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The 2024 draft class is loaded at wide receiver and many of the top prospects showed why in CFB Week 7
There is still a lot of college football to be played this season, but already the draft class of 2024 is looking loaded at wide receiver. Several of the top prospects at wideout had big games in matchups during Week 7 of college football, boosting their draft credentials in a variety of ways across the CFB landscape.
5 Washington Huskies Oregon needs to watch for on Saturday
In all honesty, we could have gone with a dozen of players for this 5 opponents article featuring the Washington Huskies. But we had to keep it down with the obvious for the No. 6 team in the nation and a team that will present Oregon’s biggest challenge of the season.
Unlike USC, the Huskies are very good on both sides of the ball. They also have a coaching staff that knows what it is doing, which is a far cry from the previous leadership under Jimmy Lake. Washington is a bonafide national championship contender and for the first time in the series history, both teams come into the game ranked in the Top 10 in both the AP and Coaches poll.
Fortunately, Oregon has a team that is very capable of going on the road and defeating a club such as this. But the Ducks will have to pay a little extra attention to these five Dawgs in Oregon to avoid the first loss of the season.
The first edition of the Lions’ 2024 mock draft projections
With four games in the books and a better idea of both needs and projected draft order, it’s time for the first edition of the Lions Wire’s 2024 mock draft.
Detroit is 3-1 and currently holds the No. 25 overall pick in the first round, based on the NFL standings after Week 4. This projection covers all the rounds. Obviously, it’s still early in the draft process, making this more about ideas and prospects than predictions. The players here are ballparked in terms of where they appear to project (as of October 5th) in the 2024 NFL draft, which will be held in Detroit in April.
The first two rounds are taken directly from my first full NFL mock draft for 2024 over at Draft Wire. This should help sort out some questions about player availability for those picks.
The QBs get all of the shine in the Pac-12, but the conference is also home to some of the nation’s best receivers.
The 2023 college football regular season is nearly halfway complete, and in the Pac-12, it has been one of the most memorable seasons we’ve seen in a long, long time. From Heisman Trophy-contending quarterbacks to offenses that put up more points than anyone in the nation, it’s clear that the Pac-12 saved the best for last as they aim to go out on top in this final year of the conference’s existence. While it may not technically be the exact midpoint of the season for another week, we are going to take this bye-week opportunity for the Oregon Ducks to take stock of the top performers in the conference and see where everyone stands.
There’s a case to be made that the talent at the wide receiver position is on par with the quarterback talent in the Pac-12, which is certainly saying something when you consider the fact that the top three candidates to win the Heisman Trophy are all QBs from out west, per FanDuel Sports Book.
Nearly every school can boast that it has one great receiver in its arsenal. What separates the teams from being good to great is having more than one wideout who is NFL quality and will be playing on Sundays in the near future.
It’s no coincidence that the top teams such as USC, Washington, and Oregon just happen to possess a multitude of guys who not only can catch the ball, but know what to do once the ball is in their hands.
But teams such as Washington State, Arizona and Colorado also have talent at the position, which makes this conference so good in 2023.
At this midpoint in the season, we wanted to put a ranking next to the best pass-catchers in the conference. Here are the Top 10 receivers in the Pac-12 after Week 5.
Updating the top 50 prospects for the 2024 NFL draft for the beginning of fall
Summer is falling into autumn on the calendar. While it might not feel like it in many places, the autumnal equinox will take place early Saturday morning.
That means summer football is over for the vast majority of college teams and 2024 NFL draft prospects. It’s a good time to take stock and re-rank the top 50 prospects on the overall 2024 big board.
These rankings are based on current observational grades and do not necessarily reflect the order in which they will be taken. That’s what mock drafts are for…
We’re looking at the top NFL Draft prospects for the Baltimore #Ravens fans to watch during Week 1 of college football season via @Thacover2NFL
With the college football season set to get underway, the Ravens and 31 other teams will spend their last free Saturday of the year scouting potential 2024 NFL draft picks.
The team has seven picks in next April’s drafft after Baltimore sent their 2024 sixth-round pick to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 2023 seventh-round pick that was used to select USC offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees.
With some big-named stars looking to show out in front of NFL scouts, we’re previewing some of the top prospects for the Ravens to watch during Week 1.
2024 NFL draft watch list: Wide receiver prospects for the New Orleans Saints to pair with Chris Olave | @DillySanders
The New Orleans Saints drafted Chris Olave in the first round of the NFL draft last year and it worked to great success. Despite that move, many people still consider the Saints to have one of the weaker groups in the league.
The good news is that every receiver class seems to get better than the one before it. That seems to be the case again in 2024, as there are fantastic options no matter where you pick in the first round. With Michael Thomas’ health still looming and Rashid Shaheed still needing to improve as an all around receiver, it might not hurt to add another option.
