The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Klatt’s Top 50 Players in 2023 NFL Draft: Version 2.0 and the Big Ten has a new Commissioner

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

In this episode, FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt unveils the 2nd edition of his Top 50 Players in the 2023 NFL Draft. Joel goes deep into his evaluations of the best prospects and breaks down which players are moving on his board including several new players who emerged to crack the Top 50 like Michigan Cornerback D.J. Turner. Klatt also reveals a big shake-up in his Top 10 as he weighs the risks involved with selecting Georgia DT Jalen Carter. Bijan Robinson continues to climb as Joel compares him to 49ers Pro Bowl Running Back Christian McCaffrey. Finally, Joel gives his reaction to the news that the Big Ten has their new commissioner in Tony Petitti and why his hiring will play a monumental role in the future of College Football. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome into the show, everybody. This is the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt, joining you not live, but recorded from Birmingham here. I'm actually down here doing a couple of things. Start of the USFL, which you will have already watched this last weekend, Saturday and Sunday. And then also recording some new podcast episodes for our interview series that we've got coming later in the summer. Really excited about that. Sat down with Greg Sankey. We'll be sitting down with Nick Saban as well. So that's coming up later in the summer, and I can't wait to drop that for you. But today, we've got to move along in the draft as we're getting closer to Kansas City. The big board for me is starting to take shape. My top 50 list has changed a little bit. I had four guys that actually jumped into the top 50, four guys that are now not in the top 50. I've got a shake up in the top 10. So you want to stick around as I go 50 to 1 here in the top 50.

And then I'll also give some thoughts on the new Big Ten Commissioner. And I got to tell you, like, this happened very quickly. So Tony Petiti is going to be the new Big Ten Commissioner, arguably one of the most powerful men in now all of college sports. And so I'll give you my thoughts on that after this top 50. First and foremost, remember, subscribe, rate review us, do all those fun things. You can follow us on social media, any of the social media platforms at Joel Clat Show. We're right there. We're giving you all the content all week long, and we thank you for following and interacting. You can follow me, by the way, personally, at Joel Cloud on Twitter is where I'm at mostly. Okay, let's get into this now, my top 50 list. And this is going to be my last big board before the draft. So this is the final top 50 list. This is my 50 best players available in this year's NFL draft. Let's start 50 to 1. I've got a couple of Iowa players right here at 50 and 49. So I've got Sam Leporta and Jack Campbell. LaPorta, obviously, the tight end. And I've talked about him on this show a few different

times. I'm a big fan of Sam Laporta. There's a lot of good tight ends, by the way, in this list. But Laporta is a guy that he's probably a lot better than what you would seem when you first see him. He's smooth. He understands space. He's really good with his hands. And on an offense that was not very good at all in Iowa, he was the focal point of the defense. and still produced. On the defensive side for them, Jack Campbell, he's been a leader for them at linebacker, Captain Jack. Remember, Iowa quietly, second best defense in college football over the last couple of years. Everybody talks about Georgia, rightly so. But this Iowa defense under Phil Parker has been outstanding, and Jack Campbell has been a big reason why he's in my top 50 right there. So a couple of Iowa guys. Okay, Luke Musgrave, another tight end from Oregon State, really like his game, he jumps in to the top 50. We've also got Steve Avila. Sorry, I jumped one ahead. He's 48.

He's a new addition to the top 50. He was the transfer from SMU that went with their coaching staff over to TCU. And he was really good for them in the middle of their offensive line, led them to a national championship game appearance. Luke Musgrave from Oregon State. He's the tied in. He's going to be in there. Trenton Simpson, the linebacker from Clemson, I like his game a lot.

He's in the top 50. For me, he's a fast player that plays really well. Keely Ringo. I'm going to sit real quickly because you're going to see, like, from the original top 50, he's actually down 18 spots. That is a bit of a false flag, if you will, because you would think that something's gone wrong with Keely Ringo. And it's less about that and more about the slotting for the cornerbacks for me

have just kind of changed. And when you're changing the slotting of the cornerbacks, and you'll see a couple of guys jump up here in the next few spots. When the slotting of the cornerback, it's just like all of a sudden he's got to be a little bit lower on the board. So it's nothing that Keeley Ringo did wrong or that my evaluation has drastically turned on him as much as it is. There's been some corners, namely DJ Turner from Michigan, Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi

State that to me have just kind of risen. My evaluation of them has changed in particular after their testing. And so that's why Kili Ringo is down 18 spots. It's nothing against him. It's just slotting. And that's what happens when you're trying to create these big boards. There's a lot of good players. They've got to go somewhere.

