NFL entry – Underclassmen

[AgouraUte]

Any idea what underclassmen might enter the draft?

 

Johnson,Moss?

[ironman1315]

Johnson can’t. He’s only been here two years. Moss might. Fotu might.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

Johnson isn’t elible.

Blackmon hasn’t had good enough season. I haven’t heard any hype around Leki leaving.

Moss and maybe Anae are the only ones that are even questionable and I highly doubt either leaves. That said, we’ve had some surprise departures in the past.

[Central Coast Ute]

Johnson has to play one more year then he’s gone. I think Blackmon, Fotu and Anae were talking about it but well see how they grade out. I think Moss is pretty much a done deal.

[ironman1315]

Why is Moss a done deal? Rumor? Speculation? What?

[Wilson’s Mustache]

It would be incredibly short sighted on Moss’s part to leave early for the draft. He’d be a late late round pick.

[EagleMountainUte]

If Moss starts to perform like he did the back half of last season his grade will rise. Moss is nfl ready though and more reps just hurt you long term stock anyways. I think Moss is going to continue to pour it on as the schedule lightens up defensively. 

[Utah]

I don’t think it will be any mystery if Moss stays or go. The guy is very, very smart. 

He will talk to scouts and get a draft grade. 

I think the grades are “first round”, “second round” and “go back to school.”

 

[utefansince79]

Moss may decide to leave, but we always seem to have another running back in line to take the place of the one that just graduated or went to the draft.  Utah has had a very strong tradition of good running backs for quite a long time.

 

[Utah]

Devin Brumfield. 

We will be just fine when Moss leaves. 

[Anonymous]

The only early entry that would not surprise me is Anae. The rest are not ready. 

[ironman1315]

Even Anae could use some work.

[Utah5410]

Moss is gone. Kid has wanted to get paid since he got here. Plus he’s a RB.

[ironman1315]

Same with any player of some skill. But the question is whether he can draft high enough. I doubt he’ll bounce if he’s lower than 3d round.

[Feanor]

One factor to consider is absolute age; Fotu and Anae are both only 20, so they have plenty of time to mature and improve their draft stock. And neither is so dominant that the NFL is drooling over them right now. For that reason I was surprised Chase didn’t enter the draft last year, but maybe his draft potential wasn’t great, and he really wanted to prove he could stay healthy and have a great year. The Mormon mission does hurt future NFL guys in that way, though it helps some late bloomers mature.

Running backs have a very limited number of carries in their bodies, so if Moss can get drafted it would make sense for him to leave early even though he’s young too. It seems there is some disagreement on how long the average career in the NFL really is, but most sources agree that running backs have the shortest ones. If another year in college could improve his stock to a significant degree, then staying would make sense, but it would have to be significant. https://www.statista.com/statistics/240102/average-player-career-length-in-the-national-football-league/
But you never know what guys are thinking; someone can get in their head and push them to make a poor decision. Sealver Siliga a few years back comes to mind. Left early and didn’t get drafted. He has had a nice career since signing as a free agent but could have made much more money up front if he had stayed another year and gotten drafted. But sometimes it backfires; look at Bryce Love now. I’m sure he would have been drafted higher last year than he will this coming year.
I guess that’s a long winded way of saying I could see the rational for Moss coming out early, but think it would be a mistake for anyone else on this year’s team.