I lied. I have yet to see snow in the month of December that stayed beyond the night in which it fell. My hopes are not high that we’ll have a white Christmas in farm county up here, but it somehow always seems to happen anyways.
I have not posted in quite sometime, and I am sorry. Finals week combined with taking care of recovering family combined with my incredible lack of motivation to wrap my Christmas gifts has kept me rather busy. In that time I haven’t even made a mock draft, which saddens me to the point that as son as I saw football on Sportscenter this morning, I decided to upload my most recent Big Board (12/17 edition) AND make a mock draft for all of you in the same day! Will it happen? Maybe. But I like to think I have the motivation and effort needed to pull it off.
DAN KITCHEN’S BEST AVAILABLE
1. Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah (4)
2. Bjorn Werner, DE, FSU (8)
3. Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M (3)
4. Manti Te’o, ILB, ND (2)
5. Demontre Moore, HY, Texas A&M (5)
6. Jarvis Jones, OLB, Georgia (1)
7. Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan (9)
8. Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M (12)
9. Jonathan Hankins, DT, Ohio State (6)
10. Chance Warmack, OG, Alabama (11)
Biggest Risers: Werner +6, Matthews +4, Lotulelei +3
Biggest Fallers: Jones -5, Hankins -3
Rising onto Best Available: Matthews & Warmack
Falling off Best Available: Milliner & B. Jones
THE REST OF THE BIG BOARD
11. Barrett Jones, OL, Alabama (10)
12. Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama (7)
13. Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri (20)
14. Barkevious Mingo, HY, LSU (17)
15. Jonathan Banks, CB, Mississippi State (13)
16. Alec Ogletree, ILB, Georgia (26)
17. Dion Jordan, HY, Oregon (18)
18. Kenny Vacarro, S, Texas (22)
19. Tyler Eifert, TE, Notre Dame (16)
20. Sam Montgomery, HY, LSU (14)
21. C.J. Mosley, ILB, Alabama (15)
22. Jonathan Cooper, OG, North Carolina (25)
23. Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia (19)
24. Eric Reid, S, LSU (21)
25. Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan (24)
Biggest Risers: Ogletree +10, Richardson +7, Vacarro +4
Biggest Fallers: Montgomery -6, Mosley -6, Milliner -5, Smith -4
Rising onto Big Board: Ogletree
Falling off Big Board: Allen
WAITING IN LINE
26. Alex Okafor, DE, Texas (31)
27. Keenan Allen, WR, California (23)
28. Jonathan Jenkins, DT, Georgia (32)
29. Matt Elam, S, Florida (29)
30. Xaiver Rhodes, CB, Florida State (33)
31. Tyler Wilson, QB, Arkansas (30)
32. David Amerson, CB, NC State (28)
33. Terrence Williams, WR, Baylor (36)
34. Matt Barkley, QB, USC (27)
35. Jordan Poyer, CB, Oregon State (37)
36. Tavon Austin, WR, WVU (41)
37. DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson (42)
38. Giovanni Bernard, RB, North Carolina (40)
39. Jesse Williams, DT, Alabama (34)
40. Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina (NR)
41. Dallas Thomas, OL, Tennessee (35)
42. Justin Hunter, WR, Tennessee (38)
43. Corey Lemonier, HY, Auburn (48)
44. Zach Ertz, TE, Stanford (44)
45. Phillip Thomas, S, Fresno State (NR)
46. Ezekial Ansah, HY, BYU (43)
47. Kawann Short, DT, Purdue (NR)
48. Sylvester Williams, DT, North Carolina (39)
49. Shariff Floyd, DT, Florida (47)
50. Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma (NR)
Biggest Risers: Okafor, Austin, Hopkins, Lemonier +5
Biggest Fallers: S. Williams -9, Barkley -7, D. Thomas -6
Now on the Wait List: Lattimore, P. Thomas, Short, L. Johnson
Fell off Waiting List: Woods (45), Carradine (46), Patterson (49), McDonald (50)
I am aware of the dry nature of reading Big Boards, especially if the reader isn’t as obsessive with the NFL Draft as myself or another expert. However, if you examine the boards over time (I now have 3 uploaded), you can see a pretty interesting picture. Take Kenny Vacarro from Texas, a third-rounder (100th range) who rose to #18 on my board in three posts. Conversely, players like Justin Hunter form Tennessee or Matt Barkley (the USC QB) who have fallen over 20 spots int wo weeks, and could be off the board all together after being projected in the top 10 a month ago. It is also enjoyable to see some different perspectives on players. Most consider Marcus Lattimore a fifth round guy because of injury; I see him as a second rounder who’d be an absolute steal anywhere beyond round 2.
Digressing, I wish you and your families the best through our holiday season. May you all survive the “end” tonight at midnight (go out with a bang!), have a Merry Christmas (Midnight Mass can be a good balance with obsessive gift opening at 5 in the morning), and a Happy New Year (party the night before, football the next day!)!
*Also, the thoughts and prayers of both myself and every member of the Sentry Staff and RMU family go out to the Newtown, CT families. May nothing like this ever happen again in such a great city or nation.
God Bless All of You through this holiday season!
– Dan