And Ringo ends up at 45. Okay, a new addition and a guy that I really liked, Zach Charbonnet, the running back for UCLA, he's at 44. Zach's a guy that has risen now on the board. And I love his versatility. So Charbonnet is really good in between the tackles. I love his patience and his vision. He's got a little bit of burst on the outside,

not necessarily a huge home run hitter, you know, like some of the explosive running backs up top. But he understands the game. He understands past protection. He catches it really well out of the backfield. He's tough and balanced through contact. He's the type of pick that may be early second round, middle second round, someone's going to get much better

because they take Zach Charbonnet. I'm a huge fan of his. So he rises six spots there to 44. Another new, not another, but a new addition to the top 50 is at 43. Drew Sanders, the linebacker for Arkansas, started his career at Alabama. And Drew just wasn't, it wasn't clicking at Alabama for whatever reason. And he moved to Arkansas, moved to the middle, as a middle linebacker, and it just kind of clicked. And I thought he had a really good year.

And so he's in my top 50. edge player Keon White is number 42. I really like Keon White and he's very raw. So Keon White starts his career as a tight end at Old Dominion, then switches to defensive end in 2019. Then Old Dominion loses their season because of COVID, so he transfers to Georgia Tech, gets banged up in his first year there in 2021,

so he didn't really do much. And then all of a sudden this last year, it's like, boom, you see the production, you see all, the traits that you would want to see. And you can very easily project him to be much better the next couple of years. So Keon White is a guy that could even be underrated here at 42, and is a guy that I would certainly love to take. He had a great year this last year. 14 tackles for loss, seven and a half sacks, like I said, as he was finally healthy. Okay, now we get into 41, Hendon Hooker, quarterback from Tennessee. You guys know how I feel about

Hindenhooker. It's continuing to rise. He's up four spots. I love this guy's accuracy down the field, his efficiency throwing the ball. The fact that he stays so quiet and poised in the pocket, remember, this is a wide receiver-led offense. That's not a knock against Hindenhooker. It just means that he's got to be on the same page, diagnose defenses in real-time post-snap for those downfield reeds from the wide receiver, and then he's got to be accurate and efficient, throwing the ball into vertical zones and seams, and he does that really well. He's the type of guy that I'm a little nervous about the system translating to the NFL. But as far as the game, the efficiency, the calm, the poise,

I think he's a guy at 25 years old that's going to come in and have a really positive impact on that quarterback room wherever he's selected. All right, let's get into the top 40 now. And here's another new addition to my top 50 and a guy that has really risen not only on my draft board, but on others, namely because I had questions about his. speed, and then all the sudden he rolled out there and ran a blazing fast 40 at the combine. I'm talking about DJ Turner, the corner from Michigan. So DJ played high school ball with Josh Downs, who's the guy that was just outside of the top 50, wide receiver from North Carolina. His speed is, it shows up on tape, but then it really showed up during the testing.

And this is a defense that relies on man coverage on the outside. Remember, and I talk about this all the time during the course of the season, it's a defense that builds a run wall inside. They've got hard edges rushing the quarterback outside, and then they've got to have good cover corners on the outside of their secondary, and DJ Turner is certainly one of those guys. It's interesting because one of the reasons I didn't have him in my top 50, and I'll be very frank with you, is that I overlooked him a little bit after the season. And the reason is is because there's a corner that Michigan has that was a younger player that was frankly the better corner. And it was just hard. I'm like, am I really going to take the number two corner from Michigan and make him a top 50 player? And you know what?

After watching more film, after seeing him test, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm talking about Will Johnson, by the way, who's probably going to be a top 15, top 10 pick when he ends up coming out in the draft in a couple of years. All right. So as we move on here, another big 10 guy here at 39, John Michael Schmitz, The center, love his game, really love his game. Another older player, he's been at Minnesota forever. Originally committed, by the way, to PJ Fleck at Western Michigan, followed Fleck over to Minnesota and had a good career.

I like Cody Mock, the tackle from North Dakota State. This guy is like a legit farmer, grew up on a 5,000 acre farm. He's rising up my board. He was the best offensive lineman at his level of football. I think that he's going to make someone better right away. I love his toughness, his leadership, all those different things. At 37, I've got Emmanuel Forbes corner from Mississippi State. He was actually a really good baseball player as a kid, probably could have played college baseball,

originally committed to Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State. Then a few weeks after he committed to Joe Moorhead, Moorhead actually gets let go and they hire Mike Leach. He stayed committed to Mississippi State and had a really good career. I'm looking at a guy right that like, He's got great production with the ball, 35 pass breakups, 14 interceptions. He had six of those interceptions that he took back for touchdowns. So why does Keely Ringo start moving down?

