Author: Chris McGlynn

Five under-the-radar 2023 NFL Draft prospects to watch in Week 3

Chris McGlynn Draft, Football, NCAAF , , , , , , ,

Week 1 featured a ton of wild finishes. Week 2 followed with three top 10 teams going down. Who knows what Week 3 is going to have in store, especially with some great clashes between 2023 NFL draft prospects on the docket.

If you missed out on Week 2 and want to get caught up on some stock watch for draft prospects, I wrote about my takeaways here.

Unfortunately, like every week, some of the games we want to watch are going to be at the same time, so break out the tablet or set your DVR if you want to watch all of the amazing action from this weekend.

Each week, I like to highlight a few of the draft-eligible players I am most excited to watch this weekend. Sure, I am looking forward to seeing C.J. Stroud against a Toledo team he struggled with in 2021 and Tyler Van Dyke against a really talented Texas A&M defense, but those are the types of prospects most people already know to watch anyway.

What about the under-the-radar guys? Perhaps that is a bit of a misnomer. Many of these players fans of college football have likely heard of. However, these are not the guys you will likely see in a first-round mock draft at this point. So rather than just tell people to watch the games they already know to turn on, let’s take a look at some players who might not be household names yet, but could very well be Top 100 players at the end of the season.

Aidan O’Connell, QB, Purdue
Year: 6th-year senior
Opponent: at Syracuse (Saturday at 12 pm ET on ESPN2)
One of the more seasoned passers in this class, O’Connell is, like many others, taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility thanks to COVID. The former walk-on has pushed himself into the NFL conversation in a deep quarterback class. He put up big numbers to open the season against Penn State, but completed just north of 50 percent of his passes. He torched Indiana State a week ago, but now he needs to show he can be more efficient against Power 5 competition. Syracuse’s defense made life miserable for Malik Cunningham already this season. This is a sneaky good chance for O’Connell to prove himself.

Blake Freeland, OT, BYU
Year: 4th-year junior
Opponent: at #25 Oregon (Saturday at 3:30 pm on FOX)
There are few offensive linemen in this draft class who are as experienced as Freeland. He took over at right tackle in 2019 as a true freshman and started the final seven games of the year. He worked his way over to the left side by 2021 and started all 13 games. Saturday will be the 31st start of his collegiate career. He is massive at 6’8″ and has a track and field background. That combination of size and athleticism is enticing. He should get a good test from an Oregon defense loaded with NFL talent. I’m hoping he will get a good number of snaps against Brandon Dolrus. That should be a really fun matchup to watch.

Tank Bigsby, RB, Auburn
Year: 3rd-year junior
Opponent: vs. #24 Penn State (Saturday at 3:30 pm ET on CBS)
Meet the latest Auburn running back to catch the attention of NFL scouts. Bigsby is an incredibly elusive runner who is a menace in the open field. His change of direction is impressive. He has put up solid numbers so far, but he will get a big step up in competition this weekend when Penn State comes to visit. The Nittany Lions have a much tougher defense than Mercer or San Jose State. This is the type of game where he will need to stand out and show he can be a threat on the ground and in the passing game. Penn State has held opponents to just 80 yards per game rushing so far.

Akheem Mesidor, DL, Miami
Year: 3rd-year sophomore
Opponent: at #24 Texas A&M (Saturday at 9 pm ET on ESPN)
I am cheating a little bit with this one. Most mock drafts you read will not have Mesidor as a first-round prospect. Mine do though. I put on Mesidor’s tape over the summer. I was actually watching Oklahoma vs. West Virginia (Mesidor transferred to Miami this year) to check out the Sooners’ offensive line. Mesidor ended up being the guy I was watching more than anyone else by the end of the game. With the Hurricanes, he got his season off to a great start against Bethune Cookman, with a sack and a batted pass at the line that led to a pick-six. He missed last week’s game against Southern Miss, but now he is back and ready for the huge stage that will come with playing Texas A&M. My guess is he will be on everyone’s radar by Sunday morning.

