Pro draft preview 2022: Collegefootballfan.com’s Top prospects on offense seen in Action

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With the NFL draft scheduled for April 28-30, here we offer you Collegefootballfan.com’s top offensive prospects. Seen in action the last few years, these college players became eligible for the 2022 draft. Some are well known as you will see. However, we will provide some potential mid to low-round talent for draft consideration. These lower picks and even eventual free-agent signees make up the core of solid rosters over time.

Since 2019, (despite the 2020 Covid-19-impacted season limiting Collegefootballfan.com to only three games) , we watched many top prospects play against one another. Overall, we attended 48 gridiron clashes played among 69 different teams – 23 among Power Five programs and 23 among the Group of Five programs. We also witnessed 14 FCS programs play. We even watched five D-2 and D-3 games among top-ranked programs compete. These lesser schools truly offer some hidden top prospects for the NFL draft.

Check out our input by position. We’ll see when and where all these top prospects end up. After the three days of intense, team-building, draft strategies for the top level of professional football, we always enjoy being able to say, “Look at them now, we saw them when…”

Quarterbacks

We watched QB Sam Howell (13) lead UNC over Temple in a big win in the Military Bowl in Annapolis during his Frosh year in 2019. As experience around him dwindled the past two seasons, he learned a lot. We see him as the top QB prospect in this year’s draft.
A four-year starter at Cincinnati, QB Desmond Ridder (9) tosses a 29-yard TD pass against UCF to TE Josh Whylie in 2020. Tough, durable, and an experienced winner (44-5 record), Ridder may be a good mid-round, developmental choice. He led the Bearkats completing 62.1% of his UC career passes for 10,239 yards, 87 TDs, and 28 INTs. Whylie may be one of our top prospects of 2023.
QB Bailey Zappe, a grad transfer from Houston Baptist at Western Kentucky (9-4) in 2022, broke single-season NCAA passing records. He set records with 5,967 passing yards and 62 TDs. We saw his team lose by two two Indiana and defeat rival Middle Tennessee State, seen in action here. In our view, he’ll get selected in a mid-round and become a long-time journeyman , at least, in the NFL.

Offensive Lineman

NC State OT Ikem Ekwonu (79), seen here vs Wake Forest last season , looks to go early after a successful 9-3 season for the Wolfpack. Known to be tough and tenacious. He stands in at 6’4″, 320 lbs. “The Athletic” titled him “most feared lineman in ACC.”
Another ACC OL, Boston College’s Zion Johnson (77) opens hole here for breathing room against Wake Forest in 2021 loss. He weighs in at 6-3, 316 lbs. He’s projected to play guard and gone in the first round in several mock drafts.
Kentucky OT Darian Kinnard (seen center front), 2021 Consensus All American, looks likely to move to OG in the NFL. At 6’5″ 322 lbs., he posted 46 starts, 39 in row for UK. Seen here vs. South Carolina in 2020, he’s projected to go in Round 2.
Among top OL prospects in the Group of Five, OT Max Mitchell (74) of Louisiana stands out. A proven winner, the Ragin Cajuns finished 23-2 the last two years. We saw them in wins both years over Texas State and here at Liberty.
Penn State OT Rasheed Walker (53) started 32 games at left tackle. At 6’6″, 330 lbs. he might need some work on technique according to some reports. Expect him to go in the first three rounds.

Wide receivers/ Tight ends

Penn State WR Jahan Dotson dives for first of four Lion TD passes to take an early 7-0 lead for PSU. In 41 games, Dotson snared 183 passes for 2,757 yards and 25 TDS. Quick, fast, but small, he’ll bolster some team’s receiving corps.
Western Kentucky WR Jerreth Sterns pick up yards against MTSU to break the Hilltopper record for receiving yards in a season. He finished with 150 snags for 1,902 yards and 17 TDS. He starred previously at Houston Baptist.
Tennessee WR Velus Jones scores on a 15-yard catch and run in the 2021 Music City Bowl against Purdue. A transfer from USC in 2020, he started 19 games for the Vols making 84 receptions for 1,087 yards and 10 TDs. He returned a kickoff for a score and averaged 27.3 yards on kick returns and 15.1 yards on punt returns. He’ll be a top prospect for special teams alone.
Rutgers WR Bo Melton led the Scarlet Knights in receiving for three years. He was second team All Big Ten in 2020 though RU QBs struggled. Could be a late round pick or possible free agent. Seen here versus BC in 2019.

