Five players that the Lions may have interest in, again, not exhaustive just five players the Det News Lions beat writer has picked to watch on this day.
Will Levis, QB, Kentucky
No. 7 Kentucky at No. 14 Ole Miss, 12 p.m., ESPN
frm: I am looking forward to watching him. Levis and the UF QB may be my two favorite CFB QB’s this year. Surprised that Ole Miss is the fav but I haven’t watched much of them or followed them at all.
Jack Campbell, LB, Iowa
No. 4 Michigan at Iowa, 12 p.m., FOX
Kyle Patterson, TE, Air Force (No. 88)
Navy at Air Force, 12 p.m., CBS
frm; At least the NCAA hammered them, gotta watch those flyboys. 1st RD?? Too soon?
Henry To’oTo’o, LB, Alabama
No. 2 Alabama at No. 20 Arkansas, 3:30 p.m., CBS
frm: Is LB a need? duh…
Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas
West Virginia at Texas, 7:30 p.m., FS1
frm: As much as I love Swift he lacks one ability on a consistant basis; availability.
Love this guy, the dude at Alabama, & need to get eyes on the guy at Syracuse. All that said these guys require higher draft capital. Wonder if we could get a good one in rounds 3-5.
Add Sam Laporta to the list. TE at Iowa, more athletic than Hockenson without the Hockenson hype. So won’t require being over drafted
This will actually be a good year to add a TE that doesn’t require a 1st round pick. Lots of guys with plus traits that should be available. A Gilbert, Alabama has a TE, Laporta, Erik All, someone mentioned a 6’7” dude that is playing down a level.
Tested LaPorta as a HS recruit. If strength & conditioning he has done at Iowa is on par with typical college program his testing numbers will be better than Hockenson.
One thing that could be close though is their 40 times
They have a transfer LB from Central Michigan, Troy Brown. Will be worth a look as later round guy, super athletic & explosive. Size/durability concerns is the knock
Yeah he was an under the radar recruit in BFE Illinois. Similar recruiting story to the DB, the young kid at Iowa that is going to play for a long time on Sundays. Both massively under-recruited when you considered their testing ability & game film.
That’s what Iowa does really well, they nail eval’s on small town kids that the other big programs won’t go on due to concerns about comp level
I want Brant Kuithe as a TE/H-Back/Big Skill guy. His injury and size means he’ll likely be there on day 3. We would still need the foundational two way guy if we’re moving off of TJ.
Appears per Twitter the Lions have at least one scout repped at Kentucky-Ole Miss today … would be the second time in a month Detroit’s had eyes on Will Levis (multiple personnel ppl there to watch Levis. vs. Anthony Richardson earlier this month)
As I’ve said a bunch it’s hard to imagine a more perfect culture fir at QB.
That being said I think he’ll be highly coveted. He’s tooled up as can be so I don’t think top 5 is out of the question if there is the positional demand early.
I still think it’s going to end up being Stroud, Young, Levis and maybe D.J. U as the rock solid first round graded guys. D.J. Has to finish out the season playing this way. Another big game for Clemson today.
Does Kentucky have the worst offensive line FBS football? It almost feels like you’re watching the Bengals every time you watch Levis play behind that unit
Traditionally they’ve just been about putting road graders out there. I don’t think the program has had enough time to recalibrate the OL to high end passers like Levis.