Jake Haener, QB, Fresno State
Year: 5th-year senior
Opponent: at #7 USC (Saturday at 10:30 pm on FOX)
This is shaping up to be a really interesting quarterback class. One of the players still looking to crash the party is Haener. He started his career at Washington before transferring to Fresno State in 2019. He hasn’t lit the world on fire so far this year, but his completion percentage has taken a big jump so far this season, up to 74.7 from 67.1 from a year ago. After facing Cal Poly and Oregon State to open the season, USC will be a much bigger test. The Trojans defense is far from elite, but a nationally televised game against a top-10 opponent is the perfect stage for Haener to prove himself. He needs a big performance to prove to scouts that he is ready to be an NFL quarterback. He will be 24-years-old by the time the 2023 NFL draft rolls around, so he will not have as much leeway as some younger prospects.

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2023 NFL Draft Stock Watch: Rough week for top quarterbacks

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Just when we thought we couldn’t top Week 1’s action, Week 2 saw three top-10 teams go down! It was a wild weekend overall, but not a great one for many of the top quarterbacks in this class. Bryce Young had a lackluster performance, thanks in large part to a rough day from his offensive line and his receivers. More on them in a bit.

I had a chance to watch a bunch of games over the weekend and there were a bunch of players who really impressed me and several others who fell short of the mark. I won’t pretend I watched every game, but here was my watch list so far from the weekend:
Alabama at Texas
Kentucky at Florida
Baylor at BYU
South Carolina at Arkansas
USC at Stanford
Syracuse at UConn
Tennessee at Pittsburgh
Southern Miss at Miami

I still have several more that I want to watch, including App State-Texas A&M, Washington State-Wisconsin and Marshall-Notre Dame.

Each week, I am going to write this column to highlight which players I think boosted their draft stocks and which players are trending in the wrong direction. Not every player that I liked is going to get a shoutout and not every player that I was underwhelmed by will be mentioned. I am also limiting this to draft-eligible players for 2023. So while Raheim Sanders and Chase Roberts really caught my eye this week, they will not be on the list.

Without further ado, here is my stock up and stock down after Week 2. If you missed last week’s entry, you can find it here.

Stock Up

Drew Sanders, LB, Arkansas
3rd-year junior
Week 2 stat line: 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 pass deflection
Sanders was everywhere in Week 2! He dominated South Carolina, flying to the football and showing up in pass coverage as well. This was just an all around impressive performance. The Alabama transfer looked like a complete player, rushing the passer, stuffing the run and making an impact in coverage. He does still overrun some plays, but he has real sideline-to-sideline ability. I knew his name already, but I will be keeping a much closer eye on Sanders moving forward.

Jordan Addison, WR, USC
3rd-year junior
Week 2 stat line: 7 receptions, 172 yards, 2 TDs
Addison was already largely considered to be a first-round talent, but wow this was quite a performance. He took basically whatever he wanted against a solid Stanford defense. His versatility to take the top off the defense or operate as more of a possession receiver is impressive and invaluable. It certainly helps that he has caught passes in his career from Kenny Pickett and Caleb Williams, but I think the fact that he is having success in two different systems only boosts his value. He is going to have to learn another offense when he reaches the NFL. With quiet starts to the season for both Kayshon Boutte and Jaxson Smith-Njigba, it seems like Addison is closing the gap in the race to be WR1.

Anthony Cook, S, Texas
5th-year senior
Week 2 stat line: 9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
There are a lot of players I could highlight on this Texas defense for the performance they put on against Alabama. I am focusing on Cook though. He made a number of key stops, including the fourth-down run that ‘Bama failed to convert that led to Texas’ go-ahead field goal. He showed he can be a solid open-field tackler as well, crashing down on swing passes out of the backfield and screens. I will say, I need to watch more of him in coverage to figure out if he is simply a box safety or if he has a bit more depth to his skill set. Overall, impressive performance against a talented opposition.

Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame
3rd-year junior
Week 2 stat line: 8 receptions, 103 yards, 1 TD
How much higher can Mayer’s stock really go? I’ve only had a chance to watch some highlights from this game so far, but Mayer’s performance is wildly impressive to me. In a game where Notre Dame only managed 221 yards passing, Mayer accounted for nearly half of them. He is a well-rounded prospect who has a legitimate chance of being drafted in the top 20 of this upcoming draft. We will have to see if Mayer’s target share or production is impacted by Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner’s season-ending injury, but I have a feeling Drew Pyne will probably still look to Mayer plenty.

