Small School Studs for the 2008 NFL Draft

Image: Bruce Hocker, WR, Duquesne

Every year a few small school prospects emerge into the national spotlight leading up to the Draft and this year is no different, in fact there will be some great small school prospects in the 2008 NFL Draft. By now everyone has heard the story about Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo coming from the small school ranks of Eastern Illinois.

With so many NFL teams in desperate need of a quarterback there will be three small school quarterbacks that garner a lot of attention from NFL Scouts: Joe Flacco from Delaware, Ricky Santos from New Hampshire, and last but not least, Josh Johnson from San Diego. Those three prospects are legitimate NFL prospects and with patience and good coaching, could emerge into quality NFL starters.

Of course everyone wants to focus on quarterbacks and with those three talented quarterbacks, there is a lot to talk about, but for this post I want to write about three other small school prospects that look to have bright future in the NFL.

Wide Receiver Bruce Hocker from Duquesne has a lot of NFL Scouts' attention. He is the complete package with butter soft hands, nice size at 6' 3" 206 pounds and decent speed, he has been clocked as fast as 4.44 in the forty. After breaking his collar bone as a sophomore he came back strong last season as a junior (2006) and accumulated 1,070 receiving yards with 16 touchdowns. This year as a senior (2007) he has seen almost constant double teams, but after playing nine games, with one left to play, he has made 48 receptions for 625 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Defensive End Rudolph (Rudie) Hardie from Howard University is a little known defender with a vast amount of talent. He often gets over looked by NFL scouts because he is a little short at 6' 1" tall, but at close to 280 pounds he is rock solid and strong as an ox. Hardie is also very quick off the ball and has been hugely productive on the football field. Hardie is currently ranked 2nd in the FCS (1AA) with 22.5 tackles for a loss and ranked 5th in sacks with 10. Hardie might be a late round steal in the 2008 NFL Draft. He has been clocked as fast as 4.67 seconds in he forty. That's pretty quick for a man of his size.

Cornerback Dominique Rogers-Cromartie from Tennessee State has already received a lot of national press and it looks like it has been for good reason. Quite often these uber talented defensive backs get over looked because they don't put up very lofty statistics. Defensive coordinators find out about these guys and they formulate their game plans to avoid them. To make a long story short, they just don't get many balls thrown their way because they have their man covered so well. Cromartie has been able to make the most out of his touches however, especially recently. He has two interceptions in his last three games and amazingly he returned both back for touchdowns, one for 69 yards and one for 71 yards. He has also returned 28 kick-offs for 635 yards, blocked four kicks and defended 11 passes. Cromartie has the potential to even be drafted on the first day of the 2008 NFL Draft, and that is saying a lot with the new changes to the draft, as the first day will only include the first two rounds.