Some of the most enjoyable moments of my career include broadcasting college football games as a sideline reporter. There was Ohio State-Michigan, Florida-Florida State, Oklahoma-Texas, USC-UCLA, Alabama-LSU. And there were many outstanding bowl games and national championship games.
I’ve been asked who the best players I’ve seen at field-level between 2005-2015 were and it’s a who’s who of college football. Tim Tebow. Johnny Manziel. Cam Newton. Adrian Peterson. Reggie Bush. Vince Young. Ndamukong Suh. Leonard Fournette. Robert Griffin III.
For the record: 1) Tebow 2) Bush 3) Young 4) Manziel 5) Newton.
One of the best parts about returning to NFL coverage is re-connecting with many of the players I got to know in college. It was fun, for example, to chat with Laremy Tunsil and Kenyan Drake in the Miami Dolphins locker room and recall how I had interviewed them after their final college games.
VIDEO: Laremy Tunsil caught a touchdown at the Sugar Bowl.
VIDEO: Kenyan Drake returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown in the national championship.
And now it’s fun to create my first-ever mock draft. It’s fun to know in 2017 I’ll see again some of the players I observed when broadcasting about 25 college games each season. Hopefully the in-person scouting evaluation (and many pregame meetings with coaches) will give me a better feel for who should be drafted where.
Probably not. But here’s my best effort:
1. Cleveland Browns: Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M
2. San Francisco 49ers: Solomon Thomas, DL, Stanford
3. Chicago Bears: Jamal Adams, S, LSU
4. Jacksonville Jaguars: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU
5. Tennessee Titans: Jonathan Allen, DL, Alabama
6. New York Jets: Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson
7. San Diego Chargers: Malik Hooker, S, Ohio State
8. Carolina Panthers: Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee
9. Cincinnati Bengals: Takkarist McKinley, DE, UCLA
10. Buffalo Bills: Marshon Lattimore, DB, Ohio State
11. New Orleans Saints: Haasan Reddick, DE, Temple
12. Cleveland Browns: Mitchell Trubisky, QB, North Carolina
13. Arizona Cardinals: Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan
14. Philadelphia Eagles: Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State
15. Indianapolis Colts: Forrest Lamp, G, Western Kentucky
16. Baltimore Ravens: Mike Williams, WR, Clemson
17. Washington Redskins: Caleb Brantley, DT, Florida
18. Tennessee Titans: Reuben Foster, LB, Alabama
19. Tampa Bay Bucs: O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama
20. Denver Broncos: Garrett Bolles, OT, Utah
21. Detroit Lions: Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan
22. Miami Dolphins: Charles Harris, DE, Missouri
23. New York Giants: David Njoku, TE, Miami
24. Oakland Raiders: Malik McDowell, DL, Michigan State
25. Houston Texans: Cam Robinson, OL, Alabama
26. Seattle Seahawks: Ryan Ramczyk, OT, Wisconsin
27. Kansas City Chiefs: Zay Jones, WR, East Carolina
28. Dallas Cowboys: Jabrill Peppers, S, Michigan
29. Green Bay Packers: Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
30. Pittsburgh Steelers: Alvin Kamara, RB, Tennessee
31. Atlanta Falcons: Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State
32. New Orleans Saints: Tim Williams, DE, Alabama
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