It's just a closer look at guys like DJ Turner and Emmanuel Forbes, right? Like, Emmanuel Forbes, it's one of those things that I always say when you're looking at a quarterback, you can't ignore turnovers. Those are going to follow you. Well, on the positive side, for a cornerback, you can't ignore ball production. And this guy gets it. He's clearly a very good cover player. And then those 35 PbUs, 14 interceptions, you know, he played primarily on the right side in their defense.

But I really like Emmanuel Forbes, really like him. All right. Jalen Hyatt, he'll be 36. He's the wide receiver from Tennessee. I mentioned it when I was talking about Hendon Hooker. this was absolutely a wide receiver-led offense. Remember, this is the Art Bryle's offense from Baylor. Josh Heppel now kind of runs a version of it at Tennessee, and the entire offense, and their entire season, to be quite frank with you, was predicated on finding guys like Jalen Hyatt,

who could run the vertical read route out of the slot and on the outside, and that kind of the two-man route on one side of the ball. Hyatt was, Hyatt was tremendous, And he offers the legit outside downfield threat that some NFL teams are going to need, in particular because there's a lot of wide receivers in this draft, in particular at the top, that are more slot specialists. And so if you're looking at a guy that can line up in the slot, can line up outside, I think Hyatt's that guy. Felix and Adduke Azuma, the edge player from Kansas State, love his production, transformed himself as a prospect, by the way.

He came into Kansas State really under-recruited. He was 215 pounds coming into college. And so they had to blue shirt him, which basically means, hey, we'll promise you a scholarship, but it's going to be in the spring. So originally you're a walk-on. You don't count against this class. You're going to count against next class. So he blew shirts at Kansas State and transforms himself into a guy that was the defensive

player of the year in the Big 12, and he's a guy that has a lot of production, 20 basically sacks in the last couple of years. So he's a guy that I think, will do really well at the next level in the NFL. Another edge player right ahead of him, B.J. Ujolari played high school ball with his college teammate Eric Gilbert. And I tell you, those players at LSU had to deal with a lot. There was a lot of change, schematically, leadership-wise, over the last few years.

And that turmoil, it would be hard to produce in. And when you look at what he was able to do, he was able to produce four more sacks in all three seasons, right? So he can play. Another feather in his cap is the fact that he's got great football character. He coaches and everybody say he's a joy to be around. And then his opponents praise him highly. In fact, when I was talking to people around Alabama, they mentioned three players as players that were like, hey, these were probably the best players we played against all year. They obviously mentioned Jalen Carter because of his talent. They mentioned Jalen Hyatt, who I just talked about because of what he was able to do,

his toughness and his ability to create big plays. He had that big game against Bama. And then the third player that they mentioned was B.J.O. Jolari from LSU. They had a hard time with him. And that's high praise. At 34 is a guy that, or excuse me, 33, is a guy that I'm lower on than others. And that's Will Levis, the quarterback from Kentucky. So this is, and I will always say this. This is my least favorite part of the draft process is that I have a quarterback in the top 33 players overall. I think he could probably get drafted in the first round. Wouldn't have a huge problem with that. Uber talented. Love his game. But because I have him at 33 and that's, you know, call it 20 spots away from the other three quarterbacks in this draft, everyone's like,

go, why do you hate Will Levis? I don't hate Will Levis. He's my 33rd ranked player in the draft. Now, if you're asking me to say, why is he further away from those top three quarterbacks? It's very simple. He turns the ball over way too much, and he doesn't have the top end projection like Anthony Richardson would have. So for me, he falls down a little bit.

You know, like Will can play a bit robotic. at times. His teammates love him. High character. Football means a lot to him. I hope he has a lot of success. I also hope that those turnover worthy plays don't follow him into the NFL. History would suggest that they will.

So that's why I have him at 33. But a good, sturdy build, terrific arm strength, all of those things I really love. All right. At 32, I've got Mazzie Smith, the defensive tackle for Michigan. Mazzie is not going to have the production necessarily, tackles for loss and sacks as some other players, but that's primarily because of the scheme fit at Michigan. So they went to that Baltimore Raven style of defense over the last couple of years,

first with Mike McDonald, if you remember, in their first Big Ten championship year. And then last year with Jesse Mentor, same style of defense. Well, what they ask is, and I mentioned it a little bit ago with DJ Turner, builder run wall. Well, he was that run wall. He's not asked to rush the quarterback. He's asked to ask to build the run wall, you know, provide the front end of the pocket

so that the hard edges can then rush the quarterback. So I'm not as worried about the fact that he didn't have a ton of production, maybe like some other guys that we'll talk about in a couple of slots. But I do like Mazi Smith. And I'm interested to see like whether, whether that incident with the, you know, getting pulled over and he had a gun and still played and all that. I'm interested to see what NFL teams will think about that. It was largely a clerical issue.

