Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney looks at the standout players at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and offers memories of their high school days. Here’s his list after watching lots of running, jumping and talking on the NFL Network.
Alt is going to be a major learning lesson for us when it comes to rankings and projection – and this one might sting for a while. We didn’t see much of the Fridley (Minn.) Totino Grace three-star prospect in high school but what we’ve come to learn over many years is that offensive linemen who aren’t tapped out physically in high school should oftentimes get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a bump in the rankings.
Alt was 6-foot-7 and 270 pounds in high school – perfect. He measured an unimaginable 6-foot-9 and 321 pounds at the combine and he’s almost definitely going to be an early first-round draft pick -–a miss for us in the rankings.
Notre Dame has compared Irish commit Owen Strebig to Alt and there are definitely similarities so we won’t miss on that ranking. But we also must go to the Fridley, Minn., and other even more remote locales throughout the Midwest to find these offensive tackles who are just physical specimens and could project as first-rounders over the coming years.
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I was reviewing some of my old direct messages with Arnold leading up to the combine and there was a whole lot of talk from the former Tallahassee (Fla.) John Paul II Catholic standout about bumping up to five-star status. Many thought Georgia was going to win out for Arnold even with Florida close and Florida State even closer.
I definitely rue the decision to not bump him up to five-stars since it’s very possible he goes in the first round of the NFL Draft. From high praise out of former Alabama coach Nick Saban (and his genuinely kind relationship with Saban’s wife Terry) to the outstanding NextGen Stats at the combine and his heartfelt message to his mom during an interview with Stacey Dales, Arnold is everything we’re looking for in a five-star prospect. Lesson learned.
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I don’t know if the CBS Sports report that Bowers didn’t come across well in team meetings in Indianapolis is accurate but that goes against everything I know about Bowers and my interactions with him. Never once did Bowers act like that during the recruiting process, actually apologizing multiple times about missing a DM and asking if he could call back, arranging a meet-up with a Georgia recruiting writer, trading multiple messages while he was flying all over the country on his visits and then staying in a SpringHill Suites in Athens.
Maybe he’s a little quiet and doesn’t always deliver the money quote but any team that drops Bowers on their board because of one meeting in Indianapolis is insane. He might immediately enter the NFL as one of the best tight ends in the game and is a no-nonsense person.
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For everything I wrote about Joe Alt when it came to projection and finding offensive linemen who aren’t maxed out physically, there are also exceptions – and Mims is one of them. The former five-star offensive tackle from Cochran (Ga.) Bleckley County was 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds in high school, which might have been a red flag, but Mims was so athletic and moved so well and had a frame that could add more weight.
That was the case at the combine where he measured an amazing 6-foot-8 and 340 pounds but still was impressively athletic and should be an easy first-round pick.
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A sharp-tongued reporter started the nickname ‘Bo Picks’ for Nix in high school because he did have a penchant for taking too many risks and trusting his arm a little too much, especially at national events. But I always liked the Pinson (Ala.) Pinson Valley product for a few reasons. One of them is that he showed up to every camp and competed his butt off. He is the son of a coach, a gym-rat type, and it showed.
And what he did bouncing back after his career went in the tank at Auburn to become one of college football’s best quarterbacks during a second stand at Oregon is amazing. The former five-star has a legit chance of being taken late in the first round. He could have closed up shop after flaming out with the Tigers but he went to play for the Ducks and in two seasons he won 22 games and threw for 8,101 yards with 74 TDs and 10 picks.
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The Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman receiver was a four-star prospect and inside the Rivals250 but this has to be considered a miss in the rankings since Odunze was so dominant at Washington. He killed the combine and looks like a first-round lock easily.
His father and others at Gorman talked Odunze up a lot during the recruiting process (which is sometimes a red flag) but in this case I should have listened. The four-star had a huge senior season at Gorman with more than half of the team’s catches (58) for 1,322 yards and 16 touchdowns. Then Odunze totaled 214 receptions and 3,272 yards for the Huskies. Odunze should have been higher – and I should have listened.
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There are all kinds of interesting things when it comes to Thomas.
We didn’t see him much in high school so our evaluations were limited; we listed him at 6-foot-4 but he checked in at 6-foot-3 at the combine; and then Thomas had two average seasons in Baton Rouge before exploding alongside Malik Nabers (and with the help of Jayden Daniels) as the former four-star had 68 catches for 1,177 yards and a team-high 17 touchdowns.
After a phenomenal combine, the former four-star from Walker, La., could definitely land in the first round now.
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Rated as a five-star outside linebacker who could also come off the edge, the book on Turner coming out of powerhouse Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas was that he looks like an Adonis but still needed to refine parts of his game.
Turner was still a five-star prospect but the fourth-best one in Florida behind JC Latham, Mario Williams and James Williams. Turner ran an amazing 4.46 40 with a 1.54 10-yard split (better than many receivers) and his all-business, no-nonsense attitude is resonating with NFL teams.
Alabama actually benefited from COVID shutting things down because Turner committed over the summer to the Tide over Florida State, Georgia, Florida and others, as visits were limited to non-existent come the fall.
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One NFC scout said that Wiggins has better physical talent than Devon Witherspoon (who was the fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft) but might not have the same level of dog factor in him. That probably couldn’t be determined by his outstanding on-field performance in Indianapolis, where he ran an incredible 4.28 40-yard dash and could have dramatically moved up draft boards.
Wiggins will probably be the only cornerback taken in the first round (if that happens) that’s taller than 6-foot-1. In high school at Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake, Wiggins was long and super lean, and had limited exposure nationally because of the COVID shutdown.
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Worthy playing at Texas nearly never happened. Don’t forget, the four-star receiver signed with Michigan in December but then by April asked out of his letter of intent. He told me “over 30” programs had been in contact with him and he ended up picking the Longhorns. What was unfortunate about Worthy’s high school experience is that he didn’t do many national events because of COVID so a lot of evaluation for the Fresno (Calif.) Central came from personal workouts.
I knew he was fast but not THAT fast as he set the all-time 40-yard dash record by beating John Ross with a 4.21 time. What was great is that after running 4.25 his first time, players were telling Worthy to take his cleats off, he was done. But the former four-star wanted to do even better – and he made history.
