Now that the 2022 NFL draft and its coverage are largely in the rearview mirror, we can shift focus to the 2023 NFL draft, and while, yes, there are plenty of “Way Too Early Mock Drafts” posted within hours of the NFL draft coming to an end, that’s not what I wanted to do here. There is plenty of time for that coming down the pipeline this summer, so don’t worry, we will get there. Instead, I wanted to look at a select group of players for the draft that now stands 11 months away.
Over the years we’ve seen the number of underclassmen declaring for the draft skyrocket; including 106 in 2018, 103 in 2019 and a record 115 in 2020. Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic granted players an extra year of eligibility, which has made classification somewhat hazy over the last two seasons, but simply put, underclassmen continue to be an overwhelming presence despite the numbers showing that roughly a quarter of them go undrafted each year.
Today, I wanted to look at the players that passed on declaring early for the 2022 draft class who could see drastic rises in their stock this go around with a good 2022 college season. We’re going to look at each position and throw in some honorable mentions because why not.
Quarterback: Phil Jurkovec, Boston College
Photo Credit: Boston College Athletics
It should come as no surprise the Boston College signal-caller is my choice here. If you followed my summer scouting articles last year, you’ll know I am a big fan of the former Notre Dame backup. He was in my top 40 heading into last season, and I labeled him as my second-ranked QB. Unfortunately for Jurkovec, injuries took their toll on him last year. He was limited to only six games and 96 total pass attempts, robbing him of any chance to stand out in the 2022 NFL Draft’s QB class, despite it not taking much to be considered one of the top players at the position.
When you look at his 2020 numbers, you see a more accurate representation of the 22-year-old. He had a TD: INT ratio of 17:5 and completed passes at a 61% clip in his first year as a starter. He didn’t have much in the way of chemistry with his teammates and battled the inevitability of the COVID-affected season.
Jurkovec also has his top receiving target from last year returning in Zay Flowers and three of the five starters along the offensive line. Should he stay healthy and perform up to his 2020 abilities, Jurkovec could find himself in that next tier of QB prospects after C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and Alabama’s Bryce Young.
Honorable Mention: Will Levis, Kentucky
Running Back: Zach Charbonnet, UCLA
Photo Credit: Tanmay Shankar, The Daily Bruin
I’m still frankly surprised Zach Charbonnet returned to UCLA and decided to forgo the NFL draft. In his lone season with the Bruins, he blasted his previous career-high in yards while adding 13 touchdowns on the ground and showing he has value as a pass-catching back. Last year’s running back class wasn’t the strongest, but Charbonnet would have been in and around most people’s top five at the position.
This year, Charbonnet will face stiffer competition as the running back class looks very strong on paper. but another season of 1100 yards, more than five yards a carry, and double-digit touchdowns while supplying the pass-catching role many college backs don’t have, may get him selected higher than he would have last year — even in a deeper class. Sometimes being the sixth running back taken in a strong class beats out being the third taken in a weaker class.
Honorable Mention: Mohamed Ibrahim, Minnesota
Wide Receiver: Chris Autman-Bell, Minnesota
Photo Credit: Dan Owen, 247 Sports
Last year, Chris Autman-Bell was supposed to be the next man up in the Golden Gophers’ receiving room after seeing Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman leave for the NFL in back-to-back seasons. Unfortunately, the whole Minnesota passing attack struggled, finishing 117th in passing yards per game (12th from last) with 162 yards through the air on average — sandwiched between Wyoming and Georgia State.
Autman-Bell’s numbers, which were expected to be similar to those of Johnson and Bateman before him, instead saw a season similar to 2019- when he was the team’s third receiving option- with only 8 more catches, one more touchdown, and an increase in yards per reception of only 0.8. Looking deeper, almost a third of his receptions for the season came in one game against Nebraska (11) to go along with over 20% of his season yardage total. He was held to under 40 yards six times last year and held to one catch four separate times.
Why is he due to fly up boards then? It’s simple, I can’t fathom the offense can get any worse than it was last season. If the offense can find some form of balance with Kirk Ciarrocca back as OC for the first time since 2019 (back when the Gophers had some semblance of balance) and running back Mo Ibrahim can return to form, the opportunity will be there for Autman-Bell. If he can put up WR1 numbers in the offense as Bateman and Johnson did, he may be a value to someone in the late-end of day 2 or early day 3- a far cry from his current stock of being a likely UDFA.
Honorable Mention: Ronnie Bell, Michigan
Tight End: Jahleel Billingsley, Texas
Photo Credit: Texas Longhorns Athletics
Last year, Jahleel Billingsley was supposed to be one of the favorites to be the first tight end taken off the board coming out of Alabama. The 6’4 230 pound Chicago native was everything you could want in a modern move tight end; big, fast, and with a knack for getting open. Unfortunately, once the season started, the air was let out of the balloon rather quickly and by the end of September, it was clear that something was going on behind the scenes in Tuscaloosa.
Billingsley wasn’t getting significant offensive snaps until the end of the month, and only participated in the season kick-off against Miami as a return specialist. He finished the season with one less catch and 21 fewer yards than in 2020. He’d gone from breakout candidate to question mark, which included him being blasted by ESPN color commentator and former Crimson Tide QB Greg McElroy. Something had to give for Billingsley.
Thankfully, something did, as shortly after announcing he’d entered the transfer portal, he announced he was transferring to Texas where he will reunite with his former offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, the team’s head coach. Sark needs someone in that offense that can provide a big target for their young QBs, and Billingsley fits the bill. Whether Hudson Card or Quinn Ewers is named the starter, Billingsley should be one of the top two or three targets in the passing game for the Longhorns, which should allow him to get on the NFL’s radar once again. A 30-catch season with a half dozen touchdowns could see him be at very least a day two pick.
Honorable Mention: Sam LaPorta, Iowa
Offensive Tackle: Zion Nelson, Miami
Photo Credit: University of Miami Athletics
Sometimes a coaching change is all that’s needed for a player and that’s the mindset with this selection. Under Manny Diaz, the offensive line at Miami didn’t show much when it came to development. However, with Mario Cristobal now coming in to be the head coach and with his history as a former offensive lineman and offensive line coach, he should be able to bring the best out of Nelson’s game. One thing to note is that Miami’s new offensive line coach, Alex Mirabal, is perhaps the best in all of college football.
Nelson has the athletic upside that teams covet, however, the refinement in his game is lacking and he’s become a “boom or bust” project. He returned to Miami in the hopes of putting together a better season of tape and moving from a fringe top-100 pick to being a potential day one selection. Whether or not he can do that remains to be seen, but being coached by Mario Cristobal leads me to believe he’ll improve this year
Honorable Mention: Jaelyn Duncan, Maryland
Interior Offensive Line: O’Cyrus Torrence, Florida
Photo Credit: Isabella Marley, Florida Athletics
O’Cyrus Torrence may have been the best offensive lineman in the Sun Belt Conference last year and may have been a mid-round selection in the 2022 NFL draft had he declared. He ultimately transferred to Florida following Billy Napier, who accepted the Gators’ head coach position. Torrence is now slated to be the Gators’ starting right guard, while still playing in the same system he did at ULL and being the lead blocker for his former Ragin Cajun teammate Montrell Johnson. Torrence played well against Louisiana’s tougher competition, so there shouldn’t be much of a learning curve moving to Florida and the SEC.
Torrence has NFL size at 6’5 335 and is a road grader. He’ll be perfect for the Gators as they implement a lot of the same offensive game plan that he’s been a part of for three years. Putting him in the SEC could see him be a potential first-round pick in a year.
— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 15, 2022
Honorable Mention: Jarrett Patterson, Notre Dame
Defensive Line: Tyler Davis, Clemson
Photo Credits: Clemson Athletics
Tyler Davis could have declared for this past year’s draft and likely would have been a second-round pick, but with Clemson having a down year in 2021, he opted to return for a senior year for what much of Clemson would deem a “redemption” season. At 6’2 300 pounds, Davis had a breakout freshman year in which he had 5.5 sacks and 44 total tackles. In the past two seasons, he’s missed extensive time with injury and hasn’t totalled those numbers across those campaigns. A healthy year from Davis should see him return to his old form and be a top-50 player in the class.
Honorable Mention: Jermayne Lole, Louisville.
EDGE Rusher: Ochaun Mathis, Nebraska
Photo Credits: Nebraska Athletics
Ochaun Mathis had a great 2020 season at TCU that saw him rack up nine sacks but most of those came against lower-level competition. In 2021, the goal for Mathis was simply to be more consistent, but that saw him take a step back in terms of production (four sacks) in a much-maligned year for TCU in which the team failed to make a bowl game and let go of its coaching staff.
Mathis has since transferred to Nebraska where he’ll play defensive end in the Cornhuskers’ four-man defensive front — a much better system for Mathis given his size at 6’5 257 than TCU’s 3-3-5 was. If Mathis can hone in on his consistency in a system better suited to his strengths, he should work his way into being a potential day-two pick.
Honorable Mention: Isaiah Foskey, Notre Dame
Linebacker: Edefuan Ulofoshio, Washington
Photo by Christopher Mast/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Ulofoshio only played in six games in 2021, but he still racked up double-digit tackles in three of those games setting a new career-best for tackles in a season in the process. Ulofoshio can play sideline to sideline and is the prototypical size for the modern linebacker at 6’1 and 235. He’s able to stack and shed and is athletic enough to never be out of a play.
Hopefully, the Huskies’ defense can stay healthy in 2022 with Ulofoshio returning as well as EDGE Zion Tupuola-Fetui. A full season from Sav’ell Smalls should allow the Anchorage, Alaska native to put together a season along the lines of some of the top linebackers we’ve seen in recent years.
Honorable Mention: Jack Campbell, Iowa
Cornerback: Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, TCU
Photo Credits: TCU Athletics
The nephew of NFL legend LaDanian Tomlinson, “THT” was going to be the next in line for the Horned Frogs’ conveyer belt of undersized defensive backs after Ar’Darius Washington left for the NFL in 2021. At 5’9 and 177 pounds, Hodges-Tomlinson was targeted by teams that had big-bodied receiving targets. He got his first two career interceptions last year, but his week-to-week consistency was up and down, especially when facing big-bodied receivers.
Hodges-Tomlinson may be better served as a nickel at the next level, so I’d like to see if new head coach Sonny Dykes is willing to let him work there. A good season could see him taken in the range of Cordale Flott this past year (late day two to early day three).
Honorable Mention: Joey Porter Jr, Penn St.
Safety: Brandon Joseph, Notre Dame
Photo Credit: Notre Dame Atheltics/ Brandon Joseph’s Twitter
Brandon Joseph started last season as my fifth-ranked player in the entire class. His redshirt-freshman year at Northwestern was special and many thought he would be the next great defender out of the program after Greg Newsome was selected in the first round. It didn’t pan out that way. Joseph had a setback in his 2021 season while the Wildcats were 3-9 and largely uncompetitive.
Joseph entered the transfer portal instead of declaring for the draft and announced he was headed to South Bend to play for Notre Dame. Replacing last year’s top-ranked safety with the player many had ranked just behind him is great work on the transfer portal recruiting trail by new head coach Marcus Freeman. Per PFF, since 2019 the lowest passer rating allowed in coverage at the safety position is Kyle Hamilton at 25.9. The second-lowest? Brandon Joseph. With much of the same defensive staff still in place for the Irish, we could see Joseph bounce back into the first round, right where we all thought he was going to be last year.
Honorable Mention: Kaevon Merriweather, Iowa