Running backs

BYU RB Tyler Algeier bulls over for his first of five TDs and 266 yards on 29 carries when we watched the Cougars defeat Virginia, 66-49. Against UAB in the Independence Bowl we attended, he gained 193 yards and scored thrice. In three seasons at Provo, totaled 2,850 yards, 36 TDs averaging 6.4 yards per carry. At 5’11” 224 lbs., a good blocker with soft hands, he will be a valuable asset to any offense.
Baylor’s Abram Smith barrels in for his second TD of the day against Texas State in their 2021 opener. He converted from LB to RB his senior season toe lead the 12-2 Bears in rushing with 1,601 yards and 12 TDs. Will probably go as a late round pick to be used in tough yardage situations.
South Carolina’s Kevin Harris impressed against UK in 2020 when he led the SEC in rushing. His state declined in 2021 and scouts are not impressed by any blocking prowess. He could be a late draft pick or become a free agent.

Top Prospects on Defense coming up in next report

We’ve got many more top prospects for the draft on the defensive side of the football. Come back and see who we’ve got on our next edition planned for April 6!

Spring Games

Our choices are few and local this spring as only one weekend will be available to us to do some preliminary “scouting”, and to hear once again the popping of pads. We plan to see two nearby programs on the same Saturday April 16 respectively, one at 10 am and the second at 1 pm.

The first scrimmage plays out in Murfreesboro. There, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will shake out the cobwebs to see what they have in store for 2022. HC Rick Stockstill’s team comes off a 7-6 season with a Bahamas Bowl win over Toledo, 31-24. The key to his spring will be deciding what QB will start for the Blue Raiders in 2022. Soph Mike DiLello and Frosh Nick Vittiato shared time filling in after starter Chase Cunningham went down for the season after the UConn victory. They combined for a 4-2 record. They open next season at James Madison, newest member of teh FBS in teh Sun Belt Conference. Collegefootball.com plans to see the Blue Raiders host Western Kentucky on October 15.

Then we head west…

Toward Nashville to see SEC cellar dweller Vanderbilt who us what they’ve got going after HC Clark Lea’s inaugural season that ended 2-10, 0-8. The two wins came over Colorado State, 24-21, and at home over hapless UConn, 30-28. We’ll just be watching to see how Commodore blocking and tackling skills are coming along basically. They open their season at Hawaii. We will see them host formidable pre-season Top 20 Wake Forest with QB Sam Hartman and the Deacs coming off their 11-2 season. They will be looking to challenge for the ACC title with a solid core of returning players.

Scheduling twists and turns

With the price of gas and other costs climbing as we personally head into a fixed base retirement income, budget planning becomes more of a variable in our planning process for 2022. We’re cutting back a little on the number of games, looking at closer game destinations, avoiding exorbitant ticket prices to some top games under consideration, and cutting back on excess hotels rooms where needed in some cases. However, we continue to come up with alternatives that give us a very interesting schedule comprised of mostly competitive games.

We still maintain traditions such as attending at least one game at Penn State and one at Navy. We’ve also maintained our membership in the Navy Blue and Gold Club to attend the ArmyNavy Game in December once again. Focus remains on seeing more games within driving distance while still getting to some stadiums we’ve never been to yet. Some weekday games offer these opportunities. We’re still waiting to shake out some opportunities to meet up with friends who have ties to some campuses we’d still like to get to. Things continue to get moved around and we’re hoping to see some games move to Friday nights or other alternatives once TV schedules get settled. Continue to check out our game updates by clicking here as our slate develops as the 2022 season continues to draw near.

by Steve Koreivo, ed. and author of “Tales from the Tailgate: From the fan who’s seen ’em all!” The adventure of a lifetime, how he attended a game played by the original 119 FBS teams at least once. Click here to read this story today!

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