College football is back in full force this weekend. After a teaser in what was known as Week 0, the Week 1 slate fired up on Thursday night.
Aside from the thrill of live football being back, it also means it’s time for the NFL scouts to hit the road and examine players in person. The Detroit Lions had scouts confirmed at one game on Thursday night: Florida at Utah.
From a draft standpoint, the biggest standout was Utah safety Cole Bishop. One of 10 Utes on the preseason Senior Bowl watchlist, Bishop showed range and a nose for the ball all night in Utah’s suffocating 24-11 win. He had 11 tackles, a sack, a pass breakup and a forced fumble on a great hit. Right tackle Sataoa Laumea had a good night sealing holes open and showing his power. Laumea is projected to kick inside to guard in the NFL.
Florida’s nine prospects on the Senior Bowl watchlist didn’t have a collectively prosperous night. Wideout Ricky Pearsall hauled in eight catches for 92 yards, but he and QB Graham Mertz didn’t have a lot of visible chemistry yet. Mertz is a transfer from Wisconsin and showed a strong arm but lacked mastery of the offense and struggled under pressure.
There were also unconfirmed reports of the Lions scouting North Carolina State at UConn. The Huskies feature one of the best offensive guard prospects for the 2024 NFL draft in Christian Haynes, who is a nice schematic fit for the Lions offense,
Led by RG Christian Haynes (#64), the UConn OL was doing some work on that TD drive. NC State OL has NFL dudes too.
Haynes (6027v, 312v) enters the season as my No. 5 senior OG prospect. pic.twitter.com/Y3iXCN9tuF
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) August 31, 2023