There are a lot of prospects in the 2016 Alamo Bowl. Oklahoma State and Colorado both have a lot of players who will get a shot at the NFL. With the game being so loaded it would be too hard to mention all the athletes who will get a chance at the next level. Here are the most notable draft prospects in this bowl game:
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Projected Draft Range: Second round-fourth round
Vincent Taylor (Photo courtesy: mysanantonio.com)
Taylor has great size for a defensive tackle at six foot three inches tall and 310 pounds. He is a great pass rusher from the interior of the defensive line with 6.5 sacks. Not too many guys who play his position can produce a lot of sacks. Thomas is also good at stopping the run with 12 tackles for loss on the season. Not a lot of people are talking about Thomas now, but with those stats and a good performance at the combine, he could shoot up draft boards.
Projected Draft Range: Fourth round-sixth round
Sterns is great in run support for a safety. He uses his great tackling ability to come up and stop the ball carrier after he gets past the second line of defense. Sterns has done this time after time and even had 19 total tackles against rival Oklahoma. He needs to work on his ball skills, but is good at the fundamentals. At six feet and 200 pounds he has a good starting point for an NFL body.
Colorado Buffaloes
Projected Draft Range: Second round-fourth round
Awuzie is the best prospect in this game. With eleven passes defended, Awuzie makes great plays on the ball, but needs to work on converting some of those to interceptions. He only has one interception on the season. When Colorado needs him to blitz, he is effective, with four sacks on the season. He also had 12 tackles for loss in 2015, making him good at stopping the run as well. Awuzie gets a bowl match-up with a great quarterback, Mason Rudolph, to prove he can play with the best possible players. His draft stock can drop or rise due to his performance in this game.
Projected Draft Range: Fourth round-sixth round
Witherspoon is a shut down corner on the opposite side of the field from Awuzie. He isn’t as good as Awuzie at blitzing or stopping the run, which are areas he needs to work on. Witherspoon has great height for a corner back at six feet three inches tall. With the NFL preferring bigger corners, he will have a good chance of sticking around on a roster. Like Awuzie this game presents a big opportunity to improve his draft stock.
Projected Draft Range: Third round-fifth round
Tedric Thompson
With this many prospects in the secondary, it is apparent why Colorado has an elite pass defense. Thompson might be the best ball-hawking safety in the draft with seven interceptions. He had a great game against Utah, possibly the biggest game of the regular season with the Pac-12 championship appearance on the line, Thompson had two interceptions and four passes defended. He has a lot of solo tackles on the season and isn’t afraid to make tackles alone on running backs.
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