10 CFB Players Giving It Their All to Raise Their Draft Stock
Although it's Thanksgiving season, there's apparently a few college football players that aren't thankful enough for their NFL draft stock.
So much so that they've spent the entire season trying to improve it with their efforts on the field.
There's guys like Texas Tech running back DeAndre Washington, who is among the nation's leaders in rushing yards per carry and is doing his best to buck the trend that tailbacks in air raid offenses can't run.
There's Zack Sanchez, who's battled through a leg injury to be perhaps the biggest defensive playmaker in the Big 12.
There's also guys like Tajae Sharpe, a former unheralded recruit out of high school who now plays for UMass but is proving that he has the skills package for Sundays.
With that, let's check out 10 guys who have done their best to raise their 2016 draft stock during the 2015 campaign.
Matt Johnson, QB, Bowling Green
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Quick, who is the nation's leader in passing yards?
Trevone Boykin? No. Jared Goff? Closer. Luke Falk? He's second.
It's Matt Johnson, a senior gunslinger out of Bowling Green.
Johnson's not just a one-trick pony in an air raid system, either. The Falcons are 9-3 this season and first in the Mid-American Conference's East Division. Early on in the season they pushed then-undefeated Memphis to the brink, losing 44-41.
It's also nice that Falk is second (4,266) in passing yards to Johnson (4,465) because it makes for an easy direct comparison.
Johnson has nearly 100 fewer pass attempts (498) then Falk (591), yet Falk is the fourth-rated quarterback of the 2018 draft class. Meanwhile, Johnson ranks 26th in this year's class of signal-callers, behind guys like Liam Nadler out of Gannon and Josh Woodrum out of Liberty (if you've heard of those guys before, congratulations, you're more knowledgeable than this sportswriter).
At 6'0", Johnson is a tad small for a prototypical draft prospect at quarterback. So was Russell Wilson, though.
The dude has more passing yards in the nation than anybody, and he's doing it with efficiency, averaging 41.5 pass attempts per game and ranking fourth in the FBS in pass efficiency. If he's not moving onto at least one NFL team's sixth- or seventh-round draft board...
By the way, Jeff Driskel is a projected sixth-round pick, but Johnson isn't going to be drafted?
Brandon Doughty, QB, Western Kentucky
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In a lot of the same categories with Matt Johnson is Western Kentucky Hilltoppers quarterback Brandon Doughty.
While he doesn't have the raw yards of Johnson with 3,814—good for fourth in the NCAA—he's actually more efficient, ranking second in that category with a rating of 179.1. Only Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield, a dark-horse Heisman candidate, rates higher in the nation.
Perhaps his best NFL draft-worthy performance came against LSU, where he racked up 325 yards and three scores through the air with just one pick.
His gaudiest performance was against Indiana, where his line read 35-of-46 passing for 484 yards.
Like Bowling Green's Johnson, Western Kentucky's Doughty has the Hilltoppers atop their division in Conference USA and poised to potentially hoist a trophy prior to bowl season.
Doughty's draft stock fares far better than Johnson's as he's a projected third- to fourth-round pick.
But some of the guys directly ahead of him, specifically Cardale Jones and Christian Hackenberg, have been disappointments in 2015.
So perhaps a quality showcase in the backstretch of the season that could see Doughty win a conference and a bowl game will bolster his stock.
Zack Sanchez, DB, Oklahoma
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Ask Mason Rudolph, Jarrett Stidham and the rest of the Big 12 quarterbacks who the man they fear most is, and the most likely answer from anybody other than Baker Mayfield will be Oklahoma defensive back Zack Sanchez.
Despite playing just nine games—Sanchez suffered a leg injury early against Texas Tech on Oct. 24 and missed the next two games—he's still tied for second in the nation in interceptions per game at 0.7. In total, he has six on the year, including two last week in a season-defining win against TCU.
According to WalterFootball.com, should Sanchez decide to declare after this season's junior campaign, he'd be rated as the eighth best cornerback and would be a projected second- to third-round pick.
