Givanni Damico | September 14th, 2019
Welcome to week two of my stock up, stock down series where we evaluate NFL Draft prospect’s weekly performances. Let’s get into it.
Stock Up:
Curtis Weaver, LB (Boise State)
Weaver disrupted the Marshall backfield, recording six tackles, a sack, and 1.5 tackles for loss. The Marshall offense couldn’t get much going and Weaver was one of the main reasons for that. If he continues to shine, his name will be one that flies up the draft boards.
J.K. Dobbins, RB (Ohio State)
This is Dobbins’ second appearance in this article series in as many weeks, but this time he’s on the right side of it. I wasn’t happy with Dobbins’ season last year or his season opener against FAU, but he ran wild against Cincinnati. He ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 8.3 yards per carry. We need to keep seeing these dominant performances from him if he wants to remain relevant in this class filled with talented running backs.
Devin Duvernay, WR (Texas)
Collin who? Duvernay was Sam Ehlinger’s favorite target in the Longhorn’s failed effort against the LSU Tigers. He had 12 catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He showed his soft hands and his ability to run after the catch. He is a very reliable receiver who will probably go on day two of the draft but end up shining for the team that drafts him while leaving the teams that passed on him scratching their heads.
Justin Jefferson, WR (LSU)
Jefferson was the Devin Duvernay for Joe Burrow on Saturday night. Burrow connected with Jefferson nine times for 163 yards and three touchdowns. I was very impressed with Jefferson’s catch radius as well as his breakaway speed. He is shooting up my rankings and he should be on every team’s watch list right now.
Joe Burrow (LSU) and Sam Ehlinger (Texas)
Despite Burrow winning the game, I can’t take anything away from Ehlinger. Both quarterbacks balled out and did a fantastic job finding the open man. Ehlinger is an early day-two pick for me right now, while Burrow remains a day three pick for the time being, but who knows what’s going to happen?
Michael Divinity Jr., LB (LSU)
If you couldn’t tell, this was a good game. Divinity had ten tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and a quarterback hurry. He was Ehlinger’s main opposition despite the game lacking much defense. Divinity is a leader and would be a fantastic steal for a team in the draft.
Anthony McFarland, RB (Maryland)
McFarland is a very underrated prospect who gets lost because of the amount of running backs in this class. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry and ran for two touchdowns, while catching 2 passes for 45 yards and a touchdown. These stats do not jump off the page, but they also do not tell the whole story. McFarland constantly gets the job done for Maryland and is a vocal leader on the field. If he can develop his vision a bit more, he could see himself going early on day two.
Mustafa Johnson, DE (Colorado)
Johnson was a major catalyst in the Colorado comeback victory over Nebraska. He was a problem for Adrian Martinez, recording three sacks and being a spark plug on defense. He’s going to need to be consistent for his name to go up on people’s draft boards, but he took a huge step in the right direction against a good team.
Stock Down
Travis Etienne, RB (Clemson)
Clemson was still shaking off the rust against Texas A&M, but this week, Trevor Lawrence outperformed Etienne. Etienne’s longest run was ten yards and he really couldn’t get much going. Everyone is entitled to a bad game now and then, so we should not overreact about this. I was just hoping to see Etienne ball out against a good team with a good defense, yet he disappointed.
Shea Patterson, QB (Michigan)
Start Dylan McCaffrey. I’m serious. Shea Patterson could not get a single thing going against Army and it nearly cost him the game. He is not an electrifying quarterback and he does nothing exceptionally. He is as mediocre as they come and his defense has saved him multiple times.
Nick Coe, EDGE (Auburn)
Coe has not performed poorly yet, but he hasn’t made a huge impact on either of his team’s first two games. Coe is currently a projected first-round pick, but he is not performing like one right now. He hasn’t disrupted the quarterback very much and it’s just been an underwhelming two weeks for Coe. If he wants to stick in the first-round, he needs to do something differently.
Jacob Eason, QB (Washington)
Eason was very impressive in his first week at Washington, but he followed it up with an awful week in which he could not lead his team to victory against unranked California. I think we all got our hopes up a bit too much after Eason’s fantastic week one, but he was not a leader on the field for his team. The PAC-12 is off to a rough start once again.
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