NFL Draft 2015: Players with Most Potential to Shoot Up the Board

It always happens. A player who wasn't receiving huge buzz suddenly appears in the first round, selected far higher up the board than the experts projected and causing mock drafts around the land to spontaneously combust.

Ah, but what about this year? Which prospects have a chance to surprise everyone by shooting way up the board come draft day? Who are the risers to keep an eye on in the next few months?

Let's find out. 

Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA

One of the things I've learned from following the NFL draft closely the past several years is that players from two positions in particular always seem to rise up the board—quarterbacks and offensive tackles. And that's one of the reasons I could see Brett Hundley jumping up the board this year. 

Hundley divides opinion. Like, really, really divides opinion. Consider what ESPN's Todd McShay has had to say about him, via Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com:

Or this, from Matt Miller of Bleacher Report:

Michael Schottey of Bleacher Report is much higher on Hundley, however: 

And Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk thinks he has the tools to become a star with the right coaching:

Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com offers one reason for the split in opinion:

So there you have it—Hundley is a divisive player but one most folks agree has some serious athletic tools to work with and an interesting upside. And after seeing teams in the past spend high picks on players like Christian Ponder, Geno Smith, Jake Locker, EJ Manuel and Blaine Gabbert, there is certainly a precedent for divisive players shooting way up draft boards. 

The earliest you could see Hundley go? No. 6 to the New York Jets, namely if Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston are off the board. That seems pretty extreme, however. More likely, if Hundley is taken in the first round, it will be at No. 16 to the Houston Texans or No. 20 to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he seems like a great fit for Chip Kelly's offense. 

Don't be surprised when Hundley comes off the board in the first round.

La'el Collins, OT, LSU

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You didn't think we were going to make it through this list without highlighting an offensive tackle, did you?

La'el Collins probably wasn't considered one of the elite tackles in the land coming into this season—he's a former guard, after all—but he had an excellent season for LSU and should continue his climb up draft boards, especially if he performs well at the Senior Bowl and at the NFL Scouting Combine. 

In a year when there arguably isn't a premier left tackle on the board—Brandon Scherff may end up being a right tackle or even a guard in the NFL—Collins could surprise some folks and end up going in the top 10. Offensive tackles always seem to shoot up the board come draft day.

Bud Dupree, DE/OLB, Kentucky

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Mark Stoops called it. 

Even before the year began, Kentucky's head coach was singing the praises of his edge-rushing stud Bud Dupree. 

"I'd be very shocked if Bud [Dupree] was not a first-round draft pick," he said in August, via Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal. 

He added, "He's got to play his way into it, but I truly believe [Dupree is a first-rounder]. You know I've been around a lot of great ones. Bud is special."

The rest of the football world is starting to see the light. After a season in which Dupree finished with 74 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks, Dupree is rising up boards already. Bleacher Report's Miller already had Dupree going No. 8 to the Atlanta Falcons in his latest mock draft. 

For a player most people weren't projecting to be a first-round pick coming into the season, that's quite the rise. Unless you're Stoops, in which case you saw this coming all along.