This section breaks down many college football games each week and highlights how 2020 NFL Draft Prospects have performed. Or look at the 2020 NFL Draft Stock page.
By Charlie Campbell.
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Penn State 28, Michigan 21
This tape won’t hurt or help Gross-Matos. If he decides to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, Gross-Matos looks like a first-rounder with the ability to fit a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme. Staying as a 4-3 base end could be his best fit.
Patterson revealed some bad habits against Penn State. There were plays where he had a clean pocket, but he would get frantic and rattled by a rush that wasn’t there. There was one play on which he made a jump pass when he had a clean pocket, and it would have been an easy completion if he had just thrown the checkdown with his feet set. On the next play, Patterson threw a terrible pass right to a defender on an attempted screen. Patterson’s field vision and composure need a lot of work as he often gets flustered when his first read is covered.
Patterson has a skill set with a strong arm and mobility, but he looks like a third-day prospect who should be a third-string developmental backup to see if he can improve enough to be considered a backup. He has a long way to go.
Washington State 41, Colorado 10
In the first quarter, Montez made a terrible play, rolling to his left and staring down his receiver on a deep crossing route. That led a defensive back to undercut the throw for an easy interception. On top of the poor decision, Montez did not set his feet and drifted, showing bad footwork on the play.
Montez continued to be off, making some ugly passes. He was throwing too high, passing off his back foot, taking a sack when he could have got rid of the ball, and had an interception dropped after staring down a receiver with a poorly underthrown pass. Midway through the second quarter, Montez threw another interception after rolling out as he just threw the ball up for grabs into a crowd of players. It was an easy interception in the end zone for Washington State and took away points from the Buffaloes. It was an awful decision by Montez with his team already down 21-3.
Montez continued to struggle in the third quarter, and the sideline reporter for ESPN said Montez was also trash talking with the Washington State fans. That is serious lack of composure and something pro evaluators will hate. Before the fourth quarter was half over, Colorado benched Montez for the backup quarterback. The backup was promptly injured, but rather than putting Montez back in the game, Colorado inserted the third-string quarterback. Montez finished completing 16-of-30 passes for 129 yards and two interceptions.
Montez has a good skill set with arm strength, size, and some athleticism. But he has terrible fundamentals. His footwork was awful against Washington State, and that led to him being very inaccurate. On top of that, he showed poor field vision, staring down receivers and making a plethora of bad decisions. This tape looked nothing like a quarterback who gets selected on the first two days of the draft.
Oregon 35, Washington 31
Herbert threw some early bullets to move the ball through the Washington secondary. He was showing off his accuracy and powerful arm to rip the ball downfield. Herbert laced a 12-yard strike to his tight end for the score, finishing the drive. It was a great read, as he froze the linebacker with play-action and fit in a perfect strike before the safety could close. It extended his touchdown pass streak to 35 straight games.
Herbert continued to move the ball, but had a terrible overthrow of a tight end who was wide open deep downfield in a pass that Herbert needs to make. He had another touchdown pass right before halftime on a wide receiver screen, and another screen worked for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. Herbert made some good throws to set up scores for his offense and get a tough road win. He completed 24-of-28 passes for 280 yards and four touchdowns.
There is no doubt that Herbert has an excellent skill set with a powerful arm. He can drive the ball and make every throw required in the NFL. For the most part, he has good accuracy that is above average, but would not be considered great. With lots of experience reading coverage, Hebert has good field vision to work through progressions and read coverage while knowing where to go with the ball. On top of size and arm talent, Herbert is a good athlete with the ability to make some plays with his feet. The questions with Herbert are can he push his team to a win in a big game against a good opponent. This performance helped him in that regard. There are some other questions. He is a quiet player and does not have the vocal leadership skills that some pro teams want. They wonder if Herbert can lead an NFL huddle. His instincts seem off at times as well, so Herbert has a great skill set but in some ways leaves some evaluators wanting a little more.
Eason dropped back on a play-action in the second quarter and fit in a well-placed ball to drop into his receiver for a 48-yard touchdown. Eason threw some beauties to move the ball down the field late in the first half, including a back-shoulder throw on the far sideline for 27 yards to set up a short wide receiver screen for a touchdown.
Eason picked up where he left off in the third quarter, moving the ball down the field before throwing a short pass that turned into a 33-yard touchdown. Oregon’s offense controlled the ball and kept Eason on the sideline for some long stretches in the second half, as they made a comeback to take the lead.
ason had one final chance to get Washington the win, and he threw some nice passes to move the ball down the field late in regulation. However, he hesitated to get rid of a pass when he had free rushers closing, and that led him taking a costly sack. Eason came back to throw a rope down the middle of the field for 15 yards on third down, but on fourth-and-3, his pass had too much mustard on it and the ball flew incomplete. A pass interference should have been called, but Eason needs to throw a more catchable ball and not rip a fastball in a close window. Eason finished completing 23-of-30 passes for 289 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Eason has the skill set to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. He is a tall, strong, and gifted signal caller with pocket presence. There is no doubt that Eason has a cannon for a right arm with the ability to make all the throws in the NFL. He generally has above-average accuracy and can beat good coverage with the strength of his arm or the placement of his passes. He could stand to put more touch on some passes and throw a more catchable ball. It would also help him to continue to work on reading defenses, working through progressions, and speeding up his process. Eason also does not offer mobility or running threat ability for the pro game. Some team sources say that Eason is similar to Herbert in that he has a lot of physical tools but also is not that instinctive a passer.
