The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - BEST BITE: Marvin Harrison Jr. & Drake Maye in Klatt’s Top 10 players in 2024 draft

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Joel Klatt reveals players 10-1 of his Top 50 players in the 2024 NFL Draft. He explains why North Carolina Tar Heels QB Drake Maye and Ohio State Buckeyes WR Marvin Harrison Jr. are in his top 10. Joel analyzes both of their abilities on the football field and why they will both be taken in the first round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My next offensive tackle is Joe Alt from Notre Dame. He is at number 10. So now we're inside of the top 10. Joe Alt's fantastic. I think he's probably the most well-rounded pro-ready offensive tackle in the draft, but he's not my top offensive tackle. I'll get to that in the moment. Number nine is my top defender in the draft.

Not even a Power 5 player, but Quinion Mitchell, the corner from Toledo. He reminds me in so many ways of the trajectory of Soss Gardner. and we knew about Sauce more because Cincinnati was better than Toledo. But guys can succeed from that level. That's been proven out by Sauce, and now Sauce is probably the best corner in football. And Quignan Mitchell with his strength, his length, and his speed. Like this guy, he's my best defender in the draft.

That's all I can say. And I know that that's unique, but I just have a hunch that this dude is going to be phenomenal. I went also with top-end potential on this next one. Number eight, my top-offensive lineman in the draft from Penn State, Olu-Fashon. Now, I know it's easier to put Joe Alt as the top-offensive lineman. You know what it is? It's safer. It's safer because he's more polished than Olu-Fashnu.

He's played more football than Olu-Fashnu. But the top-end potential, Olu-Fashnu has, I think, supersedes that of guys like Joe Alt, or even Talis Fulaga or any of the other offensive tackles. I think Fashon has the potential. potential to be one of the best two or three offensive linemen in all of football in four or five years. That's the trajectory he's on. He's very smart. He's incredibly driven. He's got great feet and he's very athletic for as big of a frame as he has. So Faschineau is a guy that I'm a big fan of. Now we get into the top seven. Quarterback from LSU, Jaden Daniels. All right. So here

we go. Jaden Daniels is a phenomenal football player. A lot of teams are going to have Jaden Daniels all the way up there at number two or three. And you know what? It's not going to be surprising to me at all if Daniels actually goes number two in the draft. It's not going to be surprising to me at all. In fact, I think that's likely is that he goes number two. He's safer. He's played a ton of football. He's athletic. He makes great throws. There's nothing to knock about Jaden Daniels. I really like his game. I think my one question would be, can he stay healthy? With the way he plays, the style he plays, we've seen that with some other running quarterbacks, and I'm not saying he's just running.

He's obviously a great passer, but he will run. And when you will run, you will expose yourself to further hits. So it remains to be seen how he's going to be able to stay on the field at the next level. A phenomenal player, he's number seven. At number six, I've got Malik Neighbors, his wide receiver. Neighbors is an absolute rocket ship. and his ability to turn nondescript offensive plays, what I would call like advantage or ratio throws.

That's when the numbers suggest that a quarterback just stands up and just throws the ball out to the slot receiver. Okay, based on the leverage of the defense or the numbers from a run ratio and a pass ratio, and you just flip the ball out there and he's got a one-on-one, this dude has the ability to turn that ratio throw into a home run. And not many people have that ability he does. That's why he's a top 10 player, really like Malik neighbors.

Number five, Brock Bowers, I have told you from the start of this process, I am a big believer in tight ends, and I'm a huge believer in Brock Bowers. Bowers is fantastic. The dude gets it done and he is the perfect style of player for an offense to really build around from a skill position perspective. He's going to be in the playoffs. He's probably going to be the focal point of an offense that can go and win a Super Bowl at some point. Why do I say that? because every Super Bowl winner of the last eight years had a guy that could own the center of the field. Whether it was Edelman or Gronk or Kelsey, that's what you have to have. You have to have that. Or else you can't run the football. When I just talked about ratio and advantage shows,

