Tag: Ryan Wilson

NFL Network, CBS Sports high on Lukas Van Ness entering 2023 NFL Combine

Iowa’s Lukas Van Ness was prominently featured in 2023 NFL draft player rankings by both NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and CBS’ Ryan Wilson.

The Lukas Van Ness hype is reaching new heights as the 2023 NFL Combine gets set to take center stage!

A featured player in nearly every mock draft, Van Ness is a player the NFL draft community has really come around on. Nicknamed “Hercules” and compared to Cocaine Bear by The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, the Iowa defensive lineman’s athletic traits and raw potential have trumped his lack of starting experience and production in the eyes of many.

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah is the latest to extol praise on Van Ness, ranking the Barrington, Ill., native 18th on his recent top-50 prospect rankings.

Van Ness is a powerful defensive lineman with the versatility to stand up on the edge or slide inside and play over the guard. He is excellent at collapsing the pocket with his bull rush, getting his hands inside and driving opponents back with ease. He flashes a chop move and a rip move, but needs to develop a more diverse repertoire.

Against the run, he has very strong hands to stack blocks on the front side and his effort/speed combination helps him make plays from the back side. For some reason, he didn’t start at Iowa. That doesn’t make any sense. Overall, Van Ness has ideal traits, and his best football is ahead of him. – Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network.

If you’ve been following the draft process so far, you’d know that the former longtime NFL scout has been a fan of Van Ness for a while. Jeremiah mocked the Iowa pass rusher in the top-10 all the way back in January! Jeremiah was joined by CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson, who placed Van ness even higher on his big board at No. 15.

Van Ness didn’t start a game for Iowa last season and there are no true “wow” moments on tape, like the ones you’ll find when watching, say, Tyree Wilson. But Van Ness, like Drake Jackson and George Karlaftis a year ago, looks the part. He has the body type that makes NFL defensive line coaches sit up in their chairs, and while he weighs 275 pounds now, he can add another 10-15 pounds to his frame. He’s a good athlete, plays with both power and twitch and he’s going to be a better pro than college player. – Ryan Wilson, CBS Sports.

As you can tell, the top brass of the draft world have not been shy about their lofty projections of Van Ness at all! Besides Jeremiah and Wilson, Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports slotted Van Ness in the top 10 back in mid-January as well. Todd McShay recently mocked him as a top-20 pick this month as well!

With the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine set for this week, expect to hear even more chatter about Lukas Van Ness!

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CBS Sports updates NFL mock draft, Notre Dame sees no first rounders

Wait, what?

The majority of NFL mock drafts that many of have seen heading into the meat of the virtual combine has seen at least one Notre Dame football member, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, being selected in the first round. As CBS Sports Ryan Wilson has expanded his mock draft to three rounds, no Irish players are projected in his first round.

This is a bit shocking, as the majority of draft analysts have JOK going somewhere in the drafts opening salvo. How the most recent Butkus Award winner and consensus All-American could drop out of the first-round is beyond comprehension.

Wilson has the linebacker being selected early in the second round, pick 35, to the Atlanta Falcons. In my estimation, there is no way that JOK falls that far in the draft.

Offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg is the next projected former Irish player to go off the board, reuniting with teammate Cole Kmet in Chicago with the Bears. At pick 52 in the second-round, this is a bit low, but much more reasonable projection as to where Eichenberg will get selected.

The final Notre Dame player Wilson has mocked is Tommy Tremble. The tight end is projected to land in the third round to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 88th overall pick.

Both Eichenberg and Tremble’s slots are legit, but having JOK fall out of the first-round is downright criminal.

CBS Sports updates NFL mock draft, Notre Dame sees no first rounders

Wait, what?

The majority of NFL mock drafts that many of have seen heading into the meat of the virtual combine has seen at least one Notre Dame football member, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, being selected in the first round. As CBS Sports Ryan Wilson has expanded his mock draft to three rounds, no Irish players are projected in his first round.

This is a bit shocking, as the majority of draft analysts have JOK going somewhere in the drafts opening salvo. How the most recent Butkus Award winner and consensus All-American could drop out of the first-round is beyond comprehension.

Wilson has the linebacker being selected early in the second round, pick 35, to the Atlanta Falcons. In my estimation, there is no way that JOK falls that far in the draft.

Offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg is the next projected former Irish player to go off the board, reuniting with teammate Cole Kmet in Chicago with the Bears. At pick 52 in the second-round, this is a bit low, but much more reasonable projection as to where Eichenberg will get selected.

The final Notre Dame player Wilson has mocked is Tommy Tremble. The tight end is projected to land in the third round to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 88th overall pick.

Both Eichenberg and Tremble’s slots are legit, but having JOK fall out of the first-round is downright criminal.

Trask ranked among the top quarterbacks for the 2021 NFL Draft

Here’s what CBS’ Ryan Wilson had to say about putting Kyle Trask in the No. 4 spot behind Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Trey Lance.

Many media figures around the country may not have known his name heading into the 2019 season, but UF quarterback Kyle Trask’s performance filling in for Feleipe Franks, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the third game, has attracted some attention.

With the 2020 season (hopefully) on the horizon, the Gators’ signal-caller is ranked among the top passers in college football, listed at No. 4 on a watchlist for the 2021 NFL Draft from CBS Sports.

Trask is behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, both incredibly talented quarterbacks who led their respective schools to playoff appearances in 2019. Fields was also a Heisman finalist along with his teammate Chase Young and LSU’s Joe Burrow, who won the award.

He’s also behind North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, who has gotten some attention this offseason after scoring 42 total touchdowns last season (28 passing and 14 rushing). Lance, who plays in the FCS, may not be a household name, but playing for the powerhouse Bison should allow him ample opportunity to show off his skills, albeit at a lower level than the other passers on this list.

Here’s what CBS’ Ryan Wilson had to say about putting Trask in the No. 4 spot behind Lawrence, Fields and Lance.

“Steady as she goes” might be the best way to describe Trask’s game. He’s not flashy but he’s efficient, and in the NFL the ability to do the right thing from one play to the next is more important than flashing once a series while drives stall out. Before taking over for Feleipe Franks last season, Trask had played in just three games. He played in 12 games in 2019 and completed 66.9 percent of his throws with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Trask’s nickname should be ‘Textbook’ because his footwork in the pocket is consistently on point, and more importantly, he gets the ball out on time, accurately, and he rarely looks confused by what he sees pre-snap. While we’re not expecting him to make a Burrow-like leap in ’20 we wouldn’t be surprised if he continues to improve and Trask finds his way into Round 1 conversations in the spring.

Trask is listed ahead of the No. 5 quarterback, Georgia’s Jamie Newman, who is a graduate transfer from Wake Forest that joined the Bulldogs this spring. He’s also ranked above several notable quarterbacks in the “Other Names to Watch” list, including conference foes in Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond and Mississippi State’s grad transfer K.J. Costello, as well as rival Miami’s D’Eriq King.

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