Another week of college football is here, which means we are back with another edition of the Scouting Notebook.
The Scouting Notebook will feature prospects to keep an eye on throughout the day. While some may think it’s too early to start talking about the 2024 NFL draft, there’s never a bad time to talk about the future of the Chargers.
With that being said, here are a handful of prospects to watch for in Week 11.
RB Donovan Edwards, Michigan
Edwards has been one of the most curious cases of any prospect all season. After a 2022 season with nearly 1,000 yards on the ground and more than 7 yards a carry, the junior has plummeted to a 3.1 yards per carry average and has only found the end zone twice. Edwards, to his credit, has been extremely unlucky in the touchdown department: his backfield mate Blake Corum leads the nation with 16 rushing touchdowns.
One of college football’s best-receiving backs, Edwards is a prospect who should draw the Chargers’ interest as a potential replacement for Austin Ekeler. Michigan draws Penn State on Saturday, a team Los Angeles has seen in person on five occasions this season.
LB Jacob Dobbs, Holy Cross
Dobbs has been on NFL radars since last season despite playing for a Northeastern FCS program. But in Week 4 of the 2022 schedule, the linebacker dislocated his elbow and tore three tendons, including his UCL. The injury came with a six-month recovery estimate.
By January, three months after the injury, Dobbs was back in the weight room doing his normal routine.
That Herculean recovery time is partly what put the senior on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List prior to this season. With a matchup against Army on deck, Dobbs has a unique opportunity to kill two birds with one stone in terms of his pro prospects. Not only does he get an FBS opponent, always an important game for smaller school players, but he gets it against a triple option team. Option offenses stress defensive ends and linebackers at a high level and are often good benchmarks for evaluating discipline in run defense.
S Cole Bishop, Utah
While Alohi Gilman’s resurgence in his return from a heel injury has quieted the need at safety, the Chargers would still be behooved by adding another functional player to that room to account for the depth issues they have behind Gilman and Derwin James. Both players are not perfect pictures of health, and Los Angeles has suffered from those consequences due to the lack of talent behind them.
Bishop is one of the top safety prospects in this April’s draft and fits the Chargers’ mold of hard-hitting, turnover-causing versatile safeties. Against Washington, one of the country’s best offenses, Bishop will likely have multiple chances to change the tide of the game with a timely takeaway. Even if he doesn’t cause one of those, his prowess against a lethal Huskies passing offense and quickly developing ground game led by Dillon Johnson will speak volumes about his professional readiness.
C Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia
The Chargers will likely be in the market for a young center early in April’s draft, regardless of whether or not Corey Linsley returns to the team in 2024. Not much information about the heart issue that put Linsley on the Non-Football Illness list earlier this season has been divulged, but comments from his teammates and coaches have hinted that the former All-Pro may retire due to the problem.
Even if Linsley returns to the team, his successor will likely be top of mind for Los Angeles. Van Pran is in a tight battle for the top center in the 2024 class with West Virginia’s Zach Frazier. Georgia has not run the ball as effectively as in previous years, but that’s partially because of worse talent at running back. On the other hand, the Bulldogs have been much more proficient passing the ball with Carson Beck, with Van Pran helping to anchor an offensive line that’s kept the junior quarterback upright.