He got his concealed permit class finished. And before he actually had the paperwork, he got pulled over. There was a pistol in his car. And that's what that incident was. Okay, 31. Will McDonald, edge player for Iowa State. So Will was having a phenomenal career. And every year his production was going up until the point in 2021,

he had 11 and a half sacks. And I thought to myself, maybe this is a good year for him to come out. Probably that was the case. Now, I'm still going to have him at 31. And I do think people still like him. There is a worry that his production fell off a little bit this last year. Iowa State did not have the year that they hoped for.

But he still had 34 career sacks. That's one of the all-time marks in Big 12 history, much less school record. So, you know, I like Will McDonald, but that production last year falling off. There's some questions about that. All right, Colizia Cancy, the defensive tackle from Pitt. He gets into my top 30.

And the reason I've got him right there above Mazzie Smith, who was at 32, was because of the production. So this guy, now a little bit different style of defense, and I understand that schematically. But Cancy is a guy that produced from the interior. So when he was lined up as primarily a three technique, that means the outside shoulder of one of the guards. He had 14 tackles for loss and became the first unanimous All-American at Pitt since Aaron Donald.

By the way, he also ran 4-6-7 in the 40 at 280 pounds. He's fast. He's explosive. I could see this guy being a dominant player at the next level. So there's two different styles of defensive tackle that you can go after. A guy that can play a role and do it exceptionally well in order to make other guys, I would say shine. That's Mazzie Smith. How about a guy that's going to get his own.

production and create his own production in particular in the backfield. Well, that's Colise Cancy. So I tell you, this guy had more than a TFL per game in college, high producer, high motor, really like his game. At 29, Osiris Torrance, the guard from Florida, such a fascinating background. Do you know Osiris was 120 pounds as a young man entering high school and basically played football as a means to try to get his weight under control. And now you look up, he just started 47 games in college football, first at Louisiana, then at Florida. So we went with Billy Napier at Louisiana, and then Napier gets the job at Florida, follows him over there. And now he's a 330-pound guy who moves

well laterally. He didn't give up a sack in his close to 1500 snaps in college football, right? Like, you probably didn't hear a ton about Osiris Torrance because he was a transfer. You know, he's just kind of an interior guy. I love his story. I love his stories. Coach is rave, rave. When I talk with people, not only his opponents, but then people even around the Florida program, they say like, this guy was a sponge, genuine person. great teammate. So Torrance is a guy that I really like. At 28, Deontay Banks, the corner from Maryland. He can run, man. 438 in the 40. He was a 10,900 meter guy in high school. He can flat fly. One of the issues that he'll have to overcome is that in 2021, so not this last year, but the previous

season, he had some shoulder issues, had a surgery. So I felt like his tape last year got better as the season went on and as he got more confident in the health of his shoulder. Nine PBOs last year and again, good ball production there. Darnell Washington, the tied in from Georgia, he checks in at 27. He was a five-star recruit number 23 overall player coming out of high school and yet was overshadowed a little bit at Georgia. And the reason is, is because he played with Brock Bowers. Now, they complimented each other very well.

Darnell is a little bit more of an in-line tight end. he blocks really well. At times it felt like Georgia was playing with six offensive linemen because of how well Darnel Washington blocks in particular in line. Brock Bowers was a little bit more of a flex tied in. You know, excellent receiver, they would hand him the ball, they would do all those things. And because he was constantly in the game plan getting the football,

that didn't leave a lot of production for a guy like Darno Washington. That does not mean, though, that he's not a highly rated prospect because he is a guy that can catch it. He's explosive on the edge as well. he can flex out a little bit, but he gives you that balance and versatility of a guy that can be in line and still catch the ball. So don't, I wouldn't look too deep in terms of his production. That is hinted because Brock Bowers, I think is an absolute freak. And by the way, I think Brock Bowers would be the number one tight end in this draft.

I think Drake May and Caleb Williams would be the top two quarterbacks in this draft. I think Marvin Harrison Jr. would be the top wide receiver in this draft. Those are all guys that aren't even eligible until next year. So, you know, some interesting takes, I guess there. Maybe those are hot takes. I don't even know. People probably like, what? You don't love Bryce Young.

