Does seem like a lot of junior attrition, even for a premier program. Given similar high profile players being considered, I was hoping the NFL salary cap would cause a few of these guys to stay in school and mature.
just the opposite now. the difference between rd 2 and rd 4 money is no longer as big as it once was. so if you're projected to go 3-4 rd, and coming back MIGHT get you up to 2 rd, you're not really gaining much by coming back.
If I were a recruit on the edge of choosing LSU or another school. 10 players heading for nfl would be all I needed to decide. I'd jump on the Tiger boat. To me that would say, going to LSU means better than average chance to play in nfl. And a good chance at getting to play my freshman year also.
below is how NFL Draft Scout ranks the top juniors at each position. the players in black either are obviously coming back, or they are players that are still mulling whether they are entering the draft or not (they have five more days to decide -- the deadline to declare is Jan 15). the players in red are the juniors who have announced they are entering the draft, and the players in green are the juniors who have announced they are coming back unless otherwise provided below, you can find a link to each player's decision on this guy's 2013 NFL Draft underclassmen tracker i only included the players from the Big Five conferences, with the exception that I added the 10 non-Big Five conference players that have declared for the draft (QB Kyle Padron Eastern Washington, RB Jawan Jamison Rutgers, RB Stefphon Jefferson Nevada, RB Trabis Ward Tennessee State, OT Justin Pugh Syracuse, WR Da'Rick Rogers Tennessee Tech, WR Brandon Kaufman Eastern Washington, TE Gavin Escobar San Diego State, CB Logan Ryan Rutgers, CB Tyrann Mathieu) note that, with the exception of Ware and Ford, every other LSU junior's decision to go pro was in-line with those of similarly talented juniors across the country. also, we should be thankful that Copeland and Loston appear to be staying... QB (12 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Aaron Murray, #1 QB, Georgia Tyler Bray, #2 QB, Tennessee A.J. McCarron, #3 QB, Alabama Zach Mettenberger, #4 QB, LSU Tajh Boyd, #5 QB, Clemson Logan Thomas, #6 QB, Virginia Tech Bryn Renner, #9 QB, North Carolina Devin Gardner, #11 QB, Michigan Tyler Russell, #12 QB, Mississippi State Kyle Padron, #32 QB, Eastern Washington RB (19 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Eddie Lacy, #1 RB, Alabama -- LINK Giovani Bernard, #1 RB, North Carolina (they have him ranked with class of 2015 bc RS Soph) Joseph Randle, #2 RB, Oklahoma State Marcus Lattimore, #3 RB, South Carolina Le''Veon Bell, #4 RB, Michigan State Jawan Jamison, #4 RB, Rutgers (they have him ranked with class of 2015 bc RS Soph) Silas Redd, #5 RB, Southern Cal Stefphon Jefferson, #6 RB, Nevada Knile Davis, #7 RB, Arkansas Cierre Wood, #8 RB, Notre Dame (SI's Tony Pauline said it's very, very likely that he decides to enter draft) LaDarius Perkins, #9 RB, Mississippi State Carlos Hyde, #10 RB, Ohio State Spencer Ware, #11 RB, LSU Damien Williams, #12 RB, Oklahoma James White, #13 RB, Wisconsin Michael Ford, #15 RB, LSU John Hubert, #16 RB, Kansas State Anthony Wilkerson, #19 RB, Stanford Trabis Ward, #37 RB, Tennessee State FB (5 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Trey Millard, #1 FB, Oklahoma J.C. Copeland, #2 FB, LSU Ryan Hewitt, #3 FB, Stanford Jay Prosch, #4 FB, Auburn C.J. Zimmerer, #5 FB, Nebraska OT (20 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Luke Joeckel, #1 OT, Texas A&M Jake Matthews, #2 OT, Texas A&M -- LINK Taylor Lewan, #3 OT, Michigan D.J. Fluker, #4 OT, Alabama -- LINK Justin Pugh, #5 OT, Syracuse James Hurst, #6 OT, North Carolina Chris Faulk, #7 OT, LSU Menelik Watson, #8 OT, Florida State David Bakhtiari, #9 OT, Colorado Zack Martin, #10 OT, Notre Dame Seantrel Henderson, #11 OT, Miami Morgan Moses, #13 OT, Virginia -- LINK Jack Mewhort, #14 OT, Ohio State JaWuan James, #15 OT, Tennessee Jeremiah Sirles, #16 OT, Nebraska Kenarious Gates, #17 OT, Georgia Cornelius Lucas, #18 OT, Kansas State Wesley Johnson, #19 OT, Vanderbilt C (6 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Travis Frederick, #1 C, Wisconsin Travis Swanson, #2 C, Arkansas Gabe Ikard, #3 C, Oklahoma Bryan Stork, #5 C, Florida State OG (14 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Gabe Jackson, #1 OG, Mississippi State -- LINK Cyril Richardson, #2 OG, Baylor Zach Fulton, #3 OG, Tennessee Spencer Long, #4 OG, Nebraska Brandon Thomas, #5 OG, Clemson Alvin Bailey, #6 OG, Arkansas Anthony Steen, #7 OG, Alabama (started all 14 games of 2012) Jon Halapio, #9 OG, Florida Josh Williford, #10 OG, LSU John Urschel, #11 OG, Penn State Chris Burnette, #12 OG, Georgia Mason Walters, #14 OG, Texas WR (31 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Keenan Allen, #1 WR, California Cordarrelle Patterson, #2 WR, Tennessee Robert Woods, #3 WR, Southern Cal DeAndre Hopkins, #4 WR, Clemson -- LINK Justin Hunter, #5 WR, Tennessee Da'Rick Rogers, #6 WR, Tennessee Tech Jordan Matthews, #7 WR, Vanderbilt Stedman Bailey, #8 WR, West Virginia Kenny Stills, #9 WR, Oklahoma Ace Sanders, #10 WR, South Carolina -- LINK Marquess Wilson, #13 WR, Washington State Kevin Norwood, #14 WR, Alabama (only caught for 461 yards in 2012) Josh Boyce, #15 WR, TCU TJ Jones, #16 WR, Notre Dame Allen Hurns, #17 WR, Miami Jared Abbrederis, #18 WR, Wisconsin Michael Campanaro, #19 WR, Wake Forest Brandon Kaufman, #20 WR, Eastern Washington Mike Davis, #21 WR, Texas Kadron Boone, #22 WR, LSU Kenny Bell, #23 WR, Alabama Trey Burton, #25 WR, Florida Alex Amidon, #26 WR, Boston College Andre Debose, #30 WR, Florida Quintin Payton, #31 WR, North Carolina State TE (15 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Tyler Eifert, #1 TE, Notre Dame Zach Ertz, #2 TE, Stanford Jordan Reed, #3 TE, Florida Dion Sims, #4 TE, Michigan State Gavin Escobar, #5 TE, San Diego State C.J. Fiedorowicz, #6 TE, Iowa Levine Toilolo, #7 TE, Stanford Asa Watson, #8 TE, North Carolina State Jacob Pedersen, #10 TE, Wisconsin Chris Coyle, #11 TE, Arizona State Arthur Lynch, #12 TE, Georgia Jordan Najvar, #13 TE, Baylor Ted Bolser, #15 TE, Indiana
DT (21 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Johnathan Hankins, #1 DT, Ohio State Sheldon Richardson, #2 DT, Missouri Louis Nix III, #2 DT, Notre Dame (they have him ranked with class of 2015 bc RS Soph) Sharrif Floyd, #3 DT, Florida Akeem Spence, #4 DT, Illinois Daniel McCullers, #5 DT, Tennessee Bennie Logan, #6 DT,LSU Kwame Geathers, #7 DT, Georgia Deandre Coleman, #8 DT, California -- LINK Calvin Barnett, #9 DT, Oklahoma State Ra'Shede Hageman, #11 DT, Minnesota Ashton Dorsey, #12 DT, Texas Demonte McAllister, #13 DT, Florida State Bruce Gaston, #15 DT, Purdue Kerry Hyder, #16 DT, Texas Tech Jeffrey Whitaker, #18 DT, Auburn Byran Jones, #19 DT, Arkansas Maurice Couch, #20 DT, Tennessee (Darrington Sentimore, DT, Tennessee) DE (19 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Bjoern Werner, #1 DE, Florida State Damontre Moore, #2 DE, Texas A&M Sam Montgomery, #3 DE, LSU Jackson Jeffcoat, #4 DE, Texas (missed last 6 games w/ ruptured pectoral muscle) Corey Lemonier, #5 