Stock Down

Tyler Van Dyke, QB, Miami
3rd-year sophomore
Week 2 stat line: 21/30, 263 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
The stat line for Van Dyke might not look too bad at first glance. However, it was a bit of a sloppy performance for the Miami quarterback against low level competition. The Canes offense struggled pretty much the entire first half. They finally got into a rhythm once they took the ball out of Van Dyke’s hands and started running it. Van Dyke missed on a few throws and simply looked a big off target for most of the game. It would be a bit more understandable if this type of performance came against Clemson or Florida State, but this was a bit underwhelming.

Emil Ekiyor Jr., G, Alabama
5th-year senior
Week 2 stat line: still not sure what to put here
It was not a great week for the Alabama offense. Bryce Young was consistently running for his life and Texas’ defensive line was living in the ‘Bama backfield. One of the biggest culprits was Ekiyor, who had a decent amount of draft hype entering the season. He routinely got pushed back into Young’s lap and the running game was nonexistent. Ekiyor simply looked overmatched and missed a number of blocks. He is lucky he has a mobile quarterback to bail him out. Most of Alabama’s line falls into that category.

Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida
3rd-year sophomore
Week 2 stat line: 14/35, 143 yards, 2 INTs, 6 carries, 4 yards
These first two weeks of the season perfectly encapsulate Richardson as a prospect. His upside is through the roof with incredible arm strength and electric open-field ability. He is also wildly inconsistent throwing the ball downfield and struggles to put touch on his passes. Week 1 showcased the good. Week 2 featured all of the bad. Kentucky forced Richardson to beat them with his arm and he could not do it. Two bad interceptions, including the go-ahead pick-six for the Wildcats, sunk the Gators. Richardson mixed in a few special throws, but they were few and far between. I am eager to watch his development as the season rolls on, but this was a major bump in the road.

Jerome Carvin, G, Tennessee
5th-year senior
Week 2 stat line: We really need some stats for offensive linemen
Another interior lineman who struggled in Week 2, Tennessee’s Carvin had a rough day in Pittsburgh. Hendon Hooker was forced to move off his spot quite a bit because of the constant pressure from the Panthers defensive line. He was sacked three times, but it really could have been more. Carvin really struggled in pass protection and had an uneven day as a run blocker. The Vols lacked efficiency on the ground in general, managing just 2.7 yards per attempt.

Spencer Rattler, QB, South Carolina
4th-year junior
Week 2 stat line: 24/39, 376 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 12 carries, -23 yards
Maybe this is a bit harsh for Rattler to end up here. He did throw for the sixth-most yards of any FBS quarterback this week, but much of it came with Arkansas playing prevent defense with a sizable lead. Rattler spent much of the game running for his life as the Razorbacks’ defense got after him early and often. While that does not all fall on Rattler, his limited mobility made matters worse. He missed downfield throws on a number of occasions and was lucky he only threw one interception in this game. These are the types of games where he needed to show up and play at a high level. He needed to prove himself against SEC competition. So far, he is falling short of that mark.

Follow the Aftermath via email to get every article delivered right to your inbox. Enter your email in the text box to subscribe. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out our weekly podcast Draft Season Never Ends with new episodes every Friday, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Draft Season Never Ends: Week 1 Recap and Week 2 Preview

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New episodes dropping every Friday! Football is finally back in full swing! Stetson Bennett, Anthony Richardson and C.J. Stroud each had important weeks to open the season. There are a few other standout performers from across the country as well. Plus, Chris looks ahead to another big weekend of college football games and reacts to Thursday Night Football.

You can find every episode on Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. As always, I appreciate reviews, feedback and when you hit that subscribe button.

Five under-the-radar 2023 NFL draft prospects to watch in Week 2

Chris McGlynn Draft, Football, NCAAF , , , , , , , ,

What a first week of college football action! From a high-scoring affair in North Carolina to a beatdown in Atlanta to a special teams collapse in New Orleans, it was incredible all around.

There was a ton to unpack from Week 1. I wrote about my biggest takeaways earlier this week and now Week 2 is already upon us. There are a ton of fantastic matchups to watch once again this weekend.

Unfortunately, some of these games are going to be at the same time, so break out the tablet or set your DVR if you want to watch all of the amazing action from this weekend.