I love Bryce Young. Anyways, 26. Zay Flowers, the wide receiver from Boston College. If you watch any of the Senior Bowl, you know that this guy is a route running machine. I alluded to this a little bit earlier, but he's one of these guys that's going to flourish primarily in the slot. I love the fact that he stayed committed to Boston College. Not that I hold it against any of these players when they transfer for NIL opportunities. But he certainly had that and decided to stay at Boston College.

Probably could have had more production if he would have gone somewhere else. But he's a route running machine. By the way, he's the 11th of 14 kids. How about that? Ten boys, four girls, primarily raised by their dad. Zay's mom actually passed away. way in 2005. So an interesting family story there. A great player really like what he brings to the table. Defensive tackle at 25 from Clemson, Brian Brzee. Really good player who I actually think is

undervalued. I'm toying around with him being a little bit higher there. And then I just, I just kind of kept it for where it is. He was the number one recruit in the country in 2020, even ahead of Bryce Young. His first year, I can remember having a conversation with the guys around Clemson. And they said in his first year, he's the best player on the team, true freshman. And then in subsequent years, he had to deal with a lot of adversity, whether it was the tragic passing of his sister, Ella. He tore his ACL.

He got sick. and that sickness led to an infection in his kidney. So over the last couple of years, he hasn't been healthy and he has had to deal with tragedy within his family. I think that's the reason why he's not considered a top 10 player in this draft. If you go back to watch what he was coming out of high school and even in his true freshman year, I think you could easily say that he's a top 10 player in this draft.

But because the last two years, just nothing is, gone right for them. Clemson didn't play dominant football like they were previously. I think he's an underrated prospect right there, Brian Brzee. All right, Darnel Wright, the tackle from Tennessee, really good player, highly recruited in that 2019 class, number two offensive tackle in that class. He started 42 games, 34 of them straight.

Now, I will say this about Darnell Wright. The move to right tackle this last year helped him immensely, because he was falling short of expectations virtually his entire career. And by the way, you could say that about the entire Tennessee program over that previous four year. And then everything popped and everything went right this last season under Josh Hypo. Part of that was the fact that Wright found a natural position at tackle and finally played up to his potential.

So that's one of the reasons why he's so highly rated right now in this draft. At 23 is Brian Branch, really hybrid player from Alabama. He played that star position for Bama that Mika Fitzpatrick played. He was their smartest defensive back, best defensive back, most versatile defensive back. And that's not easy to remember. This guy played as a true freshman, got on the field in Nick Sabin's secondary as a true freshman. He's the type of guy that reminds me a lot of Jordan Fuller, remember from Ohio State, who was not the best player on his defense.

And yet you look up at the end of the day and you're like, well, of course he's a starter in the NFL. He's more versatile than Jordan Fuller, but he's the type of guy that's going to learn the scheme. He's going to be one of your hardest workers right away. He can play in the box. He can cover. I love this guy. He's a great worker, very smart. And again, you start three times as a true freshman and Nick Sabin's secondary.

That's saying something. Broderick Jones, the tackle from Georgia is going to be number 22. He was, I think, rated a freshman. right behind Paris Johnson in recruiting. Paris Johnson, the tackle from Ohio State. Broderick played basketball at a really high level. I think that that helps him from a fluidity standpoint. You can tell he's an athletic mover, even for being a big guy. He started last year after being a backup in 2021. Remember, they've recruited so well that a lot of these guys have a hard time getting on the field. He did start in the national championship game against

Bama. I think the most important part of watching and evaluating Broderick Jones, zero holding penalties. That's saying something. Back to that basketball background moving around. So that's why I like Jones. Lucas Van S, the edge player from Iowa is going to be 21. Remember, that Iowa defense, one of the best defenses in the country, second best defense in the country, really. And Van Ness, even though he didn't start, I know that that's weird. I know that's weird. I know that's weird. This guy can produce on the edge. You look at what that team is. They play a very simple structure,

4-3, cover 4, some version of quarters, almost every base down snap. And then they get exotic on third down. So their whole defensive mentality is predicated on doing your job, doing it really well, and then winning one-on-one matchups in particular up front in order to get to the quarterback. can produce some pressure.

And Van Ness did that really well. I like the fact that he is a multiple sport athlete as a kid, played hockey growing up. You can see that balance translate from hockey onto the football field. And is a guy that can produce pressure. 13 and a half sacks over the last couple of years, but zero starts. I know that that's a little interesting.

Paris Johnson, the offensive tackle for Ohio State. Excellent in pass protection. He's in my top 20. When you're thinking about a passing league, needing a tackle, a guy that can play left tackle, Paris Johnson is easily one of those guys. At 19, Jamir Gibbs, the running back from Alabama, I love him, his versatility. You guys know exactly how I feel about Jamir Gibbs. His ability to catch it out of the backfield is what makes him so dangerous, okay?

