. He also showed some nice mobility including a 19-yard run. This was a solid performance that shouldn’t have a big impact for Hundley.
Two other players are worth mentioning. UCLA defensive end Cassius Marsh and linebacker Jordan Zumwalt both played well for the Bruins. Marsh had an impressive sack where he pushed the guard into the ground on an attempted cut block and chased down the quarterback. Marsh had good run defense as well. Late in the fourth quarter, Zumwalt had perfect coverage to make an interception in the middle of the field to go along with his forced fumble. Zumwalt has enjoyed a strong year and has helped himself this season.
Clemson 55, Georgia Tech 31
The Tigers versus Yellow Jackets featured a nice draft matchup of Georgia Tech speed-rusher Jeremiah Attaochu trying to limit Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd and wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
Attaochu started well when he quickly busted a screen pass on a third down in the first quarter. Shortly later, Attaochu fired to the inside on a stunt from left defensive end and came down the middle to sack Boyd. Attaochu forced a field goal a bit later by using a speed rush around the right tackle to sack Boyd. Attaochu added a couple of other run tackles near the line of scrimmage. Clemson did a better job of accounting for Attaochu as the game went on, but he still impressed enough to help his draft grade with this performance.
On the first drive, Boyd moved the ball with a lot of runs. He made a nice throw while rolling out to convert a third-and-9, but to end the drive, he held onto the ball too long and was sacked by Attaochu. Boyd took a deep drop early in the second quarter and laid out a bomb for Watkins. The wide out got away with a slight push and snatched the pass for a 41-yard touchdown.
Boyd was lucky his next throw wasn’t picked as the corner jumped the route after Boyd starred down his receiver. Boyd came back to throw some bullets for first downs. The senior signal-caller dropped in a beautiful deep ball down the middle of the field for a 47-yard gain to Martavius Bryant. Boyd then threw a fade pass for a touchdown to Mike Williams.
On the next drive, Boyd lofted a bomb to Bryant, who was streaking down the sideline. The ball was well thrown and hit Bryant on the run. He raced another 40 yards into the end zone for a 76-yard touchdown. That was Boyd’s 96th career touchdown pass to set a new ACC record that had been previously held by Philip Rivers.
Boyd had Clemson inside the Georgia Tech 10 on the next drive when he was about to be sacked by a few defenders. Boyd flung the ball away hoping for an incompletion, but the pass was intercepted by a Georgia Tech defensive end. It was a bad decision as Boyd didn’t have a safe outlet to dump off the ball.
Boyd lofted in another long toss to Bryant in the third quarter. The pass was launched from about 40 yards away and it fell in perfectly over the defensive back. On the next play, Boyd ran up the middle for a short touchdown. Boyd threw a quick slip screen to Watkins on the next possession. Watkins broke a tackle and exploded down the field away from a pack of defenders for a 44-yard touchdown.
With only 10 seconds left before the fourth quarter, Boyd ran up the middle and landed hard on his left shoulder. It looked like a potential injury to the collarbone or shoulder as Boyd went into the locker room, but he did return to the field with his pads and helmet on. At least it wasn’t his throwing arm, but Boyd said he was okay and there was no break.
Boyd finished the night completing 20-of-26 passes for 340 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. He ran for 63 yards with 12 carries and a score. Against Georgia Tech, Boyd put on a deep ball clinic. He threw downfield with amazing accuracy and had superb ball placement so that his receivers could make catches in stride. This tape will help Boyd when he gets graded by scouts. Boyd could go as high as the middle of the first round or fall to early in the second round. His performance in this game bolsters the higher projection.
Watkins also helped himself. He caught five receptions for 104 yards with two scores, while Bryant had 174 yards on five catches. This tape is further confirmation for Watkins as a first-round pick.
Clemson also has one of the best pass-rushing draft prospects in defensive end Vic Beasley. He came close to a blind-side sack in the first quarter, but the quarterback got rid of the ball just before Beasley hit him. In the third quarter, he fired into the backfield to take down the back for a loss of about five yards. Beasley came unblocked and the pitch went to his side of the field.
Beasley got in on another tackle for a loss. He came close to another sack, but with Georgia Tech’s option offense, he didn’t get many opportunities. This tape shouldn’t have an impact on his draft grade.
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