October 05, 2024
During the college football season each year, as long as you're watching the games, we point out five players each week to keep an eye on who make logical sense for the Philadelphia Eagles in the following year's NFL Draft.
Scourton (formerly Nic Caraway) originally enrolled at Purdue, where he had 50 tackles (15 for loss), a Big Ten-leading 10 sacks as a sophomore in 2023. He transferred to Texas A&M this offseason. Some highlights from his 2023 season:
Scourton has good size, and he's an agile player with some effective pass rush moves, notably his inside and outside spins. He is also a tough defender against the run, with the motor and hustle to chase down runs from the backside. Brandon Graham is playing in his final season in 2024, and Scourton makes sense as a successor who would primarily play on the edge but has some iDL versatility.
Fannin has had a couple of monster games against ranked opponents this season:
• At Penn State: 11 catches, 137 yards, 1 TD.
• At Texas A&M: 8 catches, 145 yards, 1 TD.
Here was his TD against TAMU, which went for 65 yards:
65-YARDS TO THE HOUSE!!!!!
— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) September 22, 2024
Bazelak ➡️ Fannin for SIX!!!
BGSU trails by three, 13-10.
📺 SECN+/ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/j01M4J2MCH
On the season he has 37 Catches for 541 yards and 4 TDs. He has the seventh-most receiving yards in the country, as a tight end. The next-closest tight end has 221 fewer receiving yards.
It's not his first productive season. As a sophomore in 2023, he had 44 catches for 623 yards, and 6 TDs.
Fannin has some speed, some YAC ability, and he runs good routes. He's a small school guy who could get some Day 2 consideration if he plays well at the Senior Bowl and tests well at the Combine.
And yes, I know that nobody is watching a Bowling Green - Akron game, but shut up.
The Seminoles have had a disastrous start to their 2024 season, but one bright spot is Payton, a long and lean edge defender who has 5.5 sacks in 5 games. Payton is having a nice follow-up season to 2023, when he had 7 sacks and 10 (!) batted passes.
He can win with speed, speed-to-power, and he is a good open field tackler on the edge in space against shifty quarterbacks and running backs.
The Eagles' need for help on the edges in next year's draft felt pretty clear before the season, and has only increased a few games in.
Ersery has been the Gophers' starting LT since 2022, with some sparse experience at RT prior to that. He's a gifted athlete for a 330-plus pound offensive lineman, and he knows how to finish blocks. Pancake city vs. Iowa earlier this season:
Minnesota T Aireontae Ersery had his best game of the year vs. Iowa. Late 1st convo right now, but could jump some other tackles if he plays like this consistently.
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) September 23, 2024
6'6, 337, 34 1/8 arm. Fluid mover/zone blocker. + grip strength, basically immune to chops once he lands his punch pic.twitter.com/oOrYe60swL
While he hasn't played guard in college, Ersery has the skill set to do so, and might make sense as a versatile backup initially who could eventually take over for Lane Johnson at RT.
At 6'6, 215, Gentry is a very tall, very skinny oddity at linebacker who transferred to USC from Arizona State after the 2021 season. Philly guy, originally.
He has been a contributor since his freshman season, with at least 45 tackles in every season of his college career, but with lackluster production otherwise. In 2024, he is having something of a breakout season, with 7 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks. A quick look:
Gentry will have to put on more weight to be a viable player in the NFL, but he has some intriguing traits.
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