He can line up as a slot receiver. You can hand it to him in the backfield, you can throw a screen, all of those different things. He's got the home run ability that maybe Zach Charbonnet doesn't, the explosiveness on the outside. he makes people miss in space, and he's probably rated here behind Bejohn Robinson only because Bejohn is a little better with his vision inside the tackles. So Jemir Gibbs at 19, excellent player. Nolan Smith, edge player from Georgia,

won't surprise me if he goes higher than this in the draft. In fact, when I do my final mock, there's a good chance that Nolan Smith is going to creep up really close to the top 10. People are falling in love with him in this draft process, and rightly so. I think that when you get over the peck injury that he had that basically forced him to miss half the season this last season, you look at a guy that was highly recruited out of high school. You look at a guy that was one of the backbone players of the back-to-back national champions and led on defense. He's a guy that has explosive traits and great leadership.

So he is a locker room guy, one of your hardest workers, one of your best players. You're always going to love that fixture on special teams, even though he was. is a top recruit. That tells me that you're a special team first type of guy. Quentin Johnston at TCU, the wide receiver. I like him at 17. Johnston is a guy that, again, because there's so many slot receivers, his value might increase because he's specializing on the outside. One of the things that Quentin has got to do better is make the routine play more consistently. There's an old adage, and I know quarterback, I use it more for quarterbacks, but as a wide receiver of this. And I think this might, you know, everybody, it's better to be consistently

good than occasionally great. If you're always good and occasionally great, that's fine. But consistently good is better than occasionally great. And Quentin Johnston can suffer from some focus drops or lack of focus. And he needs to be able to make those layups. I'm giving you all the cliches. Make those layups and not just the special catches down the field. A guy that's jumped up quite a bit on my board is Dalton Kincaid, the tight end from Utah. I love Dalton Kincaid and his ability. I think that when you look at him and his basketball background, he admittedly wanted to focus on basketball until really his senior year. So that's why he was lightly recruited.

And then he ends up going to San Diego, transfers to Utah, and led tight ends with $8,000. 90 yards this last year in the country. It was interesting watching their offense morph because when Brent Keithy went down, he became Kincaid more focal point of their offense. And that's where he started to really jump up. Why is he moved up, though, Joe? Okay. So he's jumped up the board because he got some good medical information where they said,

like, hey, listen, his back's going to be fine. He's a full go. And I think because of that, he's going to move up. but he could not move up past the guy who I like most at the tight end position, which is Michael Mayor of the tight end from Notre Dame. They had real offensive issues, not quite to the level that Iowa did, but real offensive issues because of some quarterback injuries. And this guy was the focal point of what the defense was trying to stop,

and he's still produced. He is a great leader. He's the type of guy that you absolutely want in your locker room. He catches it really well. He's a fluid player. He's a good blocker. at the point of the tack. He can flex out and run routes from outside, and he moves well in space. He's everything that you want in an NFL tied in. He's my number one tied in, so he's 15th on my board.

At 14, I've got Jordan Addison, the wide receiver from USC, won the Blitnikov at Pitt, transferred over to USC, partly because Kenny Pickett was gone then from Pitt, and he lost his offense coordinator, Mark Whipple, and just more opportunity at USC. Had a great year for USC. It's interesting, he originally committed to Pitt because Chris Bady was the wide receiver coach at Pitt. Well, now Bady is the wide receiver coach for the L.A. Chargers. That might be a coincidence, something to look for. Very quiet guy. Quiet worker doesn't say a lot.

Works on his weaknesses tirelessly. And I will say that early in his career, he suffered from some of those drops that I was talking about with Quentin Johnston. Towards the end of his career, you didn't see those. So he clearly targeted that as a point of weakness and then worked on it and it's become a strength. At 13, I've got Joey Porter Jr., the corner from Penn State. You guys know how I feel about Joey Porter, Jr. He's got great length. He's not afraid to cover the best player on the field and constantly had to do that with Penn State.

The only guy that you could say, like, maybe got the best of him was Marvin Harrison, Jr. And guess what? Marvin Harrison Jr. is going to get the best of everybody because he would have been the best wide receiver in this draft. Joey Porter Jr. is going to have to work on his handsiness. He can grab a lot, and you can get away with that in college. But that illegal contact at the next level, that's something to pay attention to. Miles Murphy, the edge player from Clemson, he was a great baseball player as a kid, by the way. Miles Murphy was.

