Seen 'em all – 133 FBS teams in action. Three new members to be added the next two years. All divisions: 705 games attended since 1979! Get my new book now available on Amazon.com in Kindle and in Paperback: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly! Follow our 31-game schedule in 2024.
Collegefootballfan.com has attended 82 college football games over the last three years, and with that you can see we’ve surely witnessed some great football talent eligible for the 2019 pro draft coming up this Thursday. Forget the pro days and forget the televised try-outs, we evaluate the players in action. We can’t remember the individual performances of all of them, but based on those we’ve focused on and the overall performance of their team on that day, we can give pretty good assessments of who we think will make it and who won’t despite what the “experts” say. As in the past few years, Collegefootballfan.com presents a pictorial analysis of players in action who you will see and hear about when the selections start this upcoming Thursday.
No. 1 to Arizona Cardinals – Heisman winner Kyler Murray (1) of Oklahoma got outgunned in this showdown against Heisman runner-up Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama. Good arm and good speed, his stats impress with a 69% completion rate for 4,361 yards and 42 TDs against suspect Big Twelve defenses. We don’t think his stature will keep him in the NFL for the long term. For Kyler’s sake, we still hope he’s in one piece when he opts out to pursue a Major League Baseball career. No. 9 to Buffalo – Houston DT Ed Oliver (10) was an early draft choice, but we thought LB Austin Robinson (22) could possibly make a bigger impact at the pro level. He racked up six sacks among 128 tackles during his senior season with the Cougars. No word on any free agency yet.No. 11 to Bengals – Alabama LT Jonah Williams (73) will be providing adequate protection to some lucky QB in the NFL as he did for Tua Tagvailoa. He could be a dominating keeper for a long time.No. 12 to the Dolphins – Clemson’s Christian Wilkins (42) will lead several fellow Tiger defensive line mates including Clelin Ferrel (No. 4 to the Raiders) and Dexter Lawrence (No. 17 to the Giants) into the early rounds of the draft toward stellar careers.No. 14 to Atlanta Falcons Boston College Guard Chris Lindstrom (75) will be opening up holes to bolster somebody’s running game as he did for the Eagles.No. 100 to the Panthers West Virginia QB Will Grier runs for first down against VA Tech in their 2017 opener. In 2018, he completed 67% of his passes for 3,864 yards and 37 TDs. Like Kyler Murray, the question is how do those Big Twelve stats translate to success at the next lever?No. 53 to Philadelphia Miles Sanders (24) bursts through Maryland line for a big gain. He went early in this year’s draft after gaining 1,274 rushing yards and scoring nine TDs for the Nittany Lions. James Madison CB Jimmy Moreland (6) didn’t follow South Dakota State receiver, Jake Wieneke (19), as an undrafted free agent into the pros. The Redskins made him draft choice no. 227. Weineke signed on with the Vikings before being cut in 2018 and going to the now defunct AAF. Moreland picked off five INTs during his senior season for the Dukes.Watch out for this guy to make it big in the NFL. Wake Forest’s Greg Dortch torched the Louisville Cardinal secondary four times before he got injured falling on a pylon late in this game. He recovered and caught 89 passes for 1,089 yards and eight TDs from an inexperienced QB in 2018. He’ll be go-to guy for the New York Jets who signed him as a free agent. He’ll be returning punts, too.Boston College CB Hamp Cheevers (4) looks to make stop against No. 62 to Cardinals UMass WR Andy Isabella who led the FBS in 2018 with 1,698 receiving yards. Cheevers opted out after his junior year to go pro after picking off seven passes. He did not get selected and awaits free agency. No. 60 to LA Chargers – Delaware Safety Nasir Adderly (23) will seek to make an impact as a hard-hitter in the pros. Liberty WR Antonio Gandy-Golden makes one of several sideline catches against UMass in a 62-59 OT shoot-out loss. His athleticism impressed us and hopefully some NFL scouts, too. He came down with 71 receptions for 1,037 yards and ten TDs in 2018. No one selected him, but someone will certainly get him into their camp as a free agent.No . 65 to Cardinals Boston College DE Zach Allen (2) pursues Miami QB in the Eagles 27-14 win last season. He seems to has the size and toughness to make it on Sundays, but we’re not sure about his quickness to make any significant impact at the next level.Ryquell Armstead (7) races around the right side of Golden Hurricane defense. He ran for 1,098 yards and 13 TDs during his senior season. We liked him in several games early in his Temple career. The Jaguars picked him up ant No. 140.No. 87 to Patriots – Alabama RB Damien Harris (34) led a talented, balanced Tide rushing attack with 876 yards and nine TDs to the 2018 CFP. He showed his versatility with 22 catches for 204 yards. He runs hard and has a lot of yards left in him to add to the Pats running attack next season.Over the past two seasons, Penn State’s Amani Oruwariye (21) has impressed at CB tallying 100 tackles and eight INTs. We look forward to him be a solid defender after being drafted by the Lions at No. 146.No. 78 to Dolphins C/G Michael Deiter (63) of Wisconsin and his cohorts up front put the Badgers at fourth in the nation averaging 273.4 yards per game in the rushing department. He stands 6’6″ 310 lbs and should bolster someone’s line by end of the second round.
Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham could go on late rounds to be considered for long term development. His performance fell off from junior to senior year at Auburn after transferring from Baylor, but with some development and his strong arm, he could be a worthwhile project for the future. Evidently Bill Belichick thinks the same as the Patriots picked him up at No. 133.Boston College’s Tommy Sweeney (89) blocking here against Miami was one of the last Tight Ends picked in this year’s draft by the Bills at No. 228. We also saw TE Irv Smith of Alabama perform against Oklahoma. We liked his toughness and strength. We predicted he’d also be one of the top selections taken at that position and he was by the Vikings at No. 50 .Breakfast in the afternoon: No. 90 Dallas Cowboy RG Connor McGovern (323 lbs) “pancakes” Terp DT Keiron Howard (290 Lbs) after Miles Sanders moves past line for PSU.Northern Illinois DE Sutton Smith (15) fights to get to Toledo ball carrier and got selected at No. 175 by the Steelers.Penn State defenders Kevin Givens (30) and Shareef Miller (48) opted out after their Junior season to risk going pro. The Eagles nabbed DE Miller at No. 138. Givens is waiting to hear what teams may have an interest. Alabama Center Ross Pierschbacher opens a hole for Crimson Tide running game and an opportunity with the Washington Redskins who selected him at as No. 153 in the draft.Trace McSorely (9) rushes against Maryland Terrapins. The record-setting Penn State QB will now be heading to Maryland instead of against them as the Ravens selected him at No. 137. They may consider him for action at another position so they say.