I wanted to highlight a few of the draft-eligible players I am most excited to watch this weekend. Without a doubt, Anthony Richardson vs. Will Levis will draw a ton of eyeballs. Plus, I’m really excited for the fanfare of Alabama and Texas.

What about the under-the-radar guys? Perhaps that is a bit of a misnomer. Many of these players fans of college football have likely heard of. However, these are not the guys you will likely see in a first-round mock draft at this point. So rather than just tell people to watch the games they already know to turn on, let’s take a look at some players who might not be household names yet, but could very well be Top 100 players at the end of the season.

Cameron Ward, QB, Washington State
Year: 3rd-year junior
Opponent: at #19 Wisconsin (Saturday at 3:30 pm ET on FOX)
This is a huge stage for Ward. He is a transfer from Incarnate Word looking to make an impression at the FBS level. Ward has a super quick release and can pick apart defenses when given the chance. He got off to a really solid start against Idaho, tossing three touchdown passes in a victory. Now, he will face much stiffer opposition in a Wisconsin defense that shutout Illinois State in their season opener. I wouldn’t be shocked if he returns to school for another season, but Ward is draft eligible this year. A big, nationally-televised game for him against a Top 25 team is the perfect stage to prove to NFL talent-evaluators that he deserves to be on their radar.

Brenton Cox, LB, Florida
Year: 5th-year junior
Opponent: vs. No. 20 Kentucky (Saturday at 7:00 pm ET on ESPN)
Talk about absolutely relentless. That is the best way I can describe Brenton Cox. He made himself some money last week with 10 tackles in the Gators’ upset of Utah. He will have a chance to earn even more this week against Kentucky. The Wildcats are another ranked team with a talented quarterback and a veteran-heavy offensive line. Cox showed incredible burst, great hand usage and good discipline against the run. If he can start pressuring the quarterback on a more consistent basis, he will be trending towards being a top 50 selection. I haven’t seen much buzz about him yet, but I expect that to change if he keeps playing like he did in Week 1, especially against Top 25 opponents.

Myles Jones, CB, Texas A&M
Year: 6th-year senior
Opponent: vs. Appalachian State (Saturday at 3:30 pm ET on ESPN2)
Being a sixth-year player coming off a major injury is going to be a lot to overcome, but Jones has a pretty unique skill set that I believe will see him get drafted this year. He reminds me a bit of Brandon Browner, or, if you want a more recent comparison, Israel Mukuamu from South Carolina, now of the Dallas Cowboys. That’s the type of role I think we could see him play and I would not be shocked if he was moved to safety in the NFL. He is a logical fit in zone heavy schemes, especially those that would not have him pressing much. He needs to improve his hand usage and physicality, but his combination of size (6’4″) and speed is enticing. Facing an App State team that just hung 61 on UNC should offer a pretty solid test.

Calijah Kancey, DL, Pittsburgh
Year: 4th-year junior
Opponent: at Tennessee (Saturday at 3:30 pm ET on ABC)
Interior pass rushers are still in high demand at the NFL level. At this point, Kancey projects best as a situational pass-rusher rather than a three-down lineman. He struggles against the run, lacking the size and play strength to consistently disrupt the ground game. However, he is a slippery and crafty pass rusher. He excels at crashing the pocket on passing downs. He had a solid game against West Virginia to open the year. The more that I watch him, the more I want him to kick outside and play defensive end, but we will see how the NFL views him. He will get a chance to face off with a talented Tennessee offensive line with three upperclassmen on the interior. Plus, they have a solid two-headed rushing attack with Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright. Kancey needs to start showing improvement in that area of his game in order to bolster his draft stock.

Jaren Hall, QB, BYU
Year: 5th-year junior
Opponent: vs. #9 Baylor (Saturday at 10:15 pm ET on ESPN)
This looks like it is going to be an epic fight in Provo on Saturday. If you need an extra reason to stay up late if you are an East Coaster, Hall has you covered. The fifth-year junior is in his second season as the starter. His mobility is a huge strength and he looks comfortable throwing on the move. He is already showing some improvement from a year ago. His accuracy was a bit spotty last year, but he completed 25 of 32 passes to open the season against South Florida. Baylor has a much better defense and should force Hall into some tougher situations. He is a good improviser and will need to be at his best to take down the Bears. If Hall plays well and BYU picks up the win, he is going to be talked about a whole lot more moving forward.

