NFL Draft: A Look Into The Top 2023 Prospects

Looking ahead to the 2023 NFL Draft, who are some of the top players at their position? Click here to view the players you should get to know!

Author:
Bobby Greco
Publish date:
Dec 10, 2021 9:33 AM EST

NFL Draft: A Look Into The Top 2023 Prospects

Looking ahead to the 2023 NFL Draft, who are some of the top players at their position? Click here to view the players you should get to know!

The regular season of college football is officially in the books, and what a wild, exciting, and maybe even a little maddening season it was. Everything we expected to see didn't come close to being fulfilled, and what did happen nobody saw coming. Let's just say this season was so insane that Brian Kelly now has a southern accent "y'all"! On a serious note, though, can we please give a round of applause to the Cincinnati Bearcats? The first non "Power 5" team to make the College Football Playoff, what a fantastic accomplishment. If bowl season is nearly as crazy as the regular season, then we are in for a treat. Now with all that being said, let's leave 2021 behind for a while and take a look into college football's future. So paying homage to a good friend and sportscasting legend Chris Berman, I'm putting on my "Swami in training" hat to introduce you to some outstanding freshmen. These are young players you may have never heard of, but you will get to know them very well in the coming years. Now let's take a look into the crystal ball and see where the journey leads.

Quarterback, Jaxson Dart, USC:

Anyone in the country can talk about CJ Stroud or Caleb Williams, but this is about looking deep into things and getting substance in what you read and learn. To say USC's season didn't go as planned would be a complete understatement, and Dart wasn't in the plans this year, but his number was called, and he responded. By the time Dart took over at quarterback USC's season was pretty much over, so he doesn't have the flashiest numbers. When he did play, he showed great talent and ferocity in his competitiveness. He seemed to give his team a spark and displayed a ton of leadership in a very difficult situation. Outside of the Arizona State game, he never had a game with a completion percentage under sixty-five, which is extremely impressive for a young quarterback. He already has game experience, and as we know, Lincoln Riley is the Trojans' new head coach, so there is a high probability that Dart makes the biggest jump going into his second year. Riley does know a thing or two about coaching quarterbacks, after all.

Running Back, Sean Tucker, Syracuse:

The best player you've never heard of - that is who Sean Tucker is. Tucker is a complete running back who has the power to run through tackles and plenty of speed to pull from pursuers hitting the big plays. It is truly a shame that Tucker didn't get more acknowledgment because he was the fourth-leading rusher in the country, with fourteen hundred and ninety-six yards and 12 touchdowns. This was added to a whopping six yards per carry average. His best game came in week three against Albany, where he rushed for one hundred thirty-two yards and four touchdowns. He also had three receptions for one hundred twenty-one yards and one touchdown. This is a mind-boggling performance because he accomplished two amazing feats in one game, having five touchdowns in a game and having a double hundred-yard performance. If Tucker keeps progressing and improving his skills, Syracuse could very possibly have another great running back to add to the tradition.

Wide Receiver, Trayvon Rudolph, Northern Illinois:

Thanks to watching college football's yearly "Midweek MACtion," we got to see a lot of Northern Illinois. A team from winless in 2020 to conference champions in 2021, and one player who jumped out of the television screen every time was Trayvon Rudolph. Rudolph is a walk-on player who didn't get any offers going into college, but when injuries thrust him into a bigger role on the offense, he took the ball and literally ran past everyone. To say Rudolph is electric would be an injustice of just how dangerous he is. Rudolph didn't become a big piece of the offense until week seven, which uncoincidentally was his first game with over one hundred receiving yards and, in that time frame, was able to amass eight hundred seventy-seven yards. He followed up that performance with another decent performance of fourteen catches for three hundred and nine yards and three touchdowns. Tucker isn't the biggest player, but he is incredibly athletic and has the fastest pull-away speed you will see anywhere. Not to mention he plays with the mentality of a walk-on, so you can depend on him to always give you his all, and with his skill set, that is dangerous. It will be very exciting to watch him for the rest of his college career.

Defensive End, Van Fillinger, Utah:

Though he is listed at defensive end, he is a positionless player and seems to be all over the field. He was third on the team in sacks with five and a half, but he also put forty tackles to go along with that. Forty tackles might not sound impressive, but it's a big number for a freshman defensive lineman who is still figuring out his place on the team. He doesn't have flashy stats or many highlights, and he became quite noticeable watching the Utah defense. The good thing for Utah is that their defense is very young, and many of them will be back next season, so it should be easier for them to develop as a team and as individuals. Fillinger is in a prime position to excel because Utah has had a lot of very talented pro defensive prospects in recent years, and he could be the next in line to shine.

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