Even with the lockout the NFL will be holding their annual Draft this year on April 28-30. Today’s blog takes a look at the top 60 or so players that have great shot of being drafted in the 1st-2nd round of this year’s upcoming draft. With the NFL Combine now complete many schools are having their Pro Days which gives many prospects a second chance to improve their draft stock. You’ll see players rise and fall and in an upcoming blog I will analyze the biggest risers/fallers from the Combine and the Pro Days.

Also make sure you are checking out my updated 2011 Draft Preview with a Top 10 position by position outlook and the top performers at each position during each drill at the combine. Also you’ll get up to date notes on each and every player.

Don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2011 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants. Have a great weekend! Read more…

Last Saturday was the final date that underclassmen could declare for the 2011 NFL Draft. The NFL labor agreement seem to have no effect as a record 56 players declared for early entry for this year’s NFL draft, that number released yesterday by the NFL was higher than most projections.

Here are the number of players declaring early for the Draft the past 10 years.

Players that left ealry in 2011: 56
Players that left early in 2010: 53
Players that left early in 2009: 46
Players that left early in 2008: 53
Players that left early in 2007: 40
Players that left early in 2006: 52
Players that left early in 2005: 51
Players that left early in 2004: 43
Players that left early in 2003: 47
Players that left early in 2002: 38
Players that left early in 2001: 35

Out of the 56 players, 13 were DL, 12 RBs, 10 DB’s, 10 WR’s, 4 LBs, 3 QBs, 2 OL, 1 FB and 1 TE. Read more…

Last Saturday was the final date that underclassmen could declare for the 2011 NFL Draft. In total 53 players declared early and while some teams were hit hard by the early entries others were more lucky with several players deciding to return for another year. Today I will break which teams were hit hardest and which teams have the best returnees that turned down the NFL.

In Wednesday’s Blog I will give my analysis of whether or not it was a good move/bad move for each player.

Teams Hit Hardest:

Alabama lost three of his best players as expected with DT Marcell Dareus, WR Julio Jones and  RB Mark Ingram announcing they would forego their senior seasons. Naturally Ingram’s replacement will be Richardson who has ran for more than 1,400 yds the last two years  and Nick Saban’s defenses seem to reload each year so finding a replacement for Dareus might not be a huge obstacle. The biggest loss might be WR Jones who had more rec (78) than the next two players combined. Read more…

Since January 12th we have been doing 3 blogs a week packed with information concerning this upcoming football season. However as we head towards the end of April most teams have completed their spring practices which means it is magazine crunch time and we will be doing just one blog per week for the next 3 weeks.

The good news is that once the magazine is off to the press on May 12th, we will go back to doing a blog EVERY DAY! Read more…

Over the next couple of weeks my daily blog will breakdown the top players at each position for this year’s NFL draft. In today’s blog, I have included the top offensive line prospects complete with strengths, weaknesses and an overall projection of what round each prospect will likely be drafted in.

Josh Buchanan who runs JBScouting.com does a great job following FCS football and he contributes significantly to my FCS preview. Josh also has scouted for the Texas vs. Nation Game and East Coast Bowl the last few years and has interned with the Carolina Panthers. He has great knowledge of all the draft prospects and has offered to breakdown the top players at each position from his film evauluation and feedback from top NFL scouts.

If you need complete rankings, career statistics, pictures and draft projections for this year’s offensive lineman download my 2010 Draft Guide absolutely free! Also included in the draft guide is pro day workout dates, a draft order for the 1st two rounds, combine invitees by position plus college teams with most draft losses!

Keep checking the guide regularly to get all the latest and greatest information on this year’s draft as we will be adding new information daily. I will be back on Wednesday with the top DL prospects. Read more…

My 2010 NFL Draft Guide is now ready to download and it contains all the information you need to become an expert on this year’s draft including pro workout dates, combine invitees by position, teams with the most draft losses, the draft order for the 1st two rounds and much more.

Make sure to check the guide regularly as we will be updating and adding information daily. Tomorrow we will have the position by position rankings of the top NFL prospects plus the first edition of my mock draft. In Friday’s Blog I will continue my NFL Draft coverage with a look at the top quarterbacks for this year complete with their strengths and weaknesses and a round projection. On Monday I will cover the Running Backs followed by the Receivers and Offensive Lineman next week.

Today’s blog continues the NFL draft coverage with the top rated small school players. Every year 15-20 small school players get drafted and many turn out to have fine pro careers. Josh Buchanan who runs JBScouting.com does a great job following FCS football and he contributes significantly to my FCS preview. Josh also has scouted for the Texas vs. Nation Game and East Coast Bowl the last few years and has interned with the Carolina Panthers. He has just released his top 100 small school players and will be updating them throughout the month as the pro day workouts are completed.

Here are the Top 100 Small School Players for the 2010 NFL Draft. Read more…

After several years of research I have found that almost 7 out of every 10 teams that rank among the top in the NCAA in players drafted struggle the next year and have a weaker record. I call it the Draft Day Party Hangover Effect.

Today’s blog will give you the first look at which teams will be losing the most players to this year’s draft and which teams might suffer from the Draft Day Party Hangover Effect that appears in my magazine every year.

While the draft is not until April and several players could move up or down on draft boards, I think this early edition will give you a first look to see which teams will be losing the most players to the draft and it maybe a precursor for trouble for many college programs.

For the system I have created, 7 points are awarded if a player was picked in the 1st round. A 2nd round pick garners 5 points, a 3 round pick four, 4th round three and a 5th round two.  In the NFL there’s not much difference between a 6th or 7th round pick and a high quality undrafted free agent signee so I award 1 point to a 6th or 7th round pick. If you need more information please refer to pg 308 in last year’s College Preview magazine. 

Here are the teams that could lose the most possible points in this years draft and again these numbers could change over the next 6 weeks. The numbers in each column represent the number of players being projected right now in each round. Read more…

The NCAA has granted a 6th year of eligibility for Kent St RB Eugene Jarvis exactly 5 months to the day after he suffered a season-ending injury at Boston College.

In 2007 Jarvis tied a school record with 5 straight yard games (old record Don Fitzgerald in ’66).  He went on to break Eric Wilkerson’s 1988 school record of 1,325 in a season with 1,669 (6.0!) while also leading Kent St in receiving yards (306, 13.3). Jarvis was the first Kent St RB to lead the MAC in rushing since Wilkerson did it in ’88. In 2008, he was the leading returning FBS rusher and missed 3.5 games with injury (missed just one prior) but he still rushed for 801 (4.9) and was the #2 rec with 273 (10.9). Last year before the injury he rushed for 158 yards (4.3).

Obviously this is good news for Kent St and there is no kid more deserving than him. Knowing Eugene like I do, he will come back this season strong and play with a lot of passion.

Read more…

Last Friday was the final date that underclassmen could declare for the 2010 NFL Draft. In total 51 players declared early and while some teams were hit hard by the early entries others were more lucky with several players deciding to return for another year. Today I will break which teams were hit hardest and which teams have the best returnees that turned down the NFL.

In Wednesday’s Blog I will give my analysis of whether or not it was a good move/bad move for each player. Read more…