Follow the Aftermath via email to get every article delivered right to your inbox. Enter your email in the text box to subscribe. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out our weekly podcast Draft Season Never Ends with new episodes every Friday, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

NFL draft stock watch: Stetson Bennett, Jared Verse impress in Week 1

Chris McGlynn Draft, Football, NCAAF , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week 1 of the 2022 college football season is in the books! It was a thrilling first week of action from Pitt’s wild win over West Virginia on Thursday night through a tense Clemson-Georgia Tech showdown on Monday. We had some outrageous finishes in Boone, Gainesville and New Orleans in between.

I had a chance to watch a bunch of games over the weekend and there were a bunch of players who really impressed me and several others who fell short of the mark. I won’t pretend I watched every game, but here was my watch list so far from the weekend:
Pittsburgh-West Virginia
Georgia-Oregon
Syracuse-Louisville
Michigan-Colorado State
Florida-Utah
LSU-Florida State
Clemson-Georgia Tech

I still have several more that I want to watch, including NC State-East Carolina, UNC-App State, Coastal Carolina-Army, Penn State-Purdue and Oklahoma State-Central Michigan.

Each week, I am going to write this column to highlight which players I think boosted their draft stocks and which players are trending in the wrong direction. Not every player that I liked is going to get a shoutout and not every player that I was underwhelmed by will be mentioned. I am also limiting this to draft-eligible players for 2023. So while Drake Maye and Malaki Starks looked great, neither is going to be on this list.

Without further ado, here is my stock up and stock down after Week 1.

Stock Up

Bryce Ford-Wheaton, WR, West Virginia
5th-year junior
Week 1 stat line: 9 catches, 97 yards, 2 TDs
While West Virginia came up short on Thursday night to open the season, Ford-Wheaton caught everyone’s attention with a fantastic performance. He showcased his size, ability to adjust to the ball in the air and solid hands. It looks like he will be JT Daniels’ go-to target in this offense. What’s more, finding the end zone twice is a huge improvement for a player that has yet to top three touchdowns in a single season. There is a long season ahead to prove that this wasn’t a fluke, but it was about as strong a start Ford-Wheaton could have hoped for.

Tiyon Evans, RB, Louisville
3rd-year junior
Week 1 stat line: 13 carries, 89 yards, 1 TD, 2 receptions, 2 yards
The stat line might not look like much at first glance. However, averaging 6.8 yards per carry against a Syracuse defense that allowed 2.7 combined to all other rushers in the game. Evans was about the only bright spot for a Louisville offense that struggled to get anything going. I liked what I saw from him at Tennessee and it seems like he has picked up right where he left off with the Cardinals. I would love to see a bit more production out of the backfield, but this was a really good start.

Stetson Bennett, QB, Georgia
6th-year senior
Week 1 stat line: 25/31, 368 yards, 2 TDs, 2 carries, 8 yards, 1 TD
It turns out that Bennett might just have an NFL future after all. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. He is still nowhere near the level of Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud, but he looks like he could be a capable starter in the right system. Todd Monken put him in some very easy positions to make plays, but Bennett made the correct decision every time. He is mobile and crafty. He had some truly special plays in this game and posted a new career-high in passing yards. Bennett still has a number of questions to answer when it comes to arm strength, but he is winning over doubters.

Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida State
3rd-year sophomore
Week 1 stat line: 3 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, blocked field goal
What a coming out party for the Albany transfer! Verse absolutely dominated LSU’s offensive line, frequently getting himself into the backfield. He won with a variety of pass-rush moves and made life very difficult for Jayden Daniels. The blocked field goal early in the game was simply icing on the cake. For anyone wondering if Verse would be able to adjust to playing Power 5 football after transferring from an FCS program, it seems like the transition has not been an issue.

Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida
3rd-year sophomore
Week 1 stat line: 17/24, 168 yards, 11 carries, 106 yards, 3 TDs
Richardson lit the world on fire with a stunning performance in the Swamp. He flashed that incredible ability last season, but now he stepped into the full-time starter role. So far, so good for the Gators. He had some plays against Utah that were just absurd. Most of the damage was done on the ground. Richardson might be the best running quarterback in the country, although LSU’s Jayden Daniels would like a word. I would still like to see a bit more in the passing game from Richardson, but he does more than enough to make me think he is trending towards being a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft. He still has a very small sample size to draw from, but plenty of opportunities left to prove he is a special kind of player.

