Fowler going pro is a positive for the draft. Georgia running back Todd Gurley getting injured is a resounding negative that impacts other running backs.
Following a year in which there was a record number of underclassmen entrants in the NFL draft, we have our player for 2015.
Florida junior defensive end Dante Fowler tweeted that he will be leaving the school following head coach Will Muschamp's departure at the end of the season.
I came in with champ. I'm leaving with Him.
— Dante fowler (@TheDanteFowler6) November 19, 2014
A 6-foot-3, 277-pound junior, Fowler leads Florida in sacks with 4.5 and quarterback hurries with 15. Fowler has been versatile for the Gators, lining up at both ends, defensive tackle and even outside linebacker occasionally. That versatility is one of the things that makes Fowler a possible first-round pick.
Fowler also has good athleticism for an edge and frequently gives good effort on the field.
Fowler will surely be the first Florida player taken in the draft.
Juniors and redshirt sophomores have until Jan. 15 to officially declare for the draft. Last year 96 underclassmen went pro.
Over the final few weeks of the college football season, pay attention to juniors who participate in Senior Day activities. South Carolina running back Mike Davis, for instance, is walking out with the Gamecocks seniors on Saturday.
Running back shakeup
Todd Gurley’s knee injury is nothing like the one Marcus Lattimore suffered, but it may be exactly the same.
Lattimore tore every ligament in his right knee in 2012, dramatically fell in the draft and recently retired from the San Francisco 49ers without playing a game.
In his first game back from a suspension, the Georgia junior was on point. He returned the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, before it was called back due to a penalty. Gurley was his usual self rushing for 138 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. A lot of those yards came on runs where he showed extra determination to get yards when they didn't exist. That is, arguably, Gurley's best feature. Now teams will be wary of what the injury will mean to Gurley's ability to cut and make defenders miss. We also don't know what kind of mental impact it will have on his game. You hope it's a non-issue, but we won't truly know until he starts cutting or gets hit.
But how far could Gurley truly slide? The combination of the injury and the positional devaluation almost certainly means Gurley won't get picked in the first round. A team could even draft Gurley and do what the 49ers did with Lattimore and let him sit out his first season so he can rehabilitate.
With Gurley's injury, that firmly puts Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon in position to be the first running back drafted, if he goes pro. Gordon, of course, is coming off a record-setting game against Nebraska where he ran for 408 yards.
From an NFL evaluation standpoint, Gordon's record is mostly meaningless. Not to be a wet blanket, but it's probably safe to assume that NFL evaluators were more concerned with Gordon's two fumbles against Nebraska than the 408 yards. Of course the tired theory of Gordon being a system running back at Wisconsin will persist up until the draft.
Regardless of the fumble issues and the system tag, Gordon is a great open field running back who can make defenders miss. He has the speed to pull away from opponents when he gets to the second level and is strong enough to shed tackles.
The other thing that may damage Gurley's draft position is just how deep the position. If teams are hesitant about his health, they may decide to pick Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah, Minnesota's David Cobb or another of the many running backs who will propulate the first four rounds of the draft.
Senior Bowl roster notes
Another batch of players have been officially added to the Senior Bowl roster. See the full list of additional players here.
The highlights of this new group of Senior Bowl participants is Pittsburgh right tackle T.J. Clemmings and Oregon center Hroniss Grasu. Both should be close or at the top of their position rankings by the time the draft starts.
Kentucky's Bud Dupree is another attendee to note this week. Dupree is miscast as an end in Kentucky's 4-3 scheme. Going forward, he could be better off playing outside linebacker to take advantage of his speed and athleticism. He may not get to show it much at the Senior Bowl, though, where they use the 4-3 and unique blitz packages aren't used. Dupree and Louisville pass rusher Lorenzo Mauldin could put on quite a show of one-upsmanship in Mobile.
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