It sounds like Eason intends on skipping his senior year to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, but Eason missed the 2017 and 2018 seasons with injury and transferring. He should go back to school and develop before entering the pros. If he did that, he could be a top-10 pick in 2021, but if he comes out after this season, he might be more of a mid-to-late first-rounder, and it isn’t out of the question for him to slide, depending on how the pre-draft process goes.
LSU 36, Mississippi State 13
Burrow found a wide-open receiver in busted coverage for a 60-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He then hit Ja’Marr Chase running open into the end zone for a short touchdown pass. To open the third quarter, Burrow had some rough plays, as he threw a pass downfield and was lucky that his receiver broke up an interception for Cameron Dantzler. The next play, Dantzler sacked Burrow and forced a fumble that Burrow was fortunate LSU recovered. Burrow recovered, throwing another touchdown, as Mississippi State had busted coverage. Burrow finished completing 25-of-32 passes for 327 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Burrow has the ability to play in the NFL, as he has quality size with a strong-enough arm and some accuracy as a passer. In speaking to team sources, they say that Burrow is a rising prospect with his strong play as a senior. However, they feel that Burrow has some skill set limitations, and as a result, they see him more topping out as a day-two prospect similar to Andy Dalton or Derek Carr. Some had graded Burrow as a fourth-rounder awhile back but see him rising and think that he could end up going somewhere in day two.
Jefferson continued his strong season with eight catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. He has an early-round skill set but could slide in a talented wide receiver class with depth.
Florida 38, South Carolina 27
Edwards had a step running down the sideline on Marco Wilson just prior to halftime, but the pass was overthrown in what could have been a touchdown from midfield. Henderson was in good position downfield following intermission, but dropped an interception. Florida gave up a 26-yard touchdown run on the very next play, so it was a painful drop by Henderson.
Later in the third quarter, Henderson came back to get a sack on a blind side cornerback blitz, and that helped the Gators force South Carolina to settle for a field goal when they were close to the end zone. Henderson made a surprisingly good tackle in run support in the fourth frame.
Henderson had a better performance than a week ago against LSU as he showed better tackling and physical play than he did a week ago. With size and speed, Henderson has a first-round skill set and has good cover corner potential with the NFL with the ability to start early in his career. If he would just consistently be a better tackler and a more physical defender, he could be a top-20 pick and No. 1 corner in the NFL.
Edwards totaled 78 yards on seven receptions. He looks like could be a nice day-two or mid-round pick who could develop into a quality No. 2 or 3 receiver in the NFL.
Kinlaw blew through the left guard to start the third quarter to get a pressure on Trask that forced a terrible pass that was intercepted. Shortly later, he had a third-down tackle for no gain to force a Gators punt.
Kinlaw was seeing steady double teams throughout the game that kept him from some splash plays, but the extra attention that Kinlaw drew helped free up his teammates to make some plays before Florida pulled away.
Kinlaw is a tall, thick, and good-looking athlete. He has passed the eyeball test, so one can see some special ability as Kinlaw really fires off the ball. He is quick to close and has strength to fight off blockers. Kinlaw (6-6, 310) looks like a first-round pick next April.
Clemson 45, Louisville 10
Simmons made a good read early to see a stretch run getting set up, and he flew into the backfield to get a 6-yard tackle for a loss. Simmons then hit a receiver from the backside to smack the ball out and get his defense off the field with a third-down incompletion. Simmons then had another good decision late in the opening half to come on a delay to sack the scrambling quarterback on third down. Simmons added a bunch of tackles in run support and was always around the ball.
Simmons is a top-20 pick, as he can do everything on the field. He is a sideline-to-sideline run defender who is fast and physical. He also covers well in pass coverage while being able to contribute to the pass rush as a dangerous blitzer. This tape is going to help Simmons’ cause.
Becton is a giant blocker who is similar to Cordy Glenn. While Becton (6-7,330) is huge, he is a good athlete for his size and moves pretty well in space. Becton has quick feet for a big blocker and also shows the ability to bend at the knee and not be a waist bender reaching after edge rushers.
Becton does a nice job in the ground game of sustaining his blocks. Even though he is massive, Becton is not an overpowering bull. He makes it tough for defenders to get free with his size, as he turns and manipulates them. In pass protection, he needs to improve his hand placement as he can get too wide and let defenders get their hands in chest. That can make Becton have problems with bull rushes. Becton has talent, but it might best for him to return for his senior year and redistribute some weight with added strength and improved technique before going pro.
Etienne got his game started with a run up the middle of 48 yards, showing his speed to burst down field. He had a 49-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to put the game away for Clemson. Etienne broke a tackle at the second level, ran through another arm tackle, and then exploded down the field for the score. Etienne limped off the field a bit later, but the injury did not look serious. Etienne totaled 192 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. He also caught four passes for 35 yards.
Etienne looks like he could be a second-day pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He is quick slashing runner who has good vision, quick feet and receiving ability. He is a constant threat to break off long runs. However, he is smaller, and that makes him more of a day-two pick rather than a first-rounder.
LOADING COMMENTS.
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