that's what I'm talking about, guys that can play in the slot or even in line from a tied-in perspective, and win. And Brock Bowers can do that. His value should not be questioned just because you see the letters TE next to his name. I love Bowers. He's a top five player all day long. Don't overthink this. Anybody that's knocking Brock Bowers just for being a tight end, I think is hunting ghosts. And you know what? I was taught not to do that. You don't hunt ghosts in this profession. I'm not

going to here. At number four, I've got Roma Dunzei, wide receiver from Washington. Love this dude. He can be a number one. He can win. There's not a lot to not like about Roma Dunzee. He's going to go and be successful right away. I think he's a pro, and in particular in that offense, they ran a lot of routes that needed adjustment post-snap so you know he's smart and you know he can get on the same page with the quarterback because that's what he was with Michael Pinnock. At number three, I've got Drake May. He's going to be my second quarterback. A lot of people are going to knock Drake May over the next few weeks. For what reasons, I'm not quite sure. He falls in the C.J. Stroud category for me of like, why is everyone knocking him?

The dude's phenomenal. Watch his tape. And don't give me this bull crap of how, like, well, his feet aren't that good. Watch the take. Watch the throws that he makes. He makes throws that the other guys outside of Caleb Williams cannot make. And these guys are great players. They're top 26 players in the NFL draft, from Bo Nix to Pinnix to J.J. McCarthy to Jaden Daniels. And none of those guys can make the throws that Drake May makes from a top-end perspective.

he's got a gear that they don't have. So I'm sorry, like, nitpick all you want, but it just doesn't sound right. If he's passed over by Washington, I think it's a mistake. That's not a knock on Daniels. That's how much I believe in Drake May. Drake May is phenomenal. Just watch the tape. Just watch the tape.

Even though he can make some bonehead mistakes from a mental perspective, the dude is, oh, man. I mean, there are some people at this position. I feel like Crash Davis right now. Like, God reached down and turned that guy's right arm into a thunderbolt. He makes throws that the rest of us dream of making. And he does them without even skipping a beat and live action. Those type of guys don't come around all the time.

I will not I will not fall into the trap of what I did with Josh Allen coming out of Wyoming, Justin Herbert, coming out of Oregon. I heard people nitpick about the offense they ran,

the lack of accuracy, look at their footwork, and I would go back and I fell into it. And I was like, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Let's nitpick these guys. Nope. Not going to do it. Drake May is a phenomenal player.

I will stand by that. Number two and number one are two of the best players that I've ever covered at their positions in college football. Marvin Harrison Jr. and Caleb Williams, at two and at one. These two guys are, say it with me, generational players. I have not covered a better wide receiver in my career than Marvin Harrison, Jr., and I have not covered a better college quarterback than Caleb Williams. And there have been plenty that I've covered.

I can only evaluate based on the way I evaluate these players as I cover them. These two guys are phenomenal. Marvin Harrison Jr. is going to be a number one wide receiver right away. You can game plan to him as a rookie because he will get open and he will make the catch, in particular on third down, which is rare. In the playoffs, when he has to fight through contested areas and make physical catch,

He will do it. He can be the catalyst to an overall offense, and that is very rare. And that's why he's number two. And Caleb Williams is elite in every category that I can evaluate on the field. You can question some of the antics off the field, but I know as coaches. I've talked with his teammates. They loved Caleb Williams. And in a lot of ways, he was navigating waters that no player has ever had to navigate in the history of college football.

No player has ever had to play college football as an incumbent Heisman trophy winner with $12 million in the bank or whatever the denomination was. And you can say like, well, boo-hoo, Joel. I'm just saying no one's had to navigate that. All right? Like, this dude is an anomaly in a lot of ways.

And he's having to do things that there is no blueprint for it. And he's still a young man. So are there going to be mistakes made? Sure. there's going to be mistakes made. Let me tell you what I do not get concerned with. Watch his tape. He is elite in every category, whether he's creating on the run,

threatening with his legs, his football IQ and his acumen, his ability to threaten the defense with arm talent, all of it. He's an elite player, a totally elite player, and Caleb Williams is the number one pick, and he will be the number one pick, and he is phenomenal.