At 5'11" and just shy of 180 pounds, Sanchez makes up for his lack of size with incredible instincts for the ball and a penchant for making impact plays.
Again, despite only playing in nine games, he's still top 30 in the FBS in passes defended with 11.
Solid defensive backs are hard to come by, but Sanchez is making the case this season that he may be the (crimson and) cream of the crop come next spring.
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Mike Rose, DE, NC State
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In the same category this season as Carl Nassib at Penn State and Emmanuel Ogbah at Oklahoma State is, unquestionably, NC State Wolfpack defensive end Mike Rose.
While Nassib and Ogbah rank first and third in the nation in sacks, respectively, Rose is right on their tail, ranking fifth with 10.5.
Yet, Nassib and Ogbah are both projected second-round picks this spring, while Rose ranks as just the 49th-best defensive end and isn't in the same galaxy in terms of draft stock.
Oddly enough, Rose has been fairly consistent throughout his career. A year ago, he ranked third in the ACC in tackles for loss with a dozen. The year before that, as he was still being embedded as a starter, he recorded six tackles against a third-ranked Clemson.
At 6'3" and 276 pounds, his size is a bit of a hybrid between where you'd want an outside linebacker and a defensive end, and that may be his biggest problem.
Dane Brugler of NFL Draft Scout writes that while Rose may not grade out well on paper, he makes you "take notice on tape."
So Rose passes the all important eye test. And he's not a good draft prospect?
DeAndre Washington, RB, Texas Tech
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Everybody and their mother wants to discredit offensive skill position players from uptempo offenses. "System players" is the favorite phrase.
But there are stats that don't lie. Rushing yards per carry is one of them, as it's not an accruing stat. Good runners pick up yards every time they touch the ball, not just in volumes with 50 carries a game.
DeAndre Washington is 15th in the nation in rush yards per carry at 6.57.
Rated just one slot above him in 14th is LSU's Leonard Fournette—gasp.
Yet, while Fournette is rated the top back in the 2018 class, Washington isn't projected to be selected at all this spring.
Washington's physical attributes are where he fails. At 5'8" with a 4.58 40-yard dash, according to CBS Sports, that doesn't cut it.
But Washington has still shown incredible field vision and has put up the numbers in back-to-back years to earn the opportunity.
Perhaps the best niche for him on Sundays would be a backup/return specialist role.
Sterling Shepard, WR, Oklahoma
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Quietly in a way—perhaps drowned out by the noise of Baker Mayfield's Heisman candidacy—Oklahoma wideout Sterling Shepard has meant just as much to the Sooners as guys like Josh Doctson, Will Fuller and Corey Coleman mean to TCU, Notre Dame and Baylor, respectively.
Shepard ranks 11th in the country in receiving yards with 1,114. He also ranks ninth with 10 touchdowns.
The only other players to rank in the top 15 in both those categories are Doctson, Coleman, Bowling Green's Roger Lewis and Western Kentucky's Taywan Taylor.
Shepard is already a quality wide receiver prospect, ranked ninth in his class and projected as a second- to third-round pick.
But he's outdone plenty of guys rated above him, including Pharoh Cooper and Travin Dural.
One recent Big 12 draft pick that Shepard compares well to is Kansas State's Tyler Lockett, who is excelling with the Seattle Seahawks in his rookie season.
Both had tremendous open-field ability to create space between themselves and defenders, as well as great hands and breakaway speed.
Shepard epitomizes Oklahoma's resilience back into playoff contention, and perhaps that mettle will see Shepard's draft stock rise.
Joe Schobert, LB, Wisconsin
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Among the biggest plays a defender can make is a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. It's a drive-killer, and arguably the task that can be accomplished most consistently versus an interception or forced fumble.
So let's take a look at Joe Schobert, who ranks fourth in the nation with 18.5 tackles for loss. The nation's leader, Carl Nassib of Penn State, has just one more at 19.5.
The Big Ten linebacker's production is off the charts, yet he ranks as just the 23rd-best outside linebacker of his class and is projected as either a seventh-round pick or undrafted all together.
Schobert is 6'1" and 236 pounds, so he could be a tad bigger. But his numbers speak for themselves. That many stops behind the line of scrimmage has got to make somebody notice.
WalterFootball.com is far more kind to Schobert, projecting him as a second- to fourth-round selection and as the 11th-best linebacker available this spring.
Perhaps that rise in stock is indicative of the difference Schobert has made for the Badgers this season.
Elandon Roberts, LB, Houston
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Man against man. That's the true basis of the sport, right? Who's the stronger, faster, better man that day?
More times than almost anybody else in the nation, Houston linebacker Elandon Roberts has been the better man.
He currently ranks first in the nation in total solo tackles with 78 and fifth in the nation per game with 7.1. That's a lot of stops for one man on a team that's 10-1 with outside hopes of a New Year's Six bowl berth.
Yet, Roberts' draft stock isn't hardly visible within the stratosphere as he ranks as the 43rd-best inside linebacker—not just linebacker, specifically inside linebacker.
Again, like a lot of prospects on this list, size alone is a big deterrent to NFL teams it seems. Roberts stands at just 6'0" and 235 pounds.
An inch or two more and maybe 20 or 30 added pounds and Roberts would be a top prospect.
To have nearly 80 stops on your own is impressive. It perfectly encapsulates the heart of this piece, which is figuring out which guys are working the hardest at their draft stock. Roberts works harder than most linebackers because he's asked to step up more often than not, and he's responded.
He deserves his looks. The most comparable example could possibly be Ben Heeney from Kansas a year ago.
A tackle machine, Heeney was widely overlooked because he was essentially the best player on a God-awful squad. But now he's excelling with the Oakland Raiders.
Houston isn't a bad team, but Heeney and Roberts' numbers were similar. There's unquestioned precedent for Roberts to get an opportunity.
Marquise Williams, QB, North Carolina
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The North Carolina Tar Heels, ranked 14th in the latest College Football Playoff poll, are a win over Clemson on Dec. 5 away from descending the entire college football world into chaos.
Behind the Tar Heels' surge this season is quarterback Marquise Williams, who shockingly ranks as just the 27th-best signal-caller of this class.
The numbers don't add up for Williams in this case. He's third in the nation in pass yards per attempt at 9.42, ranking behind only Baker Mayfield and Trevone Boykin in that category, both of whom are bona fide Heisman candidates.
Williams is also ninth nationally in pass efficiency, at 160.2. That's higher than Memphis' Paxton Lynch (159.2), the top-rated quarterback in this year's draft class.
So you've got a gunslinger who's wildly efficient and has a traditionally football-weak school on the fringes of the playoff conversation.
How is Williams' draft stock not on the rise?
Tajae Sharpe, WR, UMass
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We'll end this piece the same way it started.
Who has the most catches per game in the nation?
Josh Doctson? Nice guess, but no. Will Fuller? He's not in the top 50. Tyler Boyd? He's fifth with eight a game.
The answer is UMass' Tajae Sharpe, who hauls in a massive 9.5 balls a game. Daniel Braverman of Western Michigan is second with nine.
Sharpe, who stands at 6'3" and 200 pounds, has a decent draft stock as a projected third- to fourth-round pick.
What's held Sharpe back is the simple fact that he plays for UMass, one of the worst FBS teams at 2-9. Nobody wants to catch the #MACtion.
But according to Dane Brugler of NFL Draft Scout, one AFC scout is enamored with Sharpe: “I have to admit, I don't get too excited about visiting some MAC schools, but Whip (head coach Mark Whipple) has this UMass program developing talent and that Sharpe kid is one of them. Crisp routes and strong hands. He'll have a chance to make plays on Sundays.”
Guys from schools like UMass always feel the pressure to outshine their Power Five counterparts in the pros. So expect that fire to burn for Sharpe as the NFL draft approaches.
Note: All stats courtesy of NCAA.com. All prospect rankings courtesy of CBS Sports unless otherwise noted.
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