The deadline for early entries in to the 2017 NFL Draft passed earlier this week and while a number of teams were hit hard with young players leaving despite still being eligible to play at the college level there were other teams that were fortunate to find out they would get some key star players back in the fold for next year. Here is a look at the biggest winners in college football after the early NFL Draft declarations.
Georgia Bulldogs
Kirby Smart’s first year at Georgia was full of highs and lows but he received some good news earlier this month when it was confirmed that running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel will be back in the fold next season. The duo should enter the 2017 season as one of the top running back tandems in college football with Chubb in particular providing All-American potential if he could stay healthy. The Bulldogs will be banking on continuity helping to take them to that net level in the SEC East and the return of both Chubb and Michel should really help on the offensive side of the football.
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes will lose five players that are leaving early but they retain some impressive talent overall and after another impressive haul of recruits it looks like Ohio State will be just fine. Urban Meyer’s recruiting class is currently ranked fourth by Scout.com and it has the potential to climb even higher over the next couple of months. Last year, the Buckeyes set a new record with 10 players selected in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft and it hurt their overall talent level despite that they still made it back to the College Football Playoff. This year the early departures won’t be nearly as damaging and with a strong recruiting class Ohio State should be just fine. Getting back quarterback J.T. Barrett was a big win as that will help provide some consistency on offense.
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks opened the offseason by bringing in a new head coach in Willie Taggart and he will benefit from a strong recruiting class and the fact that Oregon wasn’t hit hard by early NFL Draft declarations. The biggest win is the return of running back Royce Freeman, who elected to return for his senior season after dealing with injuries last year. Freeman is considered a Heisman trophy caliber running back that has the potential to put up big numbers for the Ducks this season. That means that the Ducks don’t have to start from scratch and will actually begin with a pretty solid go-to weapon on offense. Taggart has to be thrilled about his potential after he confirmed he will be back with the Ducks for one more season.
Mitch Trubisky
There is a good chance that Trubisky will benefit more than any other player that declared for the NFL early this season as arguably the best quarterback prospect on the board. There is no doubt that Trubisky could have used one more season to polish his skill set and develop his game but the combination of a weak quarterback class and the fact that so many teams are desperate for a franchise passer means Trubisky’s value is sky high right now. Even before he declared, teams like the New York Jets were already licking their chops to get their hands on him. It’s hard to blame them, though. When you see what some teams are trotting out there at quarterback in the NFL – the Jets with Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Cleveland Browns with the plethora of quarterbacks they used, the Houston Texans with Brock Osweiler – it makes sense that Trubisky would be a hot commodity.
We’ll have to do what he does at his pro day, workouts and the 2017 NFL Draft Combine – if he decides to participate – but a number of analysts have the North Carolina quarterback going first overall to the Cleveland Browns. That makes it hard to argue against Trubisky being the biggest winner among the players that declared early for the NFL Draft.
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