Mizzou Minute: Which Former Tiger Has the Most to Prove at NFL Combine?
The Missouri Tigers are sending eight players to the 2024 NFL Combine, which is tied for the eighth most of any school in the country.
While all of these players are looking to bolster their draft stocks ahead of April, one player in particular has a chance to really do so with a strong performance in Indianapolis.
Ennis Rakestraw, Jr., a former 3-star cornerback from Duncanville, Texas, has an opportunity to solidify himself as a first round pick.
Standing at six feet tall and weighing 188 lbs., Rakestraw is not the most physically imposing cornerback in the class, but he makes up for it by playing bigger than his frame.
He is incredibly physical, and uses his long arms to clog up passing windows and force receivers off their routes.
This season alone, Rakestraw piled up 35 tackles in just nine games as well as four pass deflections. His best performance of the year came against arguably his best competition when Missouri took on the high octane offense of LSU that featured two of the draft's top wide receiver prospects, Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas, Jr.
Rakestraw was targeted just once the entire game, and it fell incomplete.
If the Texas native can continue to prove himself in Indianapolis like he did in the regular season at Missouri, Rakestraw could easily sneak into the back half of the first round with a team like Detroit or Philadelphia who both struggled in the secondary last season.
The 2024 NFL Combine starts this week on February 29 and the draft is just over two months away, beginning on April 25.
