2016 NFL Draft Picks to Watch: Connor Cook and Josh Dobbs
By Jason McIntyre
We’ve been doing this for a few years now: Each Friday or early Saturday before the best college football games of the weekend begin, we’ll break down some players to watch with an eye on the 2016 NFL Draft. Yes, we already have a 2016 NFL Mock Draft.
Oregon at Michigan State, 8 pm, ABC
OREGON
DeForest Buckner, Senior, DE: If it’s possible for anyone that stands 6-foot-7, 290 pounds to play in the shadow of someone, that’s where Buckner was last season. (Arik Armstead also played on Oregon’s DL and he’s 6-foot-9, 280 pounds). Now that Armstead’s with the 49ers, Buckner takes the baton as the hulking man-child on the Ducks’ DL. Like Armstead and Dion Jordan before him, Buckner is a sick athlete, but the stats and technique leave something to be desired. Buckner has 7.5 sacks in three seasons.
Bralon Addison, Junior WR: As usual, the Oregon offense has a surfeit of weapons, and Addison might be the guy this season. He missed last season with an ACL injury, and there’s a chance he could have won the QB job if Vernon Adams hadn’t transferred in. Will Addison be referred to as Braxton Miller lite? The 5-foot-10, 190 WR was 2nd on the team in receptions as a sophomore with 61 (behind Josh Huff, who is now with the Philadelphia Eagles).
MICHIGAN STATE
Connor Cook, Senior QB. We hear it every year – next year’s QB class will be better. Cook could have entered the 2015 draft, and probably gone in the 1st or 2nd round as the 3rd QB taken after Winston and Mariota. The knock on the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Cook has been his inconsistency passing in the last two seasons, hitting just 58 percent of his passes. At times, he almost feels like some of the recent MSU QBs who have hit the NFL – Brian Hoyer, Drew Stanton, Kirk Cousins – above average college QB, but maybe just a career backup in the NFL. However, given the dearth of QBs in the NFL, I believe Cook is a 1st round pick right now, and I think he projects better than the aforementioned former Spartans. Last year Cook was very good against the Ducks – 29-of-47 for 343 yards and two TDs (with two INTs). This 4th quarter interception was a killer.
Shilique Calhoun, Senior DE. Has been so good for so long, he’s one of those, “he’s still in college?” guys. Nice junior year with eight sacks and 12.5 TFL, but he didn’t improve that much upon his brilliant sophomore campaign (7.5 sacks, 14 TFL). On his size alone (6-foot-5, 252 pounds) he’ll be a late-2nd or early-3rd round pick, but he might need to add 10-15 pounds to be an every down DE in the NFL.
Oklahoma at Tennessee, 6 pm, ESPN.
OKLAHOMA
Zack Sanchez, Junior CB: The All-Big 12 first teamer will be in the mix for the Jim Thorpe award this year if he continues to build off a solid sophomore season in which he nabbed six interceptions. I’d have loved to have seen the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Sanchez go up against budding Tennessee star Marquez North, but we’ll have to settle for him defending promising freshman Jauan Jennings. Sanchez right now is perceived as a 2nd-3rd round pick.
Dominique Alexander, Junior ILB: The fantastic Sooners’ linebacker was 2nd on the team in tackles as a freshman, and led the team last year. If he leaves school early, he’s looking at a early/mid-round grade. He’d be ideal in a 3-4 alignment – hey Jets, how about this guy to replace Demario Davis? – and I can’t believe I liked Erik Striker more than Alexander (6-foot, 230 pounds) last year.
TENNESSEE
Cameron Sutton, Junior CB: Like Sanchez, Sutton will be in the mix for the Jim Thorpe award. The cornerbacks in the SEC were so good last year, Sutton was only Honorable Mention all-league, so he may surprise some people this year. Sutton also returns punts (took one to the house last year against Vanderbilt). He’s an early-mid round prospect right now.
Josh Dobbs, Junior QB: Started five games as a freshman, six as a sophomore, but he’s the man now in Knoxville. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound QB rushed for 8 TDs last season, and in a year with a bunch of below-average QBs in the SEC, perhaps Dobbs emerges as one of the better ones. The potential for the Vols to be an 8-9 win team is there … but a victory at home against the Sooners is absolutely necessary. Dobbs has the tools to be an NFL QB, but I think he’d be best served staying another year in school.