He's my 12th ranked player in this list. You know, he threw at 14 years old, how about this? 90 miles an hour. Can you about like an 18, seeing 90 as a high school senior is rare, much less 14. That is just crazy, absolutely crazy. Super highly ranked

recruit coming out of high school, played immediately for Clemson, very productive in each of his three seasons. You look down at the stat sheet, 37 tackles for loss, 17 and a half sacks over those years, works really hard in the weight room. coaches rave about his willingness to work hard and try to please and just be a team first guy.

I think this is an easy no-brainer pick for someone high in the draft. At number 11 is a guy that I think could easily be number two. Some might even have him number one. But there's just too many red flags right now. And so on my prospect list, Jalen Carter has fallen out of the top 10. And the defensive tackle for Georgia is number 11. He's every trait that you want in terms of his on-field ability. I've got questions about his effort, snap in and snap out, his judgment off the field.

And listen, when you've got one chance at a pro day, one in your entire life, in your entire life. This is it. You don't get three drafts. And he showed up nine pounds overweight. That's a huge red flag. it suggests that he doesn't care. Now, whether that's true or not, only he can answer. I'm just saying that's the suggestion.

I do believe that he might slip down the draft board a little bit. Detroit trading away Jeff Akuta could signal that they're going to be taking one of these corners in the draft. That was a spot that a lot of people thought like Jaywin Carter is not going to get past Detroit. Well, he might. He might. All right. Witherspoon, the corner from Illinois. He's in my top 10.

So Witherspin was a no-star recruit, long academic process, by the way, took him to Juko before he was cleared late, then ended up going to Illinois, started three games as a freshman, and they used a lot of man coverage. So he understands what it's like to be on an island. They had a great defense.

I just like his skill set. He's not my top corner, though. That's going to go to the number nine player on the board, which is Christian Gonzalez. Christian Gonzalez from Oregon started his career at Colorado. He signed with Mel Tucker at Colorado. Then Tucker left to Michigan State, stayed there at Colorado for a couple of years. Then he went to Oregon and really blossomed there at Oregon.

He actually followed his position coach from Colorado to Oregon, Demetrius Martin. More of an uncle than a coach is the way that Christian describes Coach Martin. Tall, long, rangy can run 4, 3, 8 in the 40, had four interceptions last year. comes from a family of athletes. His father is actually 6-9, played basketball at UTEP. This guy is a fluid guy. He's not afraid. He's my top corner on the board.

Anthony Richardson checks in, the quarterback from Florida at number eight. So physically gifted. That's not a change for me. Richardson moves up one spot, but only because of some of the shifting around there with Jalen Carter kind of falling out. He's a Rubik's Cube.

If you can figure him out, he's one of the best players in the NFL. and that's why it's so interesting. Jackson Smith and Jigba, he's going to be number seven on the board. I think he's the best wide receiver in the draft. I think that Jackson, Smith, and Jigba could lead the NFL in catches within his first three years. If he goes to a place in his first year as a rookie that has a veteran quarterback and a play caller and designer that knows what he's doing, he could easily have 85, 90 catches as a rookie, understand space, fluid with his hands. And the best compliment I can give is that when he was around all those great players at Ohio State, Chris Olavé, Garrett Wilson, who just set the world on fire in the NFL, even his coach, Brian Hartline. What did everybody talk about?

Oh, Jackson Smith and Jigba is the best player. So, yeah, he didn't play last year because of a hamstring injury. But let's not forget when he did play, he was one of the best players in the entire country. And number six, I've got Peter Skoronsky, the tackle from Northwest. turn. I'm a bit partial to him only because I've been talking to Pat Fitzgerald about Peter Skoronski for a long time. When I remember evaluating Rishon Slater and that evaluation quickly morphed into, okay, we know about Slater, but this kid's also going to be a first round draft pick. And I'm like, well, what kid is this? And he's like, Peter Skoronsky and he was just a true freshman. I started watching him then.

And I've loved watching him grow up. By the way, great bloodline. His grandfather played offensive line for the Vince Lombardi Packers. I'm sure you've seen that story. He was part of five NFL championships. So this guy is going to understand what it means to be a pro. I've got Tyree Wilson at number five, signed with A&M out of high school and Kevin Sumlin, stayed there and then ended up transferring to Texas Tech. I think he's got great length and size.

I think that he still has some refining in his nuance of rushing the passer, but he can get to the passer. He can play the run. He can be disruptive. He's too athletic and too strong to pass up. I really like Tyree Wilson. He's my second best edge player in the draft. At number four is C.J. Stroud, quarterback from Ohio State.

