2015 NFL Draft Picks on Display: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M, Oregon State vs. USC
By Jason McIntyre
Each week this season, we’ll highlight a few games with NFL draft prospects with an eye toward the 2015 draft. Here’s week one if you missed it; here’s week two; here’s week three.
Arkansas at Texas A&M, 3:30 pm, CBS
ARKANSAS – Trey Flowers, Defensive End, Redshirt Senior. Dangerous game here for the Aggies, who were two-touchdown favorites, but the line is down to nine. Next week, Texas A&M plays mighty Mississippi State, a Top 15 team. If the Aggies don’t block the 6-foot-4, 270-pound Flowers, they’ll be in trouble. Flowers is coming off arguably the best game of his career (SEC defensive lineman of the week: Nine tackles, one sack, two TFL, one forced fumble in a rout over Northern Illinois) and will hopefully be going against a 2015 first round pick in Cedric Ogbuehi. With good size and decent speed and strength, Flowers is projected as a mid-late round pick, but an impressive performance Saturday could obviously help his cause. He was completely shut down last year against the Aggies. Is fond of bow ties.
TEXAS A&M – Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Redshirt Senior: Will he be the No. 1 tackle taken in the 2015 draft? He might be. A beefy but quick 6-foot-5, 300 pounds, he’s the latest in a long line of elite tackles. Could have been a 1st round pick, but Texas A&M stepped in with some big “money” to keep him. Remember, the University of Texas didn’t want him.
Oregon State at USC, 10:30 pm, ESPN
OREGON STATE – Sean Mannion, QB, Redshirt Senior: Everyone is enamored with the younger QBs ahead of the 2015 draft – and rightly so – but the 6-foot-5 Mannion will be a sleeper after the season. He turns 23 in April, meaning he’ll have a year or two more QB experience on the likes of Hundley, Winston, Mariota, etc. Mannion put up prolific stats with the Beavers – barring injury, he’ll break Matt Barkley’s Pac-12 record for passing yards in October – and probably will be one of the first 5-6 QBs off the board. This won’t sound good based on Thursday night, but Mannion at times reminds me of Kirk Cousins. Quick, decisive, very good arm, but he’s actually less mobile in the pocket. Surely Andy Dalton’s name will get flung around.
OREGON STATE: Steven Nelson, CB, Senior: He’s here because even though he’s only projected as a mid-late round pick, Nelson will have the opportunity to increase his stock against USC star Nelson Agholor. Nelson (5-foot-11, 195 pounds) went the JUCO route and was chosen as the best at his position last year. He committed to Georgia, but recanted, and ended up in Corvallis. Supposedly held his own against Brandon Cooks (now with the Saints) in practice last year.
Missouri at South Carolina, 7:30 pm, ESPN
MISSOURI – Markus Golden, Defensive End, Junior: Put up strong numbers last year (13 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks) on a formidable defensive unit, and has picked up right where he left off this season: 6.5 TFL, 4.0 sacks in just three games. He sat out last week with a hamstring injury, and the Hooisers ran right where he would have been. Missouri lost, 31-27. Golden will play against Missouri. He’s slightly undersized at 6-foot-3, 260, so he’ll run into some of the same problems former teammate Michael Sam ran into: Where can this guy play in the pros?