Tag: M.J. Devonshire

2024 Scouting Combine: Seven cornerbacks detail their favorite college plays

At the 2024 scouting combine, we asked seven different cornerbacks for their favorite NCAA plays, and got some great answers.

INDIANAPOLIS — Unless you are somehow able to gain access to one of the rooms in which NFL teams meet with draft prospects during the week of the scouting combine, there’s no way to know what’s really discussed. One thing that is almost always happens is a tape-watching expedition in which the NFL people will have play examples dialed up that hopefully show what the prospects can do.

Here at Touchdown Wire, we do not possess the required juice to crash those rooms, but we are able to ask these prospects during their combine media sessions which plays from their college careers best typify their potential.

On Thursday, we asked seven different cornerback prospects — Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, Kentucky’s Andru Phillips, Wake Forest’s Caelen Carson, Pitt’s M.J. Devonshire, Oregon’s Khyree Jackson, and Ole Miss’s Deantre Prince — for their favorite collegiate plays. These are the ones they’d like to show to NFL teams this week as indicators of their finest work.

Pro Football Network sends Vikings DB — not QB — in latest mock draft

Cam Mellor of Pro Football Network sends the Minnesota Vikings some defensive help in the first round, and a host of other players in his latest 7-round mock draft

In somewhat of a surprise, Pro Football Network’s Cam Mellor is going against the grain with his selection for the Minnesota Vikings and sending them some help in the secondary rather than at quarterback. In his latest mock draft, Mellor has the Vikings selecting former Iowa Hawkeyes cornerback Cooper DeJean with the 11th pick.

Here’s what Mellor has to say about the selection:

Iowa cornerbacks are always going to be pro-ready, and that’s just what Cooper DeJean presents for the Minnesota Vikings. A late-season injury forced him out of the Big Ten Championship, but DeJean should be ready to go by minicamp.

He’s a speedster on the outside with plenty of length and burst. DeJean comes fully equipped with elite ball skills and a special teams ability that rivals everyone in this class.

DeJean is an interesting pick for the Vikings here, especially with how the board fell in this scenario. While the Vikings could certainly benefit from help in their secondary, conventional wisdom would say that quarterback is the more pressing need — especially if Kirk Cousins isn’t going to be back healthy next season.

Mellor continued on after the first round and projected the entirety of the 2024 NFL Draft. Here’s who he tabbed for the Vikings in rounds 2 through 7:

Know your foe Pittsburgh: With Panthers could give Notre Dame problems

More than a few familiar faces the Irish will line up against on Saturday

There is going to be a somewhat familiar feel for a few [autotag]Pittsburgh[/autotag] players as they are set to face off against [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] this weekend.

Why you ask? Well, a few of them were once members of the Irish football team, the most recognizable is quarterback, err tight end [autotag]Phil Jurkovec[/autotag], although we most likely won’t see him this weekend except for maybe special teams after he lost the starting job earlier this season. So, we won’t touch on him here anymore.

However, there are others on the Panther team that will be easily recognized by Irish fans. Let’s take a look at which Pittsburgh players could give Notre Dame problems this Saturday afternoon.

Pittsburgh statistical leaders through seven games

You might recognize a couple of these names.

Notre Dame fans will see a couple of familiar faces when their team battles Pittsburgh. That’s because the Panthers’ top quarterback and running back both once donned the blue and gold. In fact, a lot of the Panthers’ best players are transfers, either because they didn’t get the opportunities they sought at other programs or they wanted to use up college eligibility elsewhere. Either way, many of these Panthers didn’t start as Panthers.

Is that part of the reason the Panthers’ offense isn’t as strong as their defense? Perhaps, but either way, most of this season has not gone well for the Steel City program. The fact that they handled Louisville and the Irish didn’t is not a good look for [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and his staff. Alas, nothing can be done to change that now.

Assuming the Panthers can make this a game, here are the players most likely to do that: