ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr has released his early top 25 big board for the 2021 NFL Draft class. Sam Cosmi, Joseph Ossai and Caden Sterns make it.
Recently ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr released his 2021 top 25 players* for next year’s NFL Draft. The big name on the list for the Longhorns in the 2021 class will be Sam. No, not Ehlinger but Cosmi. According to Kiper, Samuel Cosmi is listed as the second best offensive tackle in the class.
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Cosmi comes in at number 12 on the board.
Cosmi, who started at right tackle as a redshirt freshman in 2018 then switched to left tackle last season, is a phenomenal athlete. Just watch this 12-yard touchdown reception from 2019. He has great feet and can also bowl over edge defenders in the run game. If he puts all of his talent together, he could be a top-10 pick. The Big 12 is wide open in 2020, but the Longhorns have the league’s best offensive lineman and a really solid veteran quarterback in Sam Ehlinger.
The offensive tackle is the Longhorns best shot at their first round one draft pick since 2015. Recently, former linebacker Malik Jefferson tweeted about a time that he went up against Cosmi on the scout team, he knew then how talented he was.
Kiper goes on to list his top five players of the 2021 class at each position, here is how the Longhorns stacked up.
- Samuel Cosmi, OT, 2nd
- Joseph Ossai, OLB, 5th
- Caden Sterns, S, 3rd
Joseph Ossai will be an interesting study this upcoming football season. Currently slated to play in the “Jack” role for the Longhorns defense as a pass rush-linebacker hybrid on the outside. Ossai is very much built like the weakside defensive ends at the NFL level. While Kiper listed him as an outside linebacker, he could be viewed more as a pass rush specialist after the 2020 college football seasons. He finished five sacks (three came against Utah) and 13.5 tackles for loss last season, with a new focus expect those numbers to skyrocket. As will his draft stock following his junior year.
Caden Sterns has recently been receiving some first round hype in some mock drafts early on in the process. Despite that he had a down year in 2019, big things could be on the horizon for the third-year safety. Sterns only played in nine games, starting eight due to injury. The 2018 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year could have a return to his 2018 form under new defensive coordinator Chris Ash. With the emphasis being on getting to the quarterback, there could be plenty of opportunities for Sterns to make plays on the ball or create turnovers with his punishing style.