DE, Auburn Morgan Breslin, #6 DE, Southern Cal -- LINK Dominique Easley, #7 DE, Florida James Gayle, #8 DE, Virginia Tech -- LINK Will Sutton, #9 DE, Arizona State William Gholston, #10 DE, Michigan State Stansly Maponga, #11 DE, TCU Kareem Martin, #12 DE, North Carolina Ed Stinson, #15 DE, Alabama Cassius Marsh, #16 DE, UCLA Joe Kruger, #17t DE, Utah Ben Gardner, #17t DE, Stanford Chaz Sutton, #18 DE, South Carolina Taylor Hart, #19 DE, Oregon Chris Smith, #20 DE, Arkansas Garrison Smith, DS #21 DE, Georgia ILB (10 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Kevin Minter, #1 ILB, LSU Alec Olgetree, #2 ILB, Georgia Max Bullough, #4 ILB, Michigan State Shayne Skov, #5 ILB Stanford Chris Borland, #6 ILB, Wisconsin Glenn Carson, #7 ILB, Penn State Jack Tyler, #8 ILB, Virginia Tech Dan Fox, #9 ILB, Notre Dame Avery Williamson, #10 ILB, Kentucky Tom Wort, #13 ILB, Oklahoma ("unexpected" said the headline in the Norman Transcript) OLB (24 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Jarvis Jones, #1 OLB, Georgia Barkevious Mingo, #2 OLB, LSU C.J. Mosley, #3 OLB, Alabama Trent Murphy, #5 OLB, Stanford Anthony Barr, #6 OLB, UCLA Jelani Jenkins, #7 OLB, Florida Christian Jones, #8 OLB, Florida State Denicos Allen, #9 OLB, Michigan State Prince Shembo, #10 OLB, Notre Dame Lamin Barrow, #11 OLB, LSU Jonathan Brown, #12 OLB, Illinois Corey Nelson, #13 OLB, Oklahoma Anthony Hitchens, #14 OLB, Iowa Jeremiah Attaochu, #15 OLB, Georgia Tech Carrington Byndom, #16 CB, Texas Marquis Flowers, #20 OLB, Arizona Junior Onyeali, #22 OLB, Arizona State Kevin Pierre-Louis, #23 OLB, Boston College Andrew Wilson, #24 OLB, Missouri CB (33 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Dee Milliner, #1 CB, Alabama -- LINK Xavier Rhodes, #2 CB, Florida State Logan Ryan, #3 CB, Rutgers David Amerson, #4 CB, North Carolina State Aaron Colvin, #5 CB, Oklahoma (one draft guy tweeted he expects him to be the next to declare for the draft) Jason Verrett, #6 CB, TCU -- LINK Nickell Robey, #7 CB, Southern Cal -- LINK Tharold Simon, #8 CB, LSU Tyrann Mathieu, #8 CB, ex-LSU (have him ranked with 2015 class) Bennett Jackson, #9 CB, Notre Dame Antone Exum, #10 CB, Virginia Tech Darqueze Dennard, DS #12 CB, Michigan State Justin Gilbert, #13 CB, Oklahoma State Deion Belue, #14 CB, Alabama Ross Cockrell, #17 CB, Duke Ricardo Allen, #18 CB, Purdue Terrence Brown, #19 CB, Stanford Torin Harris, #20 CB, Southern Cal Jimmy Legree, #21 CB, South Carolina E.J. Gaines, #22 CB, Missouri Gabe Lynn, #23 CB, Oklahoma Steve Williams, #24 CB, California Kyle Fuller, #25 CB, Virginia Tech Andre Hal, #26 CB, Vanderbilt Shaquille Richardson, #27 CB, Arizona Mike Edwards, #28 CB, Hawaii Dontae Johnson, #29 CB, North Carolina State Jabari Price, #31 CB, North Carolina Eric Gordon, #32 CB, Tennessee Louis Young, #33 CB, Georgia Tech FS (11 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Eric Reid, #1 FS, LSU Tony Jefferson, #2 FS, Oklahoma Ty Zimmerman, #3 FS, Kansas State Nickoe Whitley, #4 FS, Mississippi State Kenny Ladler, #5 FS, Vanderbilt Charles Sawyer, #6 FS, Mississippi C.J. Barnett, #7 FS, Ohio State Alden Darby, #8 FS, Arizona State Tanner Miller, #10 FS, Iowa SS (8 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Matt Elam, #1 SS, Florida Isaiah Lewis, #2 SS, Michigan State Craig Loston, #4 SS, LSU Lamarcus Joyner, #5 SS, Florida State Brian Blechen, #6 SS, Utah Deone Bucannon, #7 SS, Washington State Ray Ray Armstrong, #8 SS, Miami P (2 drafted on average over the last 5 drafts) Brad Wing, #1 P LSU (they have him ranked with class of 2015 bc RS Soph) Steven Clark, #1 P, Auburn