This guy is accurate. Love his makeup. I think that he's got room to grow. So he's got some potential. But when you watch him, he communicates with his ball placement, hyper-accurate, understands the game. It's important to him, loves his teammates. I can't say enough positive things about C.J. Stroud.

He's overcome a lot of adversity in his life off the field just to get to Ohio State. Wasn't one of these like spoon-fed, ultraly high recruited players. He has fought for what he has earned and plays with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Because of that, I think he's going to have a big career in the NFL. Bejohn Robinson moves up all the way into my top three. That's a shift in my top 10. Robinson, quite simply, is the most dynamic and best non-quarterback offensive player in the draft. That's the best way I can put it.

Whoever drafts him is going to get an absolutely dynamic, game-changing athlete. I think he is very much in the same vein as Christian McCaffrey. Now, Texas was not as good as what Stanford was when McCaffrey was there, and it didn't feature necessarily the back like Stanford was trying to do under David Shaw back than with McCaffrey. But rest assured, I think Bejohn could do exactly that. He can line up as a wide receiver. He can line up as a running back.

He can create a home run in any way that you give him the ball. He can catch 50 and 60 passes in a season. He's the modern, solid offensive player. And I think there's a lot of value in Bejohn Robinson. Bryce Young at number two. I know he's undersized. I do have him at number two. This guy processes information,

throws the ball accurately and plays his best when his best is needed. That's what great players do. Great players play great when greatness is required. And that's exactly Bryce Young. You think back to some of those games that they would have definitely lost without them. At Texas was one of them, by the way. The only reason they're in the Tennessee game is because he was dragging them along to

stay in that game. Same with the LSU game. He constantly makes huge plays and throws, manipulating the pocket a lot of the time, in order to keep his team in the game. And my number one player, no change here, is going to be Will Anderson. Will Anderson's my best player in the draft. I think that you put him on any team in the NFL, and he's immediately a dynamic game-wrecking style of player. I think he's got the potential to be a defensive player of the year at some point.

He is a great worker, a great teammate, and also your best player. That's everything you can ask if you're a GM. or a head coach. So I love Will Anderson. That's my top 50 players. Okay, let me shift gears here a little bit and quickly touch on Tony Petiti, new commissioner in the Big Ten. Big news, by the way, because there are two people individually, and they would tell you that they're not the most powerful or most influential individually, but they are because they represent the two most powerful entities in college football. and that's going to be Greg Sanky and the SEC and now Tony Petiti, the commissioner of the Big Ten. These two entities are the ice carving the canyon out of the rock.

They are going to shape the future of college football. So this is a massive, massive hire. I do find it interesting and honestly heartening. I'm a big fan of this, that the new trend is to go outside of academia in order to find commissioners. That's not a knock on Greg Sanky or Jim Phillips. I think both of those guys are fantastic. In fact, Greg Sanky is a phenomenal commissioner. Just sat with him as we're here in Birmingham for over an hour talking about college football, smart guy.

And I can't wait to drop that episode later in the summer. Tony Petiti is a little bit different. Okay, so Greg came up kind of through the industry and in college athletics. Tony Petiti was in athletics, but in a very different realm. So he's been in Major League Baseball as part of the front office in Major League Baseball. He's been part of, you know, the executive suite level of networks on the television side. So that's a different perspective. So now you've got, you know, the casino space with George Kolovkov.

You've got professional sports and management with Brett Yarmark, two guys that kind of came from the intercollegiate athletics background in Jim Phillips and Greg Sanky, and now someone from pro sports and television in Tony Petiti. I think it's a really smart hire, and I hope that he will be willing to think outside the box and press hard for what's best not only for the Big Ten, but also for college football. as a whole. If there was one thing that I hope moving forward in college football, it's that the five most powerful or influential commissioners would work together more rather than looking out just for their own silo, is that they would at points, and I think creating the college football playoff in 26 and beyond is one of these points, where they're creating it for the betterment of the whole and not just their section.

and hopefully Tony Petiti is going to be that representative for the Big Ten and moving forward. But again, easily becomes the second most or whatever you want to call it, most influential person in intercollegiate athletics the minute he takes that job. And we'll hopefully sit down with him this summer as well. All right. So that'll do it for this edition of the program. When we come back with you, it'll be draft week. We're hopefully going to catch up with Peter Schrager, my good buddy.

I will give you my final mock draft as we get all set for the NFL draft in Kansas City. And I'm really looking forward to that. So thank you very much for listening, as always. Remember to follow us on any of the social media platforms at Joel Clatt Show. Rate, review us, subscribe, wherever you find your podcast. And most of all, thank you so much for being a fan and for loving college football along with me.