Here are the names to keep an eye on as the college football season gets started:
The Saints picked a wide receiver in ESPN’s latest 2024 NFL mock draft. Rome Odunze is someone fans should watch closely in the fall:
This year’s college football season is right around the corner, so it’s not a bad idea to check in on which 2024 NFL draft prospects are worth watching. And New Orleans Saints fans should be paying close attention to Washington Huskies wide receiver Rome Odunze. One of the nation’s top receivers returned to school, and he’s poised to reach greater heights in the fall.
Odunze was linked to New Orleans in a recent 2024 mock draft from ESPN’s Matt Miller, who suggests he could be an ideal Michael Thomas replacement and compliment to Chris Olave:
“There was serious quarterback temptation at this spot, but if the Saints are in the playoffs, Derek Carr likely played well enough to keep the job. Instead, let’s give the veteran another receiver to target. Chris Olave is one of the brightest young receivers in the game, but while Michael Thomas can be dominant when healthy, he has been far from it since 2019 and is entering his age-30 season. Adding Thomas’ eventual replacement in the 6-3, 211-pound Odunze would keep the Saints’ offense running smoothly.
Odunze caught 75 passes for 1,145 yards and seven scores in 2022 and opted to return to Washington for his senior year. He runs his routes with strength, excellent timing and great body control, and I could see him rising into WR2 territory (behind Marvin Harrison Jr.) by season’s end.”
Odunze is someone we’ve highlighted before; he shares a lot of athletic traits with Jonathan Mingo, who the Saints were poised to select at No. 40 overall this year before the Carolina Panthers jumped in to pair him with Bryce Young. Like Thomas and Mingo he’s tall and strong, but with real speed in the open field and proven college production. He’s rightfully seen as one of the top receivers in the upcoming draft class, so tune in when his Huskies kick off with Boise State in a nationally-broadcast game on Sept. 2.
Will receiver be a need in 2024, though? It’s impossible to say so right now. There are too many “if’s” in place to resolve first. If Michael Thomas can stay healthy and productive, the position becomes more of a long-term need. If Rashid Shaheed excels in a larger role, the Saints can get rare production from him and Olave on their rookie contracts. If A.T. Perry or Shaq Davis proves they belong in the lineup, New Orleans might look to address other positions in the early rounds. For now, we’ll just make note of Odunze as a very fun player to watch who could possibly keep wearing a gold helmet once he turns pro.
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The Pac-12 has a ton of talent at quarterback, but those guys need someone to throw the ball to. These are the receivers we’ll be watching in 2023.
As we continue our preview of the 2023 college football season in the Pac-12 conference, we are going to shift our focus from individual teams to individual positions. The last several weeks have been spent picking apart each school out west, finding where they improved the most over the offseason, and identifying what realistic expectations should be for them going forward.
You can see them all here: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans — Utah Utes — Washington Huskies — Washington State Cougars
Now we’re going to look at position groups as a whole in the conference. Whether it’s a quarterback or a linebacker, a punter or a safety, there are dozens of highly talented players out west. We want to go through them all, position group by position group, and highlight some of the most important names that fans should know at each spot.
As we’ve seen in the first article of these position previews, the Pac-12 has some very special quarterbacks playing at the present time. But those signal callers such as Caleb Williams and Bo Nix wouldn’t be as special if they had some ordinary receivers to throw to.
From Washington in the Northwest to Arizona in the south, and in the mountains in Utah, the Pac-12 is littered with receiver talent that one could argue is the deepest and best ever this conference has seen in its long history.
Here are those receivers that has the Pac-12 buzzing as the 2023 season approaches.
Washington is set up to have another really good season on the gridiron, but it would be hard-pressed to repeat last year’s success.
As June starts to roll into July, and July eventually leads us to the start of fall camps at the beginning of August, the 2023 college football season will be here before we know it. What a season it projects to be in the Pac-12 Conference, as well. With a handful of College Football Playoff contenders, and a group of Heisman Trophy candidates leading their prospective teams, we could be set up for one of the best football seasons out west that we’ve seen in decades. To help get us prepared, we at Ducks Wire wanted to go through each team in the conference and give a comprehensive breakdown of each school, breaking down their 2023 outlook. Welcome to our Pac-12 Previews. New editions will be published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday leading up to the start of fall camp.
Check out our previously published previews: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans — Utah Utes
The Washington Huskies surprised the college football world last season by going 11-2 and winning the Alamo Bowl over Texas, 27-20. Nearly everything went right for the Dawgs, which was a far cry from the two previous seasons with Jimmy Lake as coach.
But even then, no one could have expected for quarterback Michael Penix, an average and often injured signal caller from Indiana, to come to Seattle and tear it up. And then he surprised people by announcing he would return for one more season.
Washington also returns one of the best receiving corps in the country with Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan leading the way. But the offensive line doesn’t have a lot of experience and the defense could be a weak point many Pac-12 teams will exploit.
They have a tougher schedule than one would expect, but the talent in Seattle should be enough for another successful season in 2023. They won’t go 11-2 again, but considering where the program was just two years ago, Huskies fans will be satisfied.
