Four of top five grades go to linemen

Originally Published: August 10, 2007

Linemen are at the head of the class as Scouts Inc.'s Todd McShay looks ahead to the 2008 NFL Draft.

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By Todd McShay
Scouts Inc.
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By the early looks of it, NFL teams promise to get fat on talented "trenchmen" come next April's draft. In fact, four of the top five prospects on my board are offensive and defensive linemen.

The only non-lineman cracking my top five is Louisville QB Brian Brohm, who has the unenviable task of entering his senior season as the consensus No. 1 quarterback prospect. Brohm needs a healthy and productive senior season under new head coach Steve Kragthorpe in order to avoid the same fate that Matt Leinart (slipped to the Cardinals at No. 10 overall in 2006) and Brady Quinn (slipped to the Browns at No. 22 overall in 2007) suffered before him.

The good news for NFL teams in need of a young signal caller is that Brohm has plenty of competition. There are at least seven prospects (Michigan's Chad Henne, Kentucky's Andre' Woodson, Hawaii's Colt Brennan, Boston College's Matt Ryan, USC's John David Booty, Nebraska's Sam Keller, Tennessee's Erik Ainge and San Diego's Joshua Johnson) with enough talent to emerge as Day 1 selections next April -- and that's not including any potential early entries. The sleeper of that group is former Jim Harbaugh prot�g� Johnson, who has scouts' attentions despite playing his ball at the non-scholarship Division I-AA level.

LSU's Early Doucet, Texas' Limas Sweed and Oklahoma State's Adarius Bowman headline a solid group of receivers that inevitably will benefit from several junior defections next January.

As it looks right now, the positions that need the most help from underclassmen are running back and cornerback. Michigan's Mike Hart received my highest preseason grade for senior running backs and he's still only a fringe first-rounder. The good news is that no position has more promising junior talent, which includes Arkansas' Darren McFadden, West Virginia's Steve Slaton, Texas' Jamaal Charles, Rutgers' Ray Rice, Clemson's James Davis, Oregon's Jonathan Stewart and NC State's Andre Brown.

There isn't a cornerback prospect in the senior class that I feel confident tagging with a first-round grade. There are lots of promising underclassmen here, as well. In fact, it's safe to say that juniors Malcolm Jenkins, Justin King, Brandon Flowers, Victor Harris, and Aquib Talib all possess greater upside than Arizona's Antoine Cason, who is currently the top ranked senior corner on my board.

As a whole, the 2008 senior class projects to be deeper than most but so far it lacks star power at the top of the board -- particularly at the skill positions. Keeping that in mind, expect a slew of the aforementioned top junior talents to bolt from school a year early. This could be a record setting year in terms of early entries.

Todd McShay is the director of college football scouting for Scouts Inc. He has been evaluating prospects for the NFL draft since 1998.