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 12.
EDGE Jalyx Hunt, Houston Christian
Hunt began his college career as a safety at Cornell, playing three seasons before transferring to Houston Christian and changing positions prior to the 2022 season. In his first season on the edge, the Florida native was named Second-Team All-Conference.
Now with a Senior Bowl invitation in hand, Hunt will lead his Huskies team against an Incarnate Word squad that has been ranked as high as #4 in the FCS polls. NFL teams already know Hunt is a pro caliber athlete, but Incarnate Word is a pass-happy program, providing Hunt with plenty of opportunities to show he’s an NFL caliber pass rusher.
IDL Thor Griffith, Harvard
College football’s oldest rivalry kicks off at 9 am Pacific time on ESPNU this Saturday, as Harvard and Yale square off with plenty of Ivy League championship implications on the line. Harvard has cracked the FCS top 25 partially, thanks to Griffith, a 320-pound behemoth on the interior who’s been wrecking games for two seasons.
Griffith strikes a similar figure to his namesake in the middle of the defense as a former state champion wrestler and high-caliber hockey player. Ranked the #8 athlete in college football by Bruce Feldman before the season, Griffith reportedly benches 225 pounds 45 times and runs a sub-5 second 40-yard dash. With 7.5 sacks in the last two years, Griffith has also shown he’s a capable three-down tackle if asked to be.
CB Ja’Quan Sheppard, Maryland
We’ll see if Michigan has JJ McCarthy throw the ball more than eight times on Saturday. They should, if only because their aversion to the passing game was more about the Wolverines’ inability to block Chop Robinson and the Penn State pass rush than their trust in McCarthy. But if they do, it’ll put a spotlight on Sheppard, one of the most underrated corners in the draft.
A Cincinnati transfer, Sheppard was among those tasked with filling in for NFL draft picks Sauce Gardner and Coby Bryant on the boundary in 2022. He did that job well enough to merit a transfer to Maryland, a more prominent program where he’s shown more scheme versatility than the Cover 3 shell the Bearcats major in. The Big Ten is full of receiver talent and Sheppard has held his own, likely earning himself an all-star game invite in the process.
EDGE Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Washington
After a monster 2020 season that included seven sacks in only four games, Tupuola-Fetui was touted as one of the top EDGE prospects in the 2022 draft alongside Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux. Injuries ruined his 2021 campaign, however, with a torn Achilles in spring practice keeping him on the sideline until late in the season and a concussion cutting his year even shorter. Tupuola-Fetui deferred his NFL dreams for another season after the 2022 campaign, electing instead to return with running mate Bralen Trice to make a run at a national championship.
Tupuola-Fetui has never really regained the explosiveness that made him great in 2020, but his game has evolved into that of a savvy veteran who will be ready to contribute in the NFL right away. With snap timing instincts that rival anyone in football and a penchant for ripping at the ball, Tupuola-Fetui profiles as a rotational edge rusher who should be available in the middle rounds.