K.J. Henry, EDGE, Clemson
5th-year senior
Week 1 stat line: 7 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble
There are about half a dozen Clemson defenders I was already monitoring this year. Henry was not one of them entering Monday night, but he is now. He dominated this ball game against Georgia Tech. He made the Yellow Jackets offensive line look foolish for much of the night, perfectly executing pass-rush stunts and routinely showing his ability to use his hands to find separation on the edge. Entering the game, he only had 9.5 sacks combined in his first four seasons. He could be primed for a breakout year that sees him landed in the middle rounds of the NFL draft. Keep in mind, he was ESPN’s No. 6 recruit back in 2018. Looks like he might finally be living up to his potential.

Garrett Shrader, QB, Syracuse
4th-year junior
Week 1 stat line: 18/25, 236 yards, 2 TDs, 16 carries, 94 yards, 1 TD
So full disclosure, I am a Syracuse alum, but wow, I was blown away by the development seen from Shrader. A year ago, he struggled to complete passes, looked wildly inaccurate and seemed overmatched by the competition in the ACC. It was just one game, but he looked poised, showing greatly improved accuracy and continuing to be a threat with his legs. He has to repeat this type of performance several times this season to warrant being drafted, but he started the weekend nowhere near the radar. He at least has the attention of scouts now heading into a three-game stretch against UConn, Purdue and Virginia.

Stock Down

Noah Sewell, LB, Oregon
3rd-year sophomore
Week 1 stat line: 3 tackles
I had very high expectations for Sewell heading into this season. He featured in my most recent mock draft as a late first-round selection. It certainly does not look like that will be the case through one week. I went back and watched Sewell closely after Georgia stomped Oregon. Sewell routinely looked lost. He was missing reads, falling for the window dressing that the Bulldogs were running with misdirections and players in motion. There were still a couple of plays where he flowed downhill and got to the football, but the bad definitely outweighed the good in this one. It was a huge stage for Sewell to prove himself. He definitely fell flat and will have some questions to answer moving forward.

Cade McNamara, QB, Michigan
4th-year senior
Week 1 stat line: 9/18, 136 yards, 1 TD, 1 carry, -8 yards
It is looking more and more likely that McNamara will lose his starting job in the coming weeks. He struggled early against Colorado State, missing open receivers regularly. His touchdown pass came on a busted coverage on a swing pass. For a quarterback that already seemed like he was on the fringes of the draft conversation, this just further indicates that he does not have an NFL future. Michigan’s offense looked better when he was not in the game. McNamara seemed to settle in a little bit as the game went on, but with J.J. McCarthy set to start in Week 2 against Hawaii, I wouldn’t be surprised if McNamara loses the job.

Trevor Reid, OT, Louisville
4th-year senior
Week 1 stat line: Uhhh…
The JuCo transfer is now in his second season as Louisville’s starting left tackle. His 2022 campaign got off to a rocky start. He was flagged for holding on a couple of occasions. He also whiffed on several pass block reps and struggled to set the edge in the run game. The 6’5″ senior has the build that folks were hoping he could take the next step and enter the draft conversation. It looks like he is headed in the opposite direction at the moment, which could prove costly for Cardinals quarterback Malik Cunningham, who has legitimate draft hopes as a dual threat player. Reid will need to step up moving forward, especially with a trip to UCF up next followed by a visit from Jared Verse and Florida State.

Ali Gaye, EDGE, LSU
5th-year senior
Week 1 stat line: 1 tackle
Gaye was one of the more under-the-radar draft prospects I really liked and was excited to watch coming into this season. He has good physical tools and a great first step. He really needed to up his production in 2022 as a fifth-year senior. His season got off to a disastrous start. LSU struggled to get off the field on third down all night. Gaye was not generating much pressure until he got a free run at Jordan Travis in the third quarter. He ended up headbutting Travis right in the helmet well after he threw it on a vicious hit, which earned him an early trip to the showers and will cost him the first half of the Tigers’ next game. It looked like a play of pure frustration that proved to be very costly.

Follow the Aftermath via email to get every article delivered right to your inbox. Enter your email in the text box to subscribe. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out our weekly podcast Draft Season Never Ends with new episodes every Friday, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.