Saturday's Draft Nuggets #1

Saturday’s Draft Nuggets

Hello loyal P1’s and fans of Norm,

I am Jeff “Saturday” Bowers, Norm’s draft researcher, and this is the first installment of Draft Nuggets; a behind-the-scenes look at the massive amount of prep and information that goes into the construction of The Big Board. If you are a crazy Draftnik like me, then this is your favorite time of year. The evaluation, “speculation and procrastination” (Thanks Jerry!) involved in the building of a franchise holds as much nerdy sports drama for me as a last second touchdown drive in the Super Bowl. The opinions contained within are my own, synthesized from various sources. I am no expert (but is anyone in this process, really?) and look forward to any questions, comments or healthy respectful debate from the P1 masses. Reach me at thesportsnarrative@gmail.com

This year’s draft is especially important for the Cowboys, as the core of talent brought here in the Parcell’s era begins to age, and epic failures in subsequent draft classes have left the talent cupboard quite bare. Glaring holes on the offensive line and in the secondary led to the ultimate demise of this team’s playoff hopes. Luckily, the 2012 NFL draft is very deep at both OL and CB, but proper evaluation is still crucial to selecting that diamond amongst the “cow poo poo.” Future posts will hopefully help to identify both the Cowboys intentions and the future stars of the NFL. As described by Norm himself, the Draft process is a living, breathing thing that moves and shapes into new forms moment to moment. We are at the beginning of that process; a meticulous 3 month process that will decide the futures of hundreds of young men, coaches and teams and that will culminate on April 26th-28th at Radio City Music Hall in midtown Manhattan, brought to you by 1310AM The Ticket and voiced as always by Norm Hitzges.

And now on to the info:

A record 56 undersclassmen declared themselves eligible of the 2012 NFL draft by the January 15th deadline (previous high was 54). Below is an alphabetical list of those players and a projection of where they may be drafted. Also, highlighted players are ones that could/should be on the Cowboys radar.

Player	Position	College	Class	Projection
Alvester Alexander	RB	Wyoming	JR	Undrafted
Dwayne Allen	TE	Clemson	JR	1st-2nd
Edwin Baker	RB	Michigan St.	JR	6th-7th
Mike Ball	RB	Nevada	JR	Undrafted
Justin Blackmon	WR	Oklahoma St.	JR	Top 5 pick
Michael Brockers	DT	L.S.U.	SO	1st-2nd
Vontaze Burfict	ILB	Arizona St.	JR	Top 25pick
Orson Charles	TE	Georgia	JR	2nd-3rd
Morris Claiborne	CB	L.S.U.	JR	Top 5 pick
Fletcher Cox	DT	Mississippi St.	JR	2nd Round
David DeCastro	OG	Stanford	JR	Top 20 Pick
Marcus Forston	DT	Miami (FL)	JR	3rd Round
Stephon Gilmore	CB	South Carolina	JR	2nd-3rd
Chris Givens	WR	Wake Forest	JR	3rd Round
Robert Griffin III	QB	Baylor	JR	Top 5 Pick
Jewel Hampton	RB	Southern Illinois	JR	Undrafted
Cliff Harris	CB	Oregon	JR	4th-5th
Dont'a Hightower	ILB	Alabama	JR	1st Round
Stephen Hill	WR	Georgia Tech	JR	3rd Round
Ronnie Hillman	RB	San Diego St.	SO	4th-6th
Max Holloway	DE	Boston College	JR	Undrafted
Jayron Hosley	CB	Virginia Tech	JR	2nd Round
LaMichael James	RB	Oregon	JR	2nd-3rd
Alshon Jeffery	WR	South Carolina	JR	Top 25 Pick
Chandler Jones	DE	Syracuse	JR	2nd-3rd
Matt Kalil	OT	USC	JR	Top 5 Pick
Dre Kirkpatrick	CB	Alabama	JR	Top 10 Pick
Peter Konz	C	Wisconsin	JR	1st Round
Luke Kuechly	ILB	Boston College	JR	Top 15 pick
Ronnell Lewis	DE	Oklahoma	JR	2nd Round
Andrew Luck	QB	Stanford	JR	#1 Pick
Terrell Manning	OLB	North Carolina St.	JR	3rd-4th
Jonathan Martin	OT	Stanford	JR	Top 15 Pick
Jonathan Massaquoi	DE	Troy	JR	2nd-3rd
Bobby Massie	OT	Ole Miss	JR	3rd-4th
Whitney Mercilus	DE	Illinois	JR	1st Round
Lamar Miller	RB	Miami (FL)	SO	1st- 2nd
Brock Osweiler	QB	Arizona St.	JR	3rd-4th
Donte Paige-Moss	DE	North Carolina	JR	6th-7th
Eric Page	WR	Toledo	JR	4th-5th
Nick Perry	DE	USC	JR	1st Round
Bernard Pierce	RB	Temple	JR	3rd-4th
Dontari Poe	DT	Memphis	JR	1st-2nd
Chris Polk	RB	Washington	JR	2nd Round
Rueben Randle	WR	L.S.U.	JR	2nd-3rd
Riley Reiff	OT	Iowa	JR	Top 10 Pick
Trent Richardson	RB	Alabama	JR	Top 15 Pick
Josh Robinson	CB	Central Florida	JR	3rd-4th
Mohamed Sanu	WR	Rutgers	JR	1st-2nd
Darrell Scott	RB	South Florida	JR	7th-FA
Tommy Streeter	WR	Miami (FL)	JR	2nd-3rd
Darron Thomas	QB	Oregon	JR	7th-FA
Robert Turbin	RB	Utah St.	JR	4th-5th
Olivier Vernon	DE	Miami (FL)	JR	5th-6th
Brandon Washington	OG	Miami (FL)	JR	2nd-3rd
David Wilson	RB	Virginia Tech	JR	2nd Round
Jerel Worthy	DT	Michigan St.	JR	2nd-3rd