Underclassmen for the 2008 NFL Draft

Image: Jeremy Perry, Guard, Oregon State

When I started evaluating the prospects for the 2008 NFL Draft one thing that I realized was that many of the best players seem to be juniors. That makes it tough, on one hand you don't want to focus on players that might not even be in the 2008 NFL Draft, but on the other hand, if they really are so good, why wait until they declare for the Draft before you talk about them, by then it's almost too late. Mel Kiper, for example, won't include underclassmen on his Big Board until after they declare. A lot of other NFL Draft Sites follow suit and seem very shy about focusing on juniors.

I do things different; I will not hesitate to highlight any player that has potential for the NFL Draft, either this year (2008) or a future draft, I even made a list of who I feel are the Sophomore NFL Prospects. So the juniors end up not declaring for the draft, no big deal, just move them to the next year's NFL Draft coverage, update your rankings, your mock drafts and keep on rolling.

So today I want to highlight a few of the very best juniors that would be top NFL Prospects if they would declare. Of course Arkansas running back Darren McFadden should be the first under-classmen to come off the boards, but there are many more that aren't as well publicized. Miami's defensive end Calais Campbell looks like the next Too Tall Jones. Campbell has been a man among boys while playing college football, standing at 6' 7" 280 pounds; he is huge, but well proportioned and highly athletic. Campbell got 12 starts last year as a sophomore and recorded 84 tackles, 10.5 sacks and his amazing 20.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage ranked him 9^th in the entire nation. Also a potential top ten pick and a team mate of Campbell at Miami is prep-star safety Kenny Phillips, who is the top rated safety on almost every rankings list that I have seen this year. Phillips is the complete package, normally at safety you have either a cover guy or a big hitter and you have to make a compromise between the two, not so with Phillips, he can back pedal into coverage at an elite level or turn on the jets and come up and lay on the devastating hit as good as any safety that has entered the draft in recent memory. Phillips has experience at the in-demand free safety spot where he already has 21 starts under his belt; last year as a sophomore he recorded 71 tackles, 4 interception and 6 pass break ups.

Junior offensive tackle Ryan Clady from Boise State, if he declares early, will be one of the best underclassmen offensive tackles to ever enter the NFL Draft. He might not be drafted ahead of Michigan's Jake Long or USC's Sam Baker, but he might end up as the best pro down the road. Clady is 6' 6" 320 pounds and has the perfect NFL frame and feet; once he gets a little stronger he is going to be a dominating force in the NFL. Clady started 11 games at right tackle as a red shirt freshman and last year as a sophomore received All-American honors while starting every game at left tackle. Sticking with the offensive line theme, offensive tackle Michael Oher from Ole Miss and offensive Guard Jermey Perry from Oregon State are a couple more offensive line prospects that carry very high early round NFL Draft potential, in fact Perry is my top rated guard prospect, at 6' 2" 320 pounds he is not huge, but his technique is flawless and his tenacity is unprecedented, he sustains his blocks until his opponent is on the ground, in fact he might even have to tone his aggressiveness down a little in the NFL or he might pick up an unnecessary roughness penalty. Perry was a 2006 PAC-10 Conference First Teamer and the 2005 PAC-10 co-Freshman of the Year. Born in Hau'ula, Hawaii', Perry has been on the Outland Trophy Watch list two years in a row including this year.

Running back Ray Rice from Rutgers is a player, that if he does declare early for the 2008 NFL Draft, might slip a little due to the fact that he is only 5' 9" tall, but don't count Rice out, he might be short in stature but he is not short on talent, he is 200 pounds of solid muscle, very explosive and even in the NFL he is going to break a lot of tackles. Going into his junior season Rice has already played in 25 games and scored 25 touchdowns. Rice is on many Heisman Trophy Watch Lists. Last year he supplanted All-American running back/fullback Brian Leonard who was selected in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft, that in itself should tell you something.

I covered the linebackers a few weeks ago so I am not going to talk about them today, but the position of cornerback looks particularly weak this year unless we get some help from some juniors. Malcom Jenkins from Ohio State might be the first corner off the board if he declares; he has prototype NFL size and speed and is a first team Athlon Sports All-American along with another talented junior, Brandon Flowers from Virginia Tech. Not to be over shadowed in the least at cornerback is Kansas Star Aqib Talib, he has a weird name, but has the talent, that if he should declare early, could easily fit in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. In Phil Steele's College Football Preview for 2007, Talib was rated as the top cornerback in the entire nation. Talib is a first Team All Big 12 selection with 19 starts under his belt, last year (2006) he finished with 6 interceptions and an amazing 22 pass break ups. The junior class looks impressive indeed at corner when you also factor in Penn State's talented corner Justin King, who himself is even listed in the first round of many of the mock drafts these days. King is a little inexperienced, he played wide receiver as a true freshman, but was moved to corner last year and he recorded 30 tackles, 1 interception and 6 pass break ups. King reportedly has sub 4.3 speed; if that speed holds true he will be a hot commodity in the NFL Draft. There are so many talented juniors that I am going to have to finish this article in another installment, so check back in a few days and I will cover even more of the talented underclassmen that might shake up the 2008 NFL Draft.