Young Guns for the 2009 NFL Draft

I have just updated my 2009 NFL Draft Positional Rankings and for the first time I have included sophomores. Unlike most NFL Draft Sites, I do try to predict (or speculate) on who might enter the draft as an under-classmen. Isn’t that what being a Draftnik is all about, speculating about the NFL Draft? So if you are a purist and you think it’s unethical to talk about under-classmen until they actually declare, then you’ve come to the wrong place. So when I am wrong on some of my predictions and some of these prospects decide to go back to college for another year, then I will just update my rankings, just as we all have to update when we finally know exactly which under-classmen has declared.

This is the first time I have ever included sophomores in my rankings or Mock Drafts, heck (currently 7 August), I even have a sophomore as my number one over-all draft pick in my recently updated 2009 NFL Mock Draft. As a disclaimer, I am not recommending that any of these prospects enter the draft early, especially as a sophomore and unless they are a running back, I don’t think they should even enter early as a junior. The running back position is the exception, they only have so much tread on their tires, durability is a concern, you hate to see a college prospect beat themselves down in college and get injured, plus the running back position, except for blocking, is not that hard. Give a running back the ball and he knows exactly which way to run.

So back to the original purpose of this article, since this is the first time I have ever included sophomores in my rankings I wanted to highlight the three prospects that I have chosen to include. All three of the following sophomore prospects are eligible for the draft. The NFL says that a player must simply be three years removed from high school and all three are red-shirt freshman, meaning they sat out and didn’t play their true freshman college football season.

I will start out with maybe the top player in college football at this point, Wide receiver Michael Crabtree from Texas Tech. As a freshman last year he really caught my eye, yes he played for pass happy Texas Tech and the system did pad his stats a little, but C’mon, 22 touchdowns (TDs) and the winner of the Biletnikoff Award as a freshman, that is just unheard of. I watched him play quite a bit last year and he destroyed some talented senior defensive backs that are playing in the NFL right now. Playing against Texas and Oklahoma alone last year he accumulated 22 receptions for 349 yards and 3 touchdowns (TDs). He started out the season on fire last year by scoring 17 touchdowns by October 6th. His total receptions were 134 for 1,962 yards and 22 TDs. Crabtree was the Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year and led the nation and the Big 12 in receptions (134), receiving yards (1,962) and touchdowns (22) - all NCAA freshman records. Plus he didn’t do this against Hawaii; most of his games were in the brutal Big 12. So how did he do this? Well he has all the tools, he looks like he was born to play receiver, he has nice size (6’ 3” 208 pounds), speed, quickness and hands. He looks like a young Michael Irvin to me. It would definitely benefit him to stay in school at least one more year, you could say that about all three of these prospects, but if he does enter the draft, he will be hot property.

Jeremy Maclin is another super talented receiver; Maclin does double duty as a punt and kick returner and put up some pretty gaudy numbers, again in the Big 12. Maclin’s 2,776 all-purpose yards were the most by a freshman in NCAA history and the fifth most by any player ever. Maclin was the only player in the nation to record touchdowns via receiving (9), rushing (4), punt return (2) and kickoff return (1). His kickoff return of 99 yards against Kansas State was one for the record books; it was Missouri's first kickoff return for a TD since 1982. He also set a school record with 360 all-purpose yards against rival Kansas State. As a slot receiver he exploded for a team high 1,055 yards last year and this spring he blazed a 4.32 forty yard dash. At 6’ 1” 200 pounds he is not some small guy either. If he continues to refine his technique, stays healthy and puts up the kind of numbers he put up last year, it might be hard to stop him from jumping to the NFL early. He should be the focal point of Missouri’s offense this year and he will have a Heisman Trophy Candidate throwing him the ball in QB Chase Daniel.

Running Back Knowshon Moreno is getting a ton of hype right now. Georgia is ranked number one in most pre-season College Football Top 25 Polls and Moreno is part of the reason why. This pre-season the accolades are already flying in. Moreno has been named as an All-America and All-SEC first team by Lindy’s, Phil Steele, Athlon, Sporting News, Blue Ribbon; and All-SEC first team by SEC Coaches and Birmingham News. The reason, simply put, Moreno is very good. Last year (2007), he appeared in 13 games making six starts with 248 carries for 1,334 yards (5.3 average) and 14 TDs. He is also excellent catching the ball out of the backfield; he made 20 receptions for 253 yards with a 12.6 yards per catch average. Moreno ended the season with the second-most yards per game (102.6 average) in the SEC and finished No. 2 on the school’s all-time list and No. 4 on the SEC’s all-time list for most yards rushing by a freshman (1,334 yards). He was named to the Freshman All-America First Team by Rivals.com and Scout.com and All-SEC First-Team by Associated Press, SEC Coaches and Rivals.com; named SEC All-Freshman and SEC Freshman Offensive Player of the Year by Sporting News and named to the SEC Coaches All-Freshman team. He is a workhorse, has decent size (5” 11” 207 lbs) and is very durable, he carried the ball 33 times against Florida last season. Quick, strong, shifty, fast and he breaks tackles, the young Knowshon Moreno has all the attributes of an NFL running back.

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