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It’s worth setting the table on the 2024 draft since way-too-early mocks are, as usual, popping up left and right. And it’s shaping up to be a good one. I had a GM tell me before the draft that he thought next year’s top five would be this year’s top five, if those five players were in the 2023 draft class. “The top 10 is loaded,” says another GM. And after doubling back with a few more people, I was able to take that group of five players to six.
So quickly, here are a half dozen college players all of you should be paying attention to this fall.
• USC QB Caleb Williams: The Heisman winner is widely considered the odds-on favorite to go No. 1, and I’ve had people who’ve worked with Patrick Mahomes tell me that the idea of comparing Williams to the two-time Super Bowl champion isn’t far off. There were lots of stories from draft rooms this spring on scouts’ eyes veering to Williams when evaluating USC offensive players or defensive players in the Pac-12 trying to stop him.
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• North Carolina QB Drake Maye: The true junior is good enough to make it, well, not a total slam dunk that Williams will be selected first next April. Maye has prototypical size (6'4", 220 pounds), arm strength and athleticism, and he has been compared to Justin Herbert and Andrew Luck. The Tar Heel legacy resisted overtures from other schools to stay in Chapel Hill this fall, so how the season plays out for him there will be interesting.
• Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.: The son of the Colts Hall of Fame receiver might be a better receiver prospect than Williams and Maye are quarterback prospects, and that’s not hyperbole. Harrison had 77 catches for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns as a sophomore, and he was the best player on the field against Georgia in a Peach Bowl loaded with high draft picks. (Accordingly, the concussion he suffered in the second half swung the game.) The best way to describe him? He has the movement skills his dad had in a 6'4", 205-pound frame. He’s considered to be in the A.J. Green and Julio Jones stratosphere as a prospect.
• Penn State LT Olu Fashanu: The star lineman’s decision to return to Penn State for his senior year was probably the most surprising call any prospect made on their future. He’d have been a lock to go in the top 10, and I’ve talked to a few folks who thought he was a better prospect than Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr., who went sixth to Arizona. But Fashanu wanted to get his degree, and, provided he stays healthy, that spot in the top 10 will be waiting for him next April.
• Alabama OLB Dallas Turner: Count Turner as another distraction for scouts over the past three months—they’d be watching Will Anderson Jr., and their eyes would be pulled to the other edge, where Turner was wreaking havoc. An impact player since arriving on campus in 2021, Turner’s recorded 18 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks through two seasons, and he has the prototype frame (6'4", 240) and explosion that some teams felt Anderson lacked. Of course, in his true junior season, Turner will have to produce without Anderson drawing attention on the other side. So